Dakota, Cole, Obikwelu and TyeThis quartet consists of dad and three sons. The three sons are from Dakota and Siena's first litter, just before Siena was due for her second litter I split Dakota and is sons from Siena and the female pups.
They are:
Dakota - Dark Eyed Honey - Genetics will be: AaCCeeGGPp. Dad to pups, he is around 7 months old. Very placid, probably erring more toward being a scaredy cat. When you pick him up he will just sit there and takes a while to eventually try to get off and run away.
Cole - Nutmeg - Genetics will be aaCCeeGGPp. Currently around 2 1/2 months old. Cole is pretty much the explorer of the four, he always wants to come out and will race around on the bed.
Obikwelu - Nutmeg - Genetics will be aaCCeeGGPp. Also around 2 1/2 months old. Obi has lovely colour, a very nice dark nose and general dark colour all over, he also is large in bulk already and is the largest of the three male pups. Hopefully he will be a good show Gerbil as is also is very similar to his dad in temperament, as he will stay on your hand before eventually venturing around.
Tye - Red Eyed Honey - Genetics will be A-CCeeGGpp. Again, around 2 1/2 months old. Tye is the middle pup, he's not shy but also not as excitable as Cole. He is getting quite chunky now, when he was the smallest of all the pups before, he is chunky rather than having a nice bulk like that of Obikwelu.
The four boys seem to be going fine so far. I often see them sleeping together and a nice big gerbil pile and grooming eachother. The three youngsters seem to have learnt a few tricks off their dad, like climbing up onto my shoulders, flipping around on the bed and generally being quite cheeky ;)
Below are photos of Dakota being a good daddy to the only litter he helped raise. Who knows, I may use him at a later date should I decide to breed again, which will be atleast another 6 months, but depending on whether I have any space freed up or not. He was a very good father, and I feel sorry that the second litter never met him, as he has some very good personality traits that I would've liked for him to pass on... Hopefully the females that I left in with Siena will have passed these on instead.
Below are photos of the boys at around 5 weeks old, just after I split Dakota and them from Siena and the girls before Siena gave birth to her second litter:
Cole
Obikwelu
Tye
Here are some photos of them more recently:
I think this is Cole, I can't see the nose well. I can tell them apart by their nose, size and tail.
Dakota collecting some bedding for the nest
Cole, Obikwelu and Tye.
Tye, Dakota and one of the Nutmegs.March 2005
Dakota has been removed from the three brothers in order to be placed with Roma for breeding. So now the three live together in a nice 15gal tank... Which I might end up moving them out of once pups arrive and we have a larger colony of 4/5. Not sure yet though *smiles* But they seem to be going fine and as you can see they're doing great at building tunnels...
Obi is massive, he's a big fat lump! Tye is GORGEOUS, and quite hunky, and Cole is very thin and not as big as the other two... Strange that is, it seems to happen in most of my tanks of three males. York is the same, he's the most active and the thinnest, he never stops chewing and Cole is usually the one begging to come out.
Cole
Obikwelu
Tye
Cole and Tye
Cole
Obikwelu
