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I thought I had two of one kind but they're mounting/mating with each other!!!!!!

I <KNOW> I have two of one sex but they're mating ?!!?!?

*The scent gland is in the middle of the stomach. A gerbil may rub this on the back of another one to try to assert dominance by 'marking' the other one with their scent. If the contact seems to be mid stomach of one to the back of the other, this is dominance marking.

*The genitals are way down at the bottom of the gerbil. If the pelvis is thrust forward and that seems to be the part that the one on top is trying to make contact with on the body or the rear of the other one, that is mating. Often too, the one attempting the mounting will try to lick the genitals of the other one to stimulate them...and to see if indeed the other one is in cycle or in heat.

*If you have two you're absolutely sure are the same sex, the contact will almost always be mid stomach to back of the other one.

*Sometimes males are difficult to figure out if they are male or female as they do not have early testicular development or it's not apparent when they were examined as young pups. IF you take a pup and hold them in the palm of your hand with back down and stomach up, the gonads will usually 'roll right out' from being held close to the body and pop out where you can see them. On 5 and 6 week old pups that if you put them on the back of your hand and lift the tail look female, if you pick them up and flip them over the gonads 'appear like magic'. Now there are some that this won't show either, but. You won't be the first or last to ever have a messed up sexing.

*I always say there are three gerbil sexes: male, female, and oops.

Five to six week old boys. Black on left, nutmeg on right. You can see the penis at the top(the round circle/ button) then the gonads, and at the bottom(white on left, sort of bottom triangle on right) the anus. On their back, the gonads popped right out else both looked like girls! Neither was very happy about being flipped over for these photos either...hence the pictures aren't sharp. Sorry.
Both girls, same litter. Hard to see, but obvious neither has gonads. If you use the width of my third fingernail which is in all four pictures, you can see the relative size and distance of all the holes. Anuses here are about 2-3 diameters from the ureter.
Dark gerbils at 5 weeks are often easier to see, then once they fur over down there, much harder to see. The best is if you have a mixed litter of colors and pied/spotteds, then you can check at 10 days for the nipples and mark down which ones have those. Boys are more likely than girls to be mis-sexed if they are not endowed enough early on.
More pictures to come as I get some better shots and process some of the pup shots for things like a good 10 day old pup underside photo.

 

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