So, These Are Two Males, Right?

[Pedersen]

This thread reminded me of an amusing tale from my own life.

Going back to 1998/1999 or so, I decided I wanted some pet gerbils. Went to the pet store, made sure we were buying two males, brought them home, set up a cage, played with them, watched them, and came to realize we'd bought a pair of gay gerbils.

Fast forward a bit, got up one morning, looked in the cage, and said "Wow, that is the hugest lump of gerbil craps I've ever seen! He must have been seriously constipated!"

And then one of the craps wiggled.

We went from having two gerbils to having 8. Got them neutered, but not before they had mated again. I loved them, but I'll tell you what: keeping 13 or so gerbils is not an easy task. They've long since passed away (the last of them in 2003). Doubt I'll buy another pair, not unless I can confirm their sex on my own. I'd really rather not have another dozen

[BookstoreEscapee]

But they're cheaper by the dozen...

[ArcticChicken]

You got away with only 13? My best friend wound up supplying half the town with gerbils when she got "two females".

[Kara]

I had a pair of gerbils once when I was little. They had a litter and I caught the mommy eating them. Yeah, the daddy and the survivors were separated after that.

[DeltaSierra]

I know the story. My brother and I got "two female" guinea pigs.....

[blas]

I was pretty disappointed at the pet store that a) the snake didn't eat my boyfriend and b) the guy at the pet shop couldn't tell me how you know if a snake is male or female

I was only kidding about instance a. Mostly.

[fireheart]

I had a pair of gerbils once when I was little. They had a litter and I caught the mommy eating them. Yeah, the daddy and the survivors were separated after that.

Ew.

Apparently my boyfriend's sister's pet rats did the same. To each other.

[Merriweather]

I had two gender confused parakeets, at different times.

The first, according to the colour over the beak, was female - but we didn't realize tthe male starts taht colour, then changes by a certain age. So we thought it was a girl, named it Suzie Q, and taught it to say "Suzy Q's a pretty girl". Then we realized our mistake, it was a male, so changed the name to Pete. Taught it to say "Pete's a pretty boy". Poor thing would sit on it's perch saying "Pete's a pretty girl" and "Suzy Q's a pretty boy" and "Pete's a pretty Suzy Q"

So, several years later (after Pete/SuzyQ had gone to that great birdcage in the sky), we had another parakeet. This one definitely had the markings of a maile, No doubt about it, everyone who ever saw it agreed. Then oneday, we noticed something in the cage bottom - it started laying eggs. Over a couple of years, it laid an egg several times. Of course, no babies, as there was no other parakeet involved (unless you count the plastic parakeet, which it would not allow anyone to get near, and cuddled up to all the time ).

[LillFilly]

I had gay finches. When you have 2-males, one will take on the duties of a female (in the wild, they'll even chose their same-sex partner over a female!) and even raise an egg if you give them one! They were such a cute couple!

Oh, I have dwarf hamsters too. No problem telling sex there; Chinese Dwarf Hamsters have balls the size of grapes! I think they use them as counterweights when climbing...

[Kanalah]

Peds, that how I ended up with 27 gerbils.

Although it was my "fault". My 7th grade science teacher wanted to reward all my hard work by letting me take home a baby gerbil. I told her my sister might get jealous, so I should take home one for her too. Mine was female, sis's was male.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Went though something similar . . . but with baby domestic mice.

Somehow my Mom was given a set of 3 mice . . . we thought all were male. After we saw one of them was unusually fat, we determined one must have been female and in the "family way" so we put her in separate quarters.

We ended up with a litter of 4 before we ended up giving them away when they were old enough (and the two other males.) Ended up keeping the female (who my brother decided to call Nicole) for about 2 years before she passed.

But the time she had with us, she had adventures. Namely in the form of our cat at the time - OJ - , who liked to sneak into my room while I was at work and sit on top of her cage (he even knocked it over a couple of times and I'd have to go through the house to find her.)

Even though OJ thought he was smart, hunkering down in the living room in front of the curio cabinet that sat in the corner was a dead giveaway. Put the cat outside, heave the curio cabinet out of the corner just enough and there would be Nicole . . . just waiting for somebody to get her out. And of course, my brother was useless . . . all he'd do is stand there and laugh his ass off.

We have had some times with animals, needless to say.

[Merriweather]

Only "pet" I ever had that actually reproduced was guppies. I was only 5 or 6, and was so horrified (perhaps scarred for life, LOL) to find out the parents would eat the offspring if they were left in the same bowl. At one point that summer, I think every bowl in my mom's kitchen had baby guppies in it, and my sister and I spent most of our summer going all over the neighborhood trying to give away baby guppies. Eventually, my mom insisted the ALL go, even the originals - I never had a desire for fish again, LOL.