On Raising Gerbils

[cliff]

When I trapped my R-T this past December I bought an albino, male gerbil to use as bait. I was going to feed him to the R-T when we got home, but our daughter wanted to keep him as a pet for the grandkids. I now find myself being offered a female gerbil and wondering if they would make good breeding stock together.

Can gerbils be raised simply and economically to feed to my R-T? Are they a good "nutritional package"? If so, what is the best age at which to use them for food?

Thanks,

Cliff.

[echotadog]

Any age Is edible ... Raising rodents is a smelly , nasty and costly venture .
It can be done . I would focus on field taken game for food , falconry is hunting your hawk in her natural environment , go out and let her catch her food ...

[Deleted]

Apr 5, 2012 17:35:58 GMT -5 echotadog said:

Any age Is edible ... Raising rodents is a smelly , nasty and costly venture .

No it's not

[echotadog]

Ummm Dave , i know you like saying im wrong alot however , Yes it is .... I raised gerbils for food as well as mice . You have to purchase quality bedding and food if you want a healthy food stock . You should change out the bedding atleast once a week. Even with only One breeding Pair the urine and marking scent of the males gets strong quick . Not to mention if more males are born in your project . Gerbils are cleaner than mice but not by much. The way breeding for feed works best is to have multiple breeding pairs . The age a rodent is feedable depends on what you want out of its weight . They are eating age from day one but you get more per bite if you wait 5-6 weeks on up for weight . Again, this is something I have done ( stopped due to cost and smell ) as well as other local falconers who breed mice in mass . If there is a male it smells terrible after 2 days, especially if you breed and raise them in small plastic containers . It's also imperative to know to seperate the breeding males from the fuzzies. They will eat them . The mother will cull the pack as well depending on container size . Mine would birth up to 15 per litter , I would be lucky to have 5-6 grow to adult . As I said before , I get way more nutrient rich food for free by hunting my hawk . Not to mention the hawk I was feeding rodents to , turned on to them and would focus on mousing instead of larger prey in the field . Rodent is a protein rich food , good calcium and casting material . Myself and my home are happier , richer and smell free since I stopped breeding . I also found that
Over the year of breeding that Rodent Pro was a good deal in comparison to the cost per mouse in food bedding and cleaning time ....

[Deleted]

I raise a few rats and don't find the cost bad at all. The shipping from Rodent Pro is so darned expensive, I thought I would try the rats, and it's working out rather well. I have them in an out building though, so what minimal odor there is is not a problem. I could easily feed my bird all year on what she caught, but I like rodents in the 30 gram range for field and lure use, so I euthanize at around 3 weeks old. I use pine shavings for bedding. It costs $5/bag and that lasts at least a month, with 2 female breeders and one male.
What will your bird eat when the rabbit it caught is all gone? Do you order from Rodent Pro still? They do put out a great product, I just hate paying the shipping.

[Falcon Boy]

I think the difference is species. I tried mice and they smell very quickly. I've heard from people who breed rats they they don't smell much at all. I don't know anyone who's done gerbils though.

[Deleted]

Yes that's vary true FB, mice stink a LOT worse than rats.

[echotadog]

I actually raised all 3 , they all smelt as bad as the other .
The cost I was referring to was for a full breeding project to have bedding and quality food , not just one breeding female .
Rodent Pro even after shipping comes out more affordable than breeding 100 plus rodents for the freezer . Best bet is to find a fellow falconer or local reptile store to split the cost of shipping one huge order .
30g range on gerbils Or mice is about 5-6 weeks age .
My Male Rats were nasty smelling dudes although the mice an gerbils were worse ... Watching the males wash themselves in their own urine constantly was enough for me to order pre snuffed .

But each to his own.

Dave L - to answer your question , my hawk caught more than just one rabbit this season so when the rabbit is gone I switch to squirrel , cotton rat or birds in the freezer . A varied diet being my main goal I also feed wild turkey and venison ive harvested to her during the molt . Last year my other RT ate better than I did during the summer with all that plus quail and pheasant being on his menu.

A starling trap is always a good way to supplement the diet to , just be careful about esophagus throat and lungs in them to avoid frounce or avian herpes ,"... what happens in vegas stays in Vegas ... Except Herpes that Sh!t is for life ".

[cliff]

Thanks for all of your input. We've had a rough year here in the Coastal Bend area of Texas - severe drought followed by heavy rains.

The rabbit holes that I've scouted in this area are all flooded, showing water in all of their entrances. Fields that used to hold lots of mice and rats are now covered with crawdad mud towers and water. It looks as if I'll build a sparrow trap this week and set out the trap for nutria as the water in the channel has receeded a wee bit. I really wasn't looking forward to raising rodents...and you all talked me out of it

[Falcon Boy]

thread locked as original question has been addressed