Gerbil Sexing

[Jay_Bunny]

I purchased these two gerbils when they were only a few weeks passed weaning back in March. They have been living together since and I have seen at least two attempts by the buck to mate with the female. She has never conceived. Now I know sometimes females will hump each other and males will hump each other so now I question whether or not I have a male and female. They look like male and female to me, but I'm posting up their pics anyway. I've re-done their cage and gave them a better house (wooden house as opposed to a cardboard box, and moved them to pine bedding instead of wood pellets. Not sure if the changes will help any, but we shall see. If they are male and female and will not breed, then either the male or female is sterile.

Agouti Male - weighing in at 96g


Black Female - weighing in at 99g


The female is jet black on top but for some reason looks brown under flash. Is she just a really dark agouti, or is her underside actually brown? It kind of looks lighter in person, but she is still jet black on top. This is the first dark gerbil I've ever had so I don't know gerbil colors very well.

[BAMReptiles]

my gerbils are TERRIBLE producers, i have 1.2 and the females had i think maybe 2 litters each, over the course of idk 7 months? its awful. i have them in a small animal cage now but will be moving them into a 10gallon sometime fairly soon, hopefully that will help. its weird because a friend of mine got several of the babies mine had, and says his are doin great producing plenty of babies. i know mine arent too old as they had basically just been weaned for a month or so when i got them, if that.

tldr: gerbils appear to be terribly slow producing, dont count on them doin it

[tomfromtheshade]

Gerbils, when you get good ones, usually produce a litter about every five weeks. You leave them in pairs year round. When one dies you just feed the other off. They won't usually accept another mate so late in life.

I usually liked to introduce mine at about eight weeks old when I was breeding a lot of them. They usually don't do well introduced as adults.

I kept mine in 10 gallon tanks, with water bottles, fed them the standard gerbil mix (Kaytee) and kept them on pine shaving. They produced fine, but they are not nearly as prolific as rats or mice.

[tomfromtheshade]

Also, your female may be overweight. Fat gerbils don't reproduce well. I don't know what a 99g gerbil looks like off the top of my head, but if she's fat, that could be your problem.

[Jay_Bunny]

She is quite plump. They don't eat a whole lot, but they are on Harlan Teklan rodent food, not a gerbil food. I'm selling them if they don't start producing. They are probably close to 9 months old by now. They were introduced young and have been together every since. They live in a 10g tank.

[suzuki4life]

no market for gerbils anymore here. I ran my gerbils 1.3 in a 10 gallon. Yes overweight and they stop producing. High seed diet is normally what they crave but I got them pushed towards small amount of rodent block, alfalfa pellets and very few seeds. Sunflowers seeds, corn, pumpkin seeds etc, will make rodents very fat very quick.

[suzuki4life]

I personally can not tell by your pictures their sex. A male is normally proud and there is no doubt it is male. IS this the case? Because if not, maybe you have two females?

[Rhasputin]

Males have a big nasty greasy patch on their stomachs. Look at their stomachs to find out if they're male of female.



Females will have a very small one. Males will have a bigger, greasier one. It'll make you never want to pick up a gerbil again!

[Jay_Bunny]

Thanks. I will check them both when I get home from work. It will suck if I find out they are both female.

[Egapal]

Thanks. I will check them both when I get home from work. It will suck if I find out they are both female.

anything over 90 grams is a big gerbil. My breeding pairs are both around 80 grams. I would say they are a bit big. I also think you need to get them more space. I personally won't put more than 2 gerbils in a 10 gallon and prefer larger. I have my breeders in a mortar tub. More floor space than a 20 gallon breeder. Good luck.