1 male gerbil with 2 female...what size of cage?

Question

I bought 2 sister gerbils last week. Then we added a male gerbil from a different pet store about 2 days later. At first one of the females was very aggressive towards the male. She eventually just kept to herself in the "top bunk" of the cage. She seemed depressed. I closed off the top bunk and now all three are snuggling together under the wooden house. No more fighting or anything aggressive. They have a wheel, a wooden house, plenty of food, water, & bedding. The cage is 15 inches long, 12 inches high, and 10 inches wide. Do you think that's enough space for 3 gerbils or do I need a bigger cage?

All the gerbils seem very small and young. At what age will they breed? Maybe I will get another cage for the male...but won't he get lonely & depressed? Should I return him to the pet store to be with his other brothers?

Okay, so I've talked to our local pet shop and they've agreed to take any baby gerbils that may come along and they would sell them. Of course I won't make any money off them but that was not my intention to begin with. All 3 of my gerbils seem as happy as ever and I'd hate to separate them so I will keep them all together and the local pet shop will sell the babies :)

Answer 1

Have you bred gerbils before? Man, you really don't know what you're doing. Really, if you're an experienced breeder, you would know how to correctly introduce gerbils, and know that only one female and one male should be in a cage together, not 2 females and one male, because the females will fight over the male, and kill each other, and blah blah blah. Listen here, you will end up with hundreds of gerbils by the end of the year. Gerbils reproduce VERY, VERY, QUICKLY!!! And, breeding gerbils will not make you rich. There will be gerbils no one will want, and you'll end up with more gerbils. If you still want to breed, I suggest you only have one or two litters. (I will answer your question later)
If you still want to breed, I would only have one or two litters. Gerbils have around 7 pups a litter. I would suggest that even before you have the gerbils, you have at least 8 people willing to get a gerbil or two from you. Once you have that, Take out the female that you don't want to breed with. This female may have to live her life alone, because females are less likely to accept a new roommate than males are. Now, for the other female and male, you will have to introduce correctly. You can't just throw them together. I will explain introducing later. Once you've correctly introduced them, put them in the cage, tank, or whatever they're in and leave them alone. Eventually, you'll notice your female gerbil getting fatter. She may also have a big nest prepared for the new gerbils. She'll be pregnate for about a month, and when she has the pups, do not hold the pups for about a week or two, or else she'll smell your scent on the pups, and won't accept them. Leave the male in the tank unless he's eating or killing the gerbils. Usually male gerbils make very good fathers, and females make very good moms, but there will be times when the mother will not take care of the pups, and stress will get the best of her, and she might eat the babies. That's your cue to take her and the male out, and raise the pups by handfeeding them yourself. If you see the parents eating a pup that's dead, let them eat it. Unfortunately this is how gerbils dispose of a dead gerbil body.
If you've decided you don't want to breed after all, take the male out, and get him a MALE friend, but before you go running out to the pet store, you need to learn how to correctly introduce gerbils.
To introduce gerbils, the best way is to use the split-cage method. The split-cage method is the most succesful way to introduce TWO LONE GERBILS. Not a lone gerbil to a group of gerbils, or a group of gerbils to another group of gerbils. The idea of the split-cage is that the gerbils can smell each other, but not fight. Take a small cage, with bars, and put it in a ten gallon tank or bigger. Put one of the gerbils in the small cage, close the cage, and put the other gerbil in the tank. Okay. Gerbil A is in the cage. Gerbil B is in the tank, after a few hours, put gerbil A in the tank, and Gerbil B in the cage. Keep switching like this for about two to three weeks. Then introduce the gerbils on a neutral territory. AGS Gerbils has a good page on split caging. You can also introduce gerbils by putting them on a neutral territory and putting some lemon extract on them. The gerbils will be too busy cleaning themselves to notice the other gerbil!
If you still want to keep the gerbils you have in one tank, a 15 gallon tank, or a 20 gallon tank will work. Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

www.agsgerbils.org
www.hannas.com (click on shawsheen river gerbils)
www.twinsqueaks.com

Answer 2

From experience and the that fact that the pet store clerk couldn't`t tell a male from a female Gerbil, even though they said they could, but on with your question. Separate the male from the females or start getting a lot of cages because in a couple months you can have 20 then 40 and so on,and of course some pinkies will be eaten. A ten gallon tank is good up to 2 Gerbils.

I ended up with 17 in a 6 month time span until I separated all the males from female. They can breed in about a month from the size you described. And the male won`t mind being alone, but if you are concerned, get another male now, cause later he`ll fight for his territory.

Answer 3

Obviously you never actually gave this any thought. A gerbil's average litter size is 4-5, meaning you'll probably need a bigger cage. Rodents reproduce WAY to fast, and you have no idea what you're getting yourself into.Gerbil's are mature at 12 weeks of age, meaning you'll have to separate the mothers/fathers and the males/females so no interbreeding happens (or just to make sure the male doesn't eat the babies). Gestation is 25 days, and before then I reccomend taking the males (a.k.a daddies at this point) out so they don't eat the babies when they are born. All female babies can go into the same cage I suppose, but males can get territorial sometimes. By you breeding twice at a time, your breeding irresponsibly. YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU BREED! (and we see how *that* went)

Answer 4

You are going to need an ENORMOUS cage because you will have well over a couple hundred within a year. Opposite sexes cannot be kept together safely and responsibly. They will breed and produce babies as often as nature allows them to. Social animals such as dwarf hamsters and gerbils should only be kept in same sex pairs. Keep the male in a separate cage. Allowing them to overbreed would be cruel and irresponsible. Even only having two, that is not a very large cage. Those are the dimensions for one animal. Keeping two requires additional space.

Answer 5

I don't think you should have male and female gerbils together so they might breed, the cage sounds okay maybe put the male gerbil in it and buy a bigger one for the two females.

Answer 6

One male and 2 females...............
you better get a really big cage.

One that has different rooms that you will be able to seperate otherwise, the babies will be killed by the male.

Answer 7

hahaha, i would give you breeding advice, but someone already has i see.... all i can say is that a bigger cage is definitly needed