I used to breed gerbils (this was my introduction to genetics) and I had close to 40 pairs at one point. They are much cleaner than rats and mice because they're desert animals. They don't drink much so everything is drier. I tried keeping trios, and sometimes it worked if the cage was large enough but other times only one female would breed. The other thing you should know is that gerbils mate for life. You can't introduce them past about 12 weeks of age because they will kill each other.

Personally, I would hesitate to feed them as live prey unless it was a last resort. They WILL fight back!! I have a dog who learned to open the cages and kill the pups, and he did this several times before it caught up with him. One day he went after one of my aduld males and I walked in to find the gerbil latched on to the dog's nose. Trust me, they can do serious damage.

Overall they're pretty easy to breed, but not a great option as a prey item IMO.

Hope this helps,
Shelly

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