Yes, there really are such things as gerbil shows.
These are places where people can show off their wonderful pets with the best coats, best colors and best characters. I think showing is taken a lot more seriously in the US than the UK, but it is where people can show off their ‘new’ colors and markings too.
Breeders who attend these are VERY experienced in how the genes work to create the best ‘standards for each color group (not necessarily the genetic color – which is explained later).
Showing isn’t about genetics – it is about appearance – just like any other beauty pageant.
How Do You Show A Gerbil?
Well, personally, I have never fancied it before as I thought it would be very difficult to get into and sometimes these places aren’t very welcoming for a newbie and everything seems confusing.
For some reason the people organising animal shows seem to cater for the people already there and who know everything? They don’t seem to cater for all the new people they should be attracting to the fold – to help raise funds and to keep the shows fresh and well attended.
So I am hoping to change that starting with this article.
To start then I am going to talk about some of the wording used and a bit about how to actually find out about the shows in the first place:
Join Your National Gerbil Society
Why? Well, with the support of their members they can research more about gerbils and help pull together the knowledge from experienced breeders and share this with everyone else so that our gerbils can be off the best standard and everyone who wants to can always learn more. Also, without a decent pot of money to keep the administration of such a group afloat and to produce journals and judges etc, how can we expect to be represented in the field of small animals. If you think anything is important, you should support it. Your national gerbil society will also have details of all the shows they are attending on their website – so you can find one near you. Also, you can’t enter a show unless you are member anyway – so there is that.
Attend A Gerbil Show As A Spectator
Not only will you be supporting the gerbil fancy by attending the show and making up the numbers – you will actually get to see a show in the making. You can see what it all looks like, meet some experts, see some rare gerbils and colours you may not have seen – and most importantly – get a look at the competition!
Look At A Show Card To See The Classes Available To Enter
Look at the wording and try to learn a bit more about what they are expecting – then when you attend your first show as a spectator, you can ask the judges about specific things relevant to your needs and so you will build up a better understanding not only of what everything means, but also what the whole set up is for the show – like which containers you should present your animal in and what the judges actually look for.
Join Community Groups On Social Media Or Forum
How else can you learn more about gerbil showing and gerbil colours etc? By chatting to other like-minded people you can get an inside view of things and how showing works.
Enter An Online Gerbil Show Instead
There are often online gerbil shows that you can enter – even in a different country – it doesn’t matter. Get some judges opinions on your top gerbils without even leaving your own home. They can certainly give you a heads-up on your confirmation and colours of your stock so you can look at ways of improving things yourself if you are breeder – or planning to be. Breeding should only ever be done with a clear purpose – and show folk certainly have plans.
Find A Gerbil Mentor Online Or In Person
A local breeder would be best as it is really good to be hands on and actually see things happening. However, chatting to other breeders and showers online is still great and can still help with the knowledge. It’s just that gerbil colours seem in images is no substitute for the real thing – and some classes are all about the colour.
So, What Does AOV At A Gerbil Show Mean?
Terminology for the gerbil shows can be difficult to get your head around at first glance – you need to have chatted a bit to find out a few simple things. It isn’t something I found easy.
So here is a quick breakdown of some of the main things you would need to know:
What Is A Self Gerbil? – this means a gerbil that is all just one colour including the tummy, which in the gerbil world only means Black, Slate and Lilac/Dove (Lilac and Dove are the two extreme of the ‘silvers’ – so you either need a really dark silver or a really light silver – you won’t win anything for anything inbetween). This class also includes Pink-Eyed Whites and Red-Eyed Whites – but I hear that whites are one of the hardest colours to get right?
What is a White-Bellied Gerbil? – this means just that – those solid gerbil colours with a white belly. In gerbils this includes Golden and Grey Agouti (entered in the same class), Argentes in the same way as the silvers so only the very darkest ginger and the very lightest ginger count. It also includes the Dark-Eyed Honey and Red-Eyed Honey in the same class and Cream – but you still need to see the white tummy on them(?).
What Are Any Other Varieties? – this means everything else that isn’t listed above that can be given a standard that can be worked towards. So things like all the colourpoints with EVERY colourpoint in the same class; Nutmegs and Silver Nutmegs together; Saffrons weirdly with the Black-Eyed Whites (?) and then any colour with a (strict) tri-spot pattern on it, and any colour gerbil showing a beautiful ‘pied’ pattern.
