However, it is prevalent in animals and can even affect small mammals like gerbils. Even though the idea of cannibalism makes us cringe, your little furry friend can turn into one.
Certain factors can trigger them to eat each other or even their newborn babies. So what are the reasons why gerbils are cannibalistic?
This article examines 10 explanations for why gerbils can perform this unbelievable deed.
Why Are Gerbils Cannibals?
1. Lack of Privacy
Try to avoid approaching new pups in the first week once they are born. You can benefit from having a webcam by keeping an eye on how the infants are doing. In this manner, you can only bring food at specific times to avoid upsetting the mother in the first few hours following birth.
This will permit them to automatically remain calm in this crucial time as long as you do not disturb them in their cage. Consider relocating them to a peaceful area in your home that is quieter.
2. Caged in a Small Space
Ensure they have enough room if you have more than a pair of gerbils. Without enough space, the gerbils might become upset and stressed, which could cause them to make an aggressive decision to kill or eat one another.
Additionally, gerbils have large litters that can contain six or more babies. It can give the impression that their cage is smaller because of the immense potential birth rate. A small enclosure is one of the reasons why gerbils eat their babies.
3. Inadequate Food and Water Supply
This explanation is straightforward: if food is scarce, gerbils will seek out any source of nutrients to survive.
In the wild, stronger gerbils may be tempted to devour their weaker partners if food is scarce.
4. Stressful Environments
Gerbils are prone to being jittery, especially under stress. As soon as you confront your gerbils at home to feed them, you will know if they are stressed. Being in the same space with someone who might be considered a threat can be very stressful.
Limit visits to giving food and water only if you see signs of stress in your gerbil, and be careful not to make a lot of noise near them. Your gerbils might fight if the pressure is too much.
5. Eating Meat for a Long Time
Gerbils that are fully grown adults are accustomed to occasionally eating meat like chicken or eggs. If they consume these uncooked foods more frequently than once per week, they may develop the forced habit of eating their young.
You should only give cooked meats once a week at most just for this reason.
6. Survival of the Fittest
Did your gerbil eat the other one? Unfortunately, gerbils impulsively eat other gerbils. Adults frequently consume young gerbils, usually because there are too many to live and be strong or because one of the newborns is vulnerable or has already passed away.
As a result, do not anticipate gerbils not doing this while kept in captivity since it is an ingrained behavior.
7. Natural Selection
A gerbil typically consumes any infant with congenital disabilities or simply too fragile to care for it. The most muscular puppies will be able to survive according to the laws of nature.
Gerbil mothers consume their dead or stillborn young to replenish the essential minerals they lost during childbirth.
8. Caging Opposite Sex
Male and female gerbils can coexist peacefully during the mating season. But after that season, they could quickly turn against one another.
Males tend to be dominant and may think about eating a baby just because it is desperate for food. As the babies get older, they might even start to worry that they represent a danger to their food supply.
9. Getting Rid of Dead Bodies
Yes, gerbils do eat other dead gerbils. The other gerbils will frequently eat a dead gerbil’s carcass to eliminate any odor a predator might detect. They take this action to protect the other Gerbils.
Even if they are protected in your residence, they will still act this way because it is a natural and animalistic instinct.
10. Human Scent is on the Baby
After some time, a gerbil mother picks up on the scent of her babies and is willing to accept them. But if you hold any of these baby gerbils and your scent lingers on their skin, problems start.
Because the uneasy mother could not identify the original scent of its young, she will get mixed up by this new scent and eat them.
Final Word
These are the 10 reasons why gerbils are cannibalistic. Like other wild animals, gerbils search for the most effective means of surviving.
It is important to remember that, as long as their environment is favorable for survival, gerbils rarely develop cannibalism.
