we are getting gerbils!!!

coliel

hi
we have made up our minds and are definatly getting gerbils as i feel that they will best suit my 2 boys.
now all i have to do is find some hope fully tomoro!
i have cleaned out the cage its great with like a huge tank and then lots of tubes running from it that end up in seperaterooms (each tube has mettle yound the ends to stop chewing) i want 2 boys as they seem the best and we dont want babys. im going to use a mixture or wood shavings, straw, card board that they will shred and peat this aparently makes great conditions for tunnel making i have also disided on cleaning them out nly 1 a month as aparently on the realy good sites this is best as their very clean and only do a tiny amount of wee due to them being dessert creachers and it means they can make some realy good tunnels and not have them destroyed all the time!
we are all realy exited the only thing is that alot of you seem to be against buying animals from pet shops so i was woundering why
love coliel

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Hcollie85

i dont see anything wrong un less its hamsters or gerbils. My sister bought 2 hamsters in a petshop, and they were lively but i wasnt keen on it, she broke a rule

Heather
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coliel

did the hamsters get on ?
their are some hamsters that do live in groups

Hcollie85

sister bought one, what he died she got another one, so they were different times.

I think gerbils get on i dont know

H
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coliel

sorry when you said your sister broke a rule i thought you meant by having 2 hamsters . what rule were you talking about?

Hcollie85

No she didnt tell our parents and me if she did she wouldnt of have them

H
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coliel

oh i see!

Koolkat

hamsters dont get on. but gerbils do. There is a hamster that gets on in 2's. but i dont no the name louise or twig will though Laughing

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Twig

Campbells, winter whites and roborovskis get along in the hamster world, but syrians and chinese are solitary. Wink

The reason I am against buying animals in petshops is because those who supply shops have no care about their animals, and I consider them backyard breeders, as they don't know where they will end up, which all too often in a neglectful home. Therefore no care is put into planning the litter, so hence many small critters in shops have poor health and poor temperments and poor conformation! Mad

Fair enough some may argue people who do care about their animals supply shops, but if they breed any male and female, they are still backyard breeders who are creating animals with poor health and temperments. A kid once pointed out that they must also be very unimaginative as they clearly don't think about all the possible scenarios the animal could end up in, which I can relate to, as I'd be terrified they ended up abandoned in some cruddy cage or ended up being yet another animal in a rescue centre!

Also, some shops will buy off millers, where the animals are bred in terrible conditions. Basically when buying from a shop, chances are you are buying from the gerbil equivalent of a puppyfarm. Shocked

I wouldn't support a puppyfarm, so wouldn't buy from a shop. Ever.

You could have a look for breeders or rescues. Wink

coliel

i think we are goingto get them from a pet shop as i dont realy care about breed and as long as their young they can be tamed.
i will make sure the gerbils look healthy and that

poppydog83

your kids will have so much fun with gerbils i know i did. The only problem i had with the last 3 was i went to the pet shop to only get 2,and ended up getting 3 as there were 3 in the cage and i didnt want to leave just one on its own. But anyway was told all 3 were male,but only a few weeks later i came home from work to find 6 baby gerbils in the cage aswell as the original 3 i got. Hard work but it was worth it

coliel

i will definatly only be going for males and i shall look my self for their big black balls !!!!
they should be good fun for the bous i had them when i was little but we didnt look into them and poor things had a wire cage with a sprinkling of saw dust and tissue paper!! (the recomended housing from the pet shop!)
i am realy looking farward to them now as i shall be very intrested to see them make tunnels and berows and teach them to come to my hand which is what my gerbils did when ever i put my hand in.
i hope w dont end up with babys - what did you do ?
did you keep a male and female and put dad and son together and mum and daughter together?

Twig

If you go to a breeder or rescue you won't have to worry about them being mis-sexed. A lot of rescues have babies in, and there is a small gerbil fancy throughout the UK, so its worth looking into. Smile

They may look healthy in a shop, but 2 years ago gerbils being sold in a large chain store were effected with E-coli and many gerbs died a few weeks after being bought. How e-coli infected the gerbils I have no idea, but shows the standards...or rather the lack of standard of care the animals are bred in! Crying or Very sad

Its up to you, but please do consider a breeder or rescue pair!

coliel

i shall have a look on the internet and free peper and see if their are any welfare sites with babys available and also see about breeders ill let you know what happens!

clareabella

awww please post some pics when you get them Very Happy

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