All You Need to Know About the Black Gerbil

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Pet owners have a great fascination for gerbils. These are very cute and require fewer efforts from their owners to offer rightful care. They are bound to bring instant smiles to your face with their energy and amazing zest for life.

Gerbils are a treat to watch in their cage! It certainly gives you immense happiness and you keep watching them. In a way, they are:

• Very entertaining,
• Fun to watch, and
• Are extremely child friendly which is why families with children do not hesitate to treat it as a great pet option.

If you have the idea to own one black gerbil, you will find this article immensely beneficial. It covers a wide range of things like, you will get smitten by such a handsome gerbil, the black-colored gerbil is well known for its unique features and attributes, and more.

You will get smitten by such a handsome gerbil

The black gerbil has earned huge appreciation from its owners. They are very handsome and cute. When it comes to comparing them to their colored counterparts, they undoubtedly score brownie points! In a sense, it is their black color that makes them so special. Don’t be surprised to see some strangers showing an active interest to click a selfie with them when you are with your gerbil on a street, for example!

The black-colored gerbil is well known for its unique features and attributes

The black gerbil have certain unique features and characteristics that set them apart from the rest available options of gerbils.

Coming to these features in question, it includes:

• They belong to the Mongolian species of gerbils.
• Also known as little clawed warriors, their scientific name is Meriones unguiculatus.

Today, these Mongolian gerbils are found in several color coatings like:

• Brown.
• Silver.
• Lilac.
• Dove.
• White and
• The popular golden agouti color.

Whether they are rare will depend on the area you belong to

There is a misconception surrounding their availability. For instance, some believe the black gerbil are very rare. The fact of the matter is – their availability has more to do with the area you reside in.

Nevertheless, there is one feature in them that stands out from the crowd! This has a lot to do with their whiskers which are normally very white. As a result, it adds to the contrast of their black coat.

You may even spot white patches in them around areas like:

• Feet.
• Jaw and
• Underside.

Know the story behind their Mongolian connection

It is a well-known fact these gerbils first made their presence felt in semi-desert areas like the steppes of Mongolia.

The prevailing conditions and surroundings of the areas aided their better survival chances.

Let us bear in mind one small fact. The steppes of Mongolia have wonderful environmental factors like:

• Short grasses, and
• No trees or larger vegetation.

This explains why gerbils are found in this part of the globe in abundance!

Everyone is aware ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’.

As they were compelled to meet restrictive environmental features, Darwin’s theory of ‘survival for the fittest’ came into the picture, literally!

For instance, very soon they started developing :

• Unique habits and
• Biological processes.

Consequently, these developments allowed them to fight all adverse climatic and environmental conditions with utter ease.

For instance, they were required to run on the open grass irrespective of the weather.

To overcome this difficulty, they made suitable development in their legs so that it offers accurate length to run on the grass.

Likewise, their constant efforts resulted in having hard teeth that in turn facilitated eating through tough seeds.

Lastly, they were very much successful in developing a unique and powerful water conservation technique. Today, it is this technique that allows them to survive in dry weather conditions.

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The gerbil’s color equation takes a different turn altogether in the wild!

You will hardly find black gerbil in the wild. The ones that are found are in a tan color and not black.

There is a reason they are found in tan color alone. For instance, it permits them to remain inconspicuous against two different things:

• Bare ground and
• Dry grasses.

The physical characteristic possessed by them is worth mentioning

These gerbils have become immensely popular for their distinguishing and special attributes. For example, they boast of a glossy ebony coat.

Remember, this is no ordinary coat as it does two amazing things:

• It offers eye-catching contrast to their yellow perinea hairs, and
• Gives sharp but small patches of white right across their front feet and underneath their chain.

The black factor is often attributed to genetic factors

If you have noticed a black-colored gerbil, you must have come across the glossy feature on the coat.

This is the result of black pigment presence and contains a recessive gene.

In science parlance, it denotes a condition where the gerbil in question inherits two identical copies (alleles) from their parents. It is due to the recessive gene that the coat receives a black color.

In contrast, if the same alleles consist of a recessive and dominant gene, the latter will be a contributing factor to the gerbil’s coat color. In this situation, the recessive gene would play a different role altogether. For instance, it would go to mask the black pigmentation.

They exhibit exorbitant territorial behavior

It is interesting to note, unlike other gerbils, the black-colored gerbils display immense territorial behavior.

This is the sole reason they resort to scent marks in their territory very frequently. According to scientific studies done in this regard, scientists attribute this mindset to their genetic factors.

Learn some more crucial details about your gerbil’s scent gland

Your black-colored gerbil’s scent gland plays an instrumental role in their behavior. Normally, the gland in question is:

• An oval-shaped.
• Hairless patch, and
• Can be found in the midriff.

Whenever you see your gerbil rubbing its gland against a piece of furniture, it has a definite meaning to it.

For example, they do so to make other gerbils present in the cage know the entire cage belongs to them exclusively! This includes almost everything!

Yes, scent marking is a habit that every gerbil portrays, irrespective of their sex or color. Nevertheless, scientists believe that black-colored gerbils have a greater tendency of scent marking.

This scent marking job is carried on by almost every male gerbil. They do this mostly when they are supposed to be sharing their living space along with other males.

Get aware of some noteworthy features of their fur

Please take note of some features of their fur, including:

• What you term as ‘black’ is more of a darker version of blue.
• They have darker fur.
• This is the reason they are called silver or gray as well.
• The gerbil’s dark fur is the most noticeable feature.
• You can not call it ebony but it is more of a black piano key.
• To be precise about the color of the fur, it is more of a black and contains a hint of brown as well.
• The fur covers the two most significant areas of its body:

1. Face, and
2. Back.

Some insight into their patches

Its patches exhibit certain traits like:

• They consist of a dense black coloration.
• The patches are often located in areas such as:

1. Ears.
2. Nose, and
3. Mouth.

Of course, these areas have mostly brown patches. Whether they are more apparent or not, it will all depend on the genes they have.

Get familiar with their popular names

Well, the color of the gerbil may be black. Nonetheless, this does not stop you from choosing a fantastic name for your gerbil, doesn’t it?

You have all the freedom to call it by any name you wish to. Ideally, consider a name that merits it. The best thing to do in such a situation is to go with popular choices.

The list includes names based on categories like:

• Human names: It can be:

1. Harry.
2. Doug.
3. Bella.
4. Lucy, and more.

• Based its personality: Take from popular pick like:

1. Bouncy.
2. Dash.
3. Digger.
4. Sleepy.

Opt for a gerbil’s color of a fur-centric name such as:

1. Snowy.
2. Midnight.
3. Cocoa.
4. Honey.

• Fictional characters: Derive some inspiration from your all-time favorite fictional characters like:

1. Hermione.
2. Gandalf.
3. Arya, and more.

• Funny name: Show your funny bones by opting for funny names based on:

1. Random household objects like a ‘Toaster’.
2. Food names like ‘Porkchop’.
3. Puns on real names such as ‘Ger-Bill Gates’

Irrespective of what name you go for, make sure it is small. Avoid long names, as it adds to confusion rather than conveying the meaning behind it.

Make sure to opt for distinctive words. They make it a lot easier for the gerbil as well. For instance, they can recognize shorter words and understand them well.

Wrapping Up

Color does not matter. as long as you are happy and content with your gerbil, nothing matters at all.

Keep the different aspects discussed above when you are about to select a black-colored gerbil.

Treat it at par with any other gerbil as it is possibly the only pet that boasts of great energy and activeness.

When you spend quality time in their company, their smile, funny acts and energy-filled actions will make it worth owning them!