mice VS. Gerbils for hognose

[sapphire_moon]

Mice stink, thats my reason. But I know nothing about gerbils.
Do they stink? How many do you get per liter?

I only have one snake now, My hognose, and after being loose for 3 days, he showed up, and a few days later, actually ate a f/t mouse. But I'm sure he won't do it again.

If so, then thats great, but if not, I want to get rid of those stinkin mice.

so would feeding gerbils to hognose harm them? be fine? not a good idea? don't know? what?

[HumphreyBoagart]

Gerbils and mice are about the same size, their litters are about the same size, and their pee's and poo's are about the same size, so their stink will be about the same size too! Gerbils are alot more aggressive though, that's the only difference! Keep trying the f/t mice.

[sapphire_moon]

just because they are the same size means nothing.
Male mice STINK, I can clean their cage and the next day it's as bad as if I hadn't cleaned it at all.

Believe me, I will keep trying the f/t, but he is so DARNED picky! he will ONLY(usually) eat live, and ONLY in his cage! And I figure if I have to feed live, and gerbils are fine, and less stinky, then I would rather have them than mice!

[HumphreyBoagart]

Male gerbils spray too, just like any male rodent.

[DataRipper]

mice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ReneeB]

I breed Gerbils and I've bred nice and rats and I have to say that Gerbils stink the least out of them all. They are also more friendly, and are larger as properly fed adults than mice are and since the are less prone to get fat I find they are healthier than mice. BUT Gerbils will control their populations alot better than mice so be prepared to have them breed slowly unless you remove the young at about 5-6 week (once you are sure they are weaned). I've also noticed that if you remove the males from their mates the females freak out and go canibilistic on the young. Also leave one of the previous litter's females in with mom to help with the new batch. This works great if you want to remove dad just before she gives birth, they seem to need another "adult" around.
Usually I keep one adult male, and 3-5 adult females. They are in groups of 2 or 3 females and then I add the male to either tank for a litter or two then switch, then after about 6 litters I feed off him and grow up a new male.

[sapphire_moon]

see they wouldn't be grown up that big. Only big enough for him to eat.

Ya, i've heard that to, I've heard that they usually make a "bonded" pair. This was just an idea to help keep the smell down.

Looks like it will be stinkin mice still. *sighs*

[snakehunter]

gerbils are very fatty and not as healthy as rats and mice

[sapphire_moon]

really? Where is this information at?!

[rwg]

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

[rwg]

whoops...gerbils aren't on that list.

[sapphire_moon]

i was gonna say, I'm either WAY blind, or it's just not on there! lol

[vanderkm]

Have to disagree on gerbils smelling as much as mice - in our experience they are much less smelly. They are a desert species, evolved to conserve water and urinate very small quantities - while males may mark their space a bit, the overall volume of urine is much, much less than other rodents.

In terms of breeding, a single male and female pair was by far the most efficient for us - gerbils were never productive for us with any attempt at colony breeding, and most breeders recommend a single pair per cage without removing either parent, just taking babies out by the time the parents are ready to pop out the next litter. Both parents are very good with babies, even older youngsters, as long as they have lots of space. They are very aggressive when introduced to new gerbils after weaning age - they will fight to kill.

Our biggest issue with using gerbils for feeders was that some snakes just refused to take them - even at the pinky or fuzzy stage, some individual corns, kings and milks just refused to touch them. Many of our adult corns also reject young gerbils - so be aware that your snake may not be interested in gerbils at all - even if it prefers live.

Other than that, gerbils are very inefficient to breed for feeders because they grow slowly compared to rats or mice, they waste a lot of food (chew it up but don't eat it) and they tend to be dusty because they dig a lot and chew their litter down to fine particles. They are cute and come in lots of neat colors though - we had siamese and burmese when we were breeding them.

mary v.

[sapphire_moon]

but are they ok for hogs? lol

Ya, and the single pair without seperation kinda puts a damper on things anyways. I don't litter after litter, as I am TRYING to get him on f/t. lol

[Peter Ludwig]

I've heard of adding immitation vannila extract to their drinking water will keep the smell down.