We are Liz and Pete from Sheffield, England.

I (Liz) keep the website, adding in everything including photos, graphics, videos... You name it, I do it! I am currently at the end of my third year of a degree in Design and Visual Arts - Illustration. Soon I'll be entering the scary world of work, money and having to fend for myself Eeek!

We breed every 6 months or so, for show Gerbils. Our aims are to produce primarily friendly, tame, healthy Gerbils with good size and colour. As with any true breeding plan, we aim to get the healthiest Gerbils, with colour coming last as it should never be a main priority. I also breed mainly for myself, most pups are kept by myself - unless someone should ask for any pups... Basically, I do not constantly spew out pups left, right and centre, each litter is accounted for and the product of a considered pairing in order to achieve my breeding goals. I personally never could understand people who constantly breed and sell or give away all their pups... What's the point??

Each female has a maximum of 2-3 litters in their life, as I do not feel they should have any more than this, and after 2 litters I should have the Gerbils I need in order to show.

I currently breed for the 'ee' coloured gerbils, so that is Nutmeg, Dark Eyed Honey, Red Eyed Honey and Saffron. I would like to introduce 'gg' into my colours too, so I'd also like to get Silver Nutmeg and Polar fox... Man there's loads of colours I'd like!

To date we have entered two shows, and have been members of the NGS for a year and a bit... We've kept Gerbils since September 2001, when I got Orlando for Pete's birthday. Since then we have never been without Gerbils and out of 27 Gerbils we've kept 12 different colours! Which is quite high, considering we kept all 11 pups from our two litters. Currently our oldest Gerbils are coming up to four years old and still going strong - along with their wasitlines *winks* I did not begin to breed until we'd kept Gerbils for the best part of three years - I didn't feel we had the experience to begin breeding as I hadn't and still haven't experienced every single aspect of gerbil behaviour, but I do know enough to be able to see when something is wrong. I've never had any fighting between gerbils, this could be seen as being lucky... But I see it as treating the gerbils that I own well, understanding them and also having some very friendly gerbils. I've also only been bitten once, and this was when admistering ear drops to an injured gerbil - he obviously didn't enjoy it, and managed to wriggle free of Pete's grip where he caught my finger - it was more like a paper cut than a bite, as he didn't manage to chomp down as such! haha

During the three years I also picked up genetics, as part of my knowledge and understanding of gerbils... along with reading almost every single gerbil website out there! You can never know everything about an animal, they will always surprise and you'll always learn something new, so never stop looking. There is also a lot of scientific research out there on Gerbils, you just need to look for it and this will vastly broaden your knowledge...

Anyway, here are our tanks, we try our best to keep them neat, and it's amazing how much stuff you accumulate for them, toys wheels etc.... There's loads.

The yellow tank on the top row is currently empty, WW's in middle row, with gerbils above and below (and my small laptop desk just obstructing some of the view).

Can just about see Roma in a tunnel on the bottom shelf.

As our spare room is now officially 'spare' I might move the playpen down there, or move one of the shelves of tanks down there. There is currently a desk with quarantine gerbils on and a futon. It would be nice to have the futon up in the attic, but it would mean I have to move the playpen down. Too many decisions!

Hmmm do we look like a zoo???

If you would like to contact me please click the link contact me, or alternatively you can find me on this forum: Gerbil Shows UK