How Are Gerbil Show Classes Judged?
Together with the specific colour classes that are in a show – there are also two other things to consider that can mean you can enter more than one class with the same gerbil – so you can win more than one prize too!
When you enter a show – you usually see the words ‘block entry’ which means that you can accumulate entries depending on how good your gerbil is. You just keep rolling over, upwards and onwards…
For an example – let’s say a show had the following classes:
CLASS 1 (U13) SELF BLACK
CLASS 2 (A) SELF BLACK
CLASS 3 (U13) SELF SLATE
CLASS 4 (A) SELF SLATE
CLASS 5 (U13) SELF LILAC
CLASS 6 (A) SELF LILAC
CLASS 7 (U13) SELF CHALLENGE
CLASS 8 (A) SELF CHALLENGE
CLASS 9 SELF CHALLENGE AA (any age)
As you can see there is a class for SELF BLACK, and both males and females are judged together as either shown as adults (A) or shown as pups under 13 weeks (U13).
So, back to you – if you had a stunning Black adult gerbil entered in CLASS 2, she could win the Best Black (A) award.
But it doesn’t stop there.
She may ALSO be judged best female (A) out of all the self classes (so she is judged as being better than the self Slate (A) and the self Lilac (A)) so she wins the Self Challenge (A) (CLASS 8).
But it doesn’t stop there.
If she is judged the best self (A), she then carries over to be pitted up against the best self (U13) which can be any self colour from the list. So it could be your little self Black up against a self Lilac male pup.
So any self gerbil entering this show is entered in one Class (from 1-6 depending on the age of the gerbil itself as well as it’s colour)
If they win their Class – they get entered in either Class 7 or Class 8
If they win this Class – they get entered in Class 9
But it doesn’t stop there!
If they are winner of Class 9 they are one of 3 winners (remember there is a SELF, WHITE-BELLIED and AOV GROUP), so there will be a SELF CHALLENGE winner, a WHITE-BELLIED CHALLENGE winner and an AOV CHALLENGE winner. And it is these three that get entered into the GRAND CHALLENGE.
Massive eh?
Are There Novelty Gerbil Show Classes?
There are also all-encompassing classes for everyone too – so your chances of winning a class are multiplied up a whole bunch of times.
There are classes like Adult Challenge (the best adult gerbil – must have won a Challenge AA prize for this) BUT there are also things like Juvenile Challenge (so no need to have won a Challenge AA for that if all the AA winners were adults); and Novice Challenge which is about the number of shows you have entered previously – so you still have a chance here – especially in the Pet Gerbil (any age) Challenge!
There really is something for everyone.
There is also the BEST IN SHOW trophy for those who really mean business here, however, I am not totally sure if the Best in Show needs to actually be a gerbil?
Can I Show My Duprasi?
Yes, there are classes here for all the gerbils of the world here.
There is a Persian Jird Class, a Shaw’s Jird class and also a Duprasi Class. These are divided up into the age of the handler too, so adult handlers and under 13s get a separate shot at a prize.
Now the standards are not quite as defined for the exotics as they basically are all one colour and not much has happened to the breeds up until now – and of course – there are less of them as competition.
There is also the Exotic Challenge Award for the best exotic of any age handler – where the best of each class are pitted against each other and an overall Best Exotic in Show is chosen.
It is this Exotic Challenge Winner who is entered into the best in show and could beat all the ordinary gerbils.
Now wouldn’t that be something special.
How Much Does It Cost To Enter A Gerbil Show?
At the moment – showing a gerbil in the UK is £1.50 per gerbil – and you could win 10 Awards if you go all the way.
Showing an exotic is currently just 50p per animal – and you could win 4 awards (including Best In Show) so can’t be too bad.
A great day out for just £1.50 sounds too good to be true right?
You’re right. You would usually still have to pay to get into the show in the first place. It isn’t just a table in hut with gerbils on it.
Usually it is part of a much bigger event – either alongside other rodent fancy shows (so you may find 300 guinea pigs around the corner) or part of a larger small animal expo – so rabbits, chinchillas, rats, and then trade stands and clubs and associations to join and ask questions too.
There usually isn’t a great deal of animal sales at these shows, but you can certainly pre-arrange drops off at them and take animals that may be available for sale after speaking to the gerbil society for confirmation – wouldn’t want to be disqualified from the show on your first visit would you?