Boy or Girl? They look the same!
What do you do when you are unsure of the gender of your little critter?
Also what do you do when you are expecting MORE little critters and are not sure what to do when your girls get bigger and bigger?
The first question is not a simple one to answer...
You can wait until they are about 6 months old and have gone through their first torpor (hibernation). Introducing them to a Female will then result in the males secreting a smelly milk like substance from their eye. Note this usually only happens when a new female is introduced so best to keep them separate from their moms for a while and see if they react when reintroduced.
The more impatient and DANGEROUS approach is to wait until the babies are weaned and to introduce them to an adult Male. Once again you will have had to separate them from their mothers long enough for their mothers smell to have dissipated from them. The typical adult Male will milk at in the presence of a new female (even if the female isnt mature). The down side is, if the baby is a Male too then the adult Male will try to kill the baby... This, needless to say, is why I advise against it.
Sexing an adult outside of mating season can be a bit tricky too. There are some minor physical characteristics to go on but they often prove to be a poor method for sexing. During mating season however, males and female look very different, see image below.
Note the swollen eyes of the Male. This is caused by the glands that secrete the milk like substance swelling. Here you can also see that the male has a shorter face and patches around his eyes that are lighter than the rest of his face. These characteristics are sometimes used to sex when not in mating season and if no female is available. It is however not reliable as, just like humans, sometimes a boy can look extra girly and a girl extra masculine. Bruce looked Exactly like a female when we got him because he is already quite light and we couldn’t see his eye patches.
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| Bruce | |
Then later on he developed swollen eyes and surprised everyone! Hedgwick on the other hand is quite dark and his patches show quite prominently.
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| Hedgwick |
In the end we had 2 boys and a really good life lesson.
If you have a Female available I would recommend the separate and reintroduce method of sexing and not the Male or physical appearance method.
Now for the second question. We are expecting for the first time with females that (luckily) have had 2 previous litters. (So they know what they are doing). For now I have decided to document the journey. Our girls arrived with us a few weeks ago I suspect already pregnant. Since then they have gained weight and are now at around 210g - 230g. Our breeder told us that is about the weight that they normally reach before "popping" so to speak. So at the moment we are eagerly awaiting and checking every morning and night for little creatures.
Their appetites have increased significantly and even Mrs Stingy Bubbles is now eating mealworms and egg! Their previous litters were about 4-6 babies so we are hoping all goes well.
I will keep you posted with more info on the girls as it develops. :)
