Gerbil Breeding

Hey folks,

anyone else doing that?

I got into it when somebody offered me his litter of 14Gerbils for my snakes.

Instead of just feeding it to them, I started breeding them in my 10Gal tanks, I just recently switched to rat size laboratory tubs - I figured they'd be chewing up pretty much anything else.

I currently have 6 "families" set up for breeding - my snakes love GERBILS.
Never got one refused, still they get rats/mice on occasions...

Robb

Gerbils are addictive, if your snakes are eating rats regularly, then I wouldnt feed them gerbils.

14 gerbils in a single litter is amazing I've never heard that high of a number before! Generally 6-8 babies in a litter was good according to my wife who bred them for quite some time.

Maybe he meant in a few litters. Gerbils are cute but mean as hell and I wouldn't dare feed them to my boas. I hear they have less smell than rats though because they produce less urine

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Originally Posted by Pork Chops N' Corn Bread

I hear they have less smell than rats though because they produce less urine

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Correct,
desert mammals with a perfect hydrologic balance, I have their bins inside my house and NO smell at all.

Plus,
I guess Gerbils are BP's natural food - thus should be good for em.

Last thing,
breeding them is almost as much fun as bredding the balls - and their reproduction rate is soo much higher. :D

Ronn

I also have a good number of gerbils, but don't breed them. I received them from a person who was keeping them in their own filth.. So yeah... Me being the guilty-conscience person I am.. They're here.

I haven't noticed them having mean temperments though, nervous yes, but definitely not bitey or mean. I can pick most of mine up like I would any of my rats, around their mid-section, and they could care less.

When I did breed them though, they were very prolific and were VERY good parents. I usually kept about a 1.2-1.3 in a 10-gallon and they did fine.

Good thing you're using lab cages. Most of mine are in those too, but the ones that are in 10-gallons have the spout from the water bottle coming through the top screen, and a tall box inside the tank for them to stand on. Otherwise you get shredded water bottles, LOL.

:( :eek: :(

All I say is CANNIBALISM - no idea why, but the parents killed 4/6 of my baby Gerbils and one of the remaining two has only three legs and half a tail left.

They have high protein food and everything - what might be the cause?
All 6 have been perfectly healthy till yesterday...


Robb

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LilRobb

:( :eek: :(

All I say is CANNIBALISM - no idea why, but the parents killed 4/6 of my baby Gerbils and one of the remaining two has only three legs and half a tail left.

They have high protein food and everything - what might be the cause?
All 6 have been perfectly healthy till yesterday...


Robb

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All I can think of is the stress got to them or maybe you touched the babies?

Gerbils have some nasty habits. WHen I worked at a pet store, my friend/co-worker and I took care of small animals. One female gerbil was like that, she would eat the limbs off her offspring slowly. They were still nrusing so to remove them would kill them, so everyday we would see babies missing more and more body parts. Finally, they started dying off. When there was only one left, it was old enough to be seperated from her and my friend bought it (yeah, the owner of the store woulnd't even give it to her fro free, and the thing was missing a rear leg!) Tripod lived out his days happily and was spoiled pretty well. :)


Gerbils (and hamsters...and mice) are SICK!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LilRobb

:( :eek: :(

All I say is CANNIBALISM - no idea why, but the parents killed 4/6 of my baby Gerbils and one of the remaining two has only three legs and half a tail left.

They have high protein food and everything - what might be the cause?
All 6 have been perfectly healthy till yesterday...


Robb

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high protein food does not mean they are getting the nutrition they need

Actually, gerbils (the species found in the pet trade) are not a natural prey animal for ball pythons. They're natural habitats do not overlap.


I don't think they cannibalize due to nutritional deficiencies. As I understand it, such behavior is usually related to high stress factors. Sometimes they will do it to cull out unhealthy babies, too. But if they're just "munching" my guess would be some major stress involved that needs to be alleviated.

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Originally Posted by JLC

Actually, gerbils (the species found in the pet trade) are not a natural prey animal for ball pythons. They're natural habitats do not overlap.

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This is true, there are no ball pythons in Mongolia (where the gerbils sold as pets in the States originate from).

I believe Adam has posted before too that the teeth on gerbils are longer and can cause cuts inside your snake's mouth and throat when ingesting and then absess and he's rescued several with this problem. I'd be very cautious in feeding gerbils - another thing to consider, if you ever need to sell or re-home your ball pythons, it's going to be hard to find someone to take on gerbil feeders.

http://www.kingsnake.com/ballpythonguide/

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Gerbils and gerboas are a Ball Python's natural food item.

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Now, who is correct?


Robb

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LilRobb

http://www.kingsnake.com/ballpythonguide/




Now, who is correct?


Robb

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I believe not. The gerbils in the pet trade are usually mongollian, not african.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wolfsnaps

Gerbils have some nasty habits. WHen I worked at a pet store, my friend/co-worker and I took care of small animals. One female gerbil was like that, she would eat the limbs off her offspring slowly. They were still nrusing so to remove them would kill them, so everyday we would see babies missing more and more body parts. Finally, they started dying off. When there was only one left, it was old enough to be seperated from her and my friend bought it (yeah, the owner of the store woulnd't even give it to her fro free, and the thing was missing a rear leg!) Tripod lived out his days happily and was spoiled pretty well. :)


Gerbils (and hamsters...and mice) are SICK!

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hehe, Tripod.

Ya know, now that you brought it up.. I actually wanted to breed gerbils for my Ball python. But for now, I shall keep Chester on mice and rats :)

New babies born this morning - 11 (4+7) from different females.

Let's hope they stay alive long enought to be considered FOOD!


Robb