Some questions on pairing young female to older malel

[jyrenze]

I have an agouti pup with Aa Ee Pp genes, and would like to pair her with a lilac male to get lilac and argente babies. She is currently 1 month old and the lilac male is around 1 year old. I read on some gerbil breeding sites that its best to pair them when the female is at 2 months of age, however will it be too young for her to get pregnant if it happens then? I'm worried if it will affect her health or the health of her litter if she gives birth at 3 months old assuming she mates at 2 months of age. Should I introduce her to the male at an older age?

[Abbey]

Hi, it would be a bit hard on her body to give birth so young, I personally would put the pair in a split cage for now, so at least the intro will be easy enough when the time comes, which ideally would be at least when she is 4-6 months old.

Hope this helps :)

[jyrenze]

Hm I guess 4 months old would be better then. I like the split cage idea but its hard to make a split for plastic tanks(all mine are plastic, glass is too heavy and my parents disapprove of glass tanks on the cupboard). Will try though, thanks :)

[MBurns]

Why not try using a smaller tank inside the larger tank? I've used this method in the past with no probs.

Mike