Gerbil journal page eleven

10/2/99 This afternoon, while I was looking at the PEW and Black one, in my backyard, a plane flew over. Immediately the black one got spooked, ran to the other side of the tank and dashed under the shredded papers. He probably thought it was a bird of prey.

It was as if that moment, was many many generations ago in Mongolia. When one of his ancestors an Agouti was foraging for food near his burrow, when a Hawk or Owl appeared and he had to dive for cover in the burrow to avoid being eaten.

10/2/99 Peanut and Pookie� had 4 babies yesterday on Oct 1 all dark eyed. Perhaps Black or nutmeg, solid or spotted?

The first picture was taken three weeks ago. The rest were this week.

10/16/99 The PEW's is better. The hair on his nose grew back.

Mickey is looking at the PEW and Black gerbil.

Here is a different breeding method used by Sunni a member of the Gerbil Mailing List.�� Message From: [email protected] (Sunni�Krug) Date: Wed, Oct 27, 1999, 1:03pm (EDT+7) To: [email protected] (g. m.) Subject: Re: breeding Hi welcome back, Do you still breed your gerbils by keeping the parents apart except for mating? Thank you! Yes, I still breed my gerbils that way. Gerbils can be bred many ways. If you are afraid that the number of gerbils gets out of hand, you don't have to keep pairs together for life. Perhaps the best alternative method is to place them together and let them have a litter. Then separate them before the next litter is born. One of the daughters can help mom to raise the pups. It's also possible to let the male and female mate and then put them back with their companions. I've heard that females usually raise pups together fine, but since I have recently heard also about complete fiascos, I think I'm not going to do that anymore. Perhaps the cases where all went fine were the cases of the dominant female getting pups? Many people say it's not possible to let male and female only together for mating, because they will fight. As far as I know, it IS possible; female will accept male once in heat. But since gerbils here in Finland have never been bred by keeping pairs together for life, I guess that has an impact; females who constantly attack males are not allowed to breed. Breeding practises here are a bit different from ones in the US. When gerbils are bred for shows, it's necessary to concentrate on only a few colors. If you want to get good black, you have to use only black gerbils (using only gerbils that are of the same color goes for every color, with some exceptions). Sunni