Is it possible my gerbil is pregnant & are they to lonely?

Question
Hi, I bought 2 gerbils last week (they are now 6 weeks, 4 days old) and for the past 5 days it's been obvious it's a boy, but they were sold to me from a breeder 51 miles away so I can't go back to trade...
They were just seperated today, so is it possible the female is pregnant at 6 weeks 4 days?
And I don't know what to do now, because when they were older and I knew more about gerbils I was going to get 2 bos and breed them...but what shoud I do? Buy a boy & girl, put the boy with the boy & the girl with the girl?
You don't have to answer both b/c the second is just opinions lol, but it would be handy if you gave me an idea b/c I have no clue what to do now :(

Thanks!

Answer
Dear Jemma,
thank you for your question.
Mongolian gerbils can breed when they are about five weeks old, so it's definitely possible that she is pregnant. It's good that you separated them because they can mate again directly after the female gave birth. I would introduce the male to his sons once they are five weeks old, the females can stay with their mother. Usually, groups of two gerbils work best, bigger groups are unstable. So you can either pair them or leave them in the bigger male/female groups, but then you need to watch them closely in case of fights. The babies should stay with an adult for at least eight weeks, though, to learn proper gerbil behaviour.


The fact that the parents are siblings is of course not ideal, but hopefully the babies will be okay. Related parents just increase the chance of genetic defects, especially when they already come from an inbred line.There's also the problem of certain colour breeds that produce crippled or stilborn babies when bred with each other. So before you start seriously breeding gerbils, I highly recommend that you find a good breeder who can teach you about genetics and who will sell you animals with detailed information about their genetic makeup to avoid this.

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer