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Post by paperdoves on Jul 24, 2014 17:36:37 GMT -8
If you are supposed to leave the dad in to help with the babies, how do you prevent continual litters? Doesn't the mom come back into heat the day after the babies are born? I didn't ask this in time, so I'm sure that my new mom has another litter on the way, but what do I do after that? I don't actually want never ending babies, as cute as they are.
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Post by Demonic Hope on Jul 24, 2014 19:27:32 GMT -8
It depends. Are you planning on getting the male fixed and reintroducing him to the female?
If not, then what is done is you wait until the female is about to give birth again, then split cage the tank if big enough with Dad on one side or most commonly remove him and the male pups and place them in their own tanks. A daughter or two is left behind to help the female with her next litter.
The pups will be weaned by then, and the males living with Dad will learn gerbil behavior from him, until they are rehomed at 6 weeks-8weeks depending on the breeder. Though a male pup or two is left behind to live with dad.
After the second litter, the pups stay with the female, until weaning time, when the males go to their new homes. You then choose a female or two to live with mom, while the remaining females get rehomed, and there you go. You will have stopped the cycle.
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Post by paperdoves on Jul 25, 2014 10:25:56 GMT -8
Okay, thank you. I don't plan to have him fixed, I plan to keep a male baby for him. And then to introduce the mom to my other two female gerbils who live in a separate tank. At the time that I introduce her to them, I plan to put all of them (plus any female babies that we end up keeping) into a different, bigger cage. This brings up some more questions, I guess:
1) How many gerbils can live together permanently? Assuming that there is plenty of room. Is this answer different for males than for females?
2) At what age can I start splitting babies up? I know not to rehome until at least 6 weeks, but it sounds like they can be split up sooner than that, is that correct?
Actually, maybe I'll leave my present females (they're a bonded pair) in their existing tank, and keep a female for the mom and put them into a new cage. That sounds easier. But my previous questions stand.
I must sound terribly ignorant, I apologize. I really did not intend to breed, and I'm trying to learn as much as possible now.
3) Someone that I know who has hamsters, told me that in the case of hamsters you start handling babies when their eyes open. Is this the same for gerbils? I asked this in a separate thread but have gotten no replies. I really want to do this right, for optimally friendly babies.
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Post by betty on Jul 25, 2014 11:25:51 GMT -8
No, don't mix your mum with an existing female pair - it could be a VERY bad idea for all 3 of them - and defo no babies in there too.
You would be best to keep the mum and her female offspring in the new tank and leave the existing pair of females as they are.
As for how many females in a group - they are very variable and could live together in large groups for anything from 6 months onwards - but pairs and trios are more likely to last.
As for males I have had much better success with father/son combos of different sizes; but I did have 8 males live 'happily' together for nearly 2 years before squabbling set in. I took out the 2 most bullied leaving 6, but then that changed everything and eventually they squabbled and squabbled until I had 3 pairs and 2 singles left. Ho hum - they were happy for longer than they were squabbling.
As for the the pup question, for me it depends on whether you have a second litter on the way and/or any other litters you are trying to mix them in with so it could be from 5 weeks, other wise I leave them with mum up to 8 weeks. Some people handle them from birth too, other leave it until they are walking around - it depends on your own preference.
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Post by paperdoves on Jul 25, 2014 19:02:04 GMT -8
Thank you. I presently have:
2 females in a tank together happily.
1 male and 1 female together with a litter of week-old babies.
I figure that I have another litter on the way by now.
I'll keep a male baby for the dad, and a female baby for the mom, and will put the respective pairs into their own tanks. So I'll have three tanks, each containing a pair of same-sex gerbils.
Does that sound about right? Hopefully after this next litter I'll be able to interrupt the cycle.
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Post by betty on Jul 26, 2014 0:12:18 GMT -8
BEFORE the next litter. You need to take the dad out when your female starts to swell up again - don't let her have the second litter with him still in there otherwise you could get a third litter...
Ideally, when you take him out you would have sexed all the first litter pups (depending on how you were going to rehome them - which is usually in pairs). That way, you know if you need to leave a male or female pup in with the second litter to make another pair. For example if you have 4 male pups and you want one for the dad - you will have a spare male remaining (if you do a pair thing). So do you leave him with dad (making a trio), rehome him with the other 2 males as a trio to a good home, or leave him in with the second litter and pair him up with a younger brother? Same with the females.
Some people don't like to 'buy/home' trios, or more, as the tanks need to be so big, so just bear this in mind when splitting up the pups. Dads are really great though so you might be able to mix him with the second litter pups when they are old enough, even though he hasn't been with them for a few weeks (if you had rehomed all the first litter males that is).
I'm not saying these are you only options, but do bear in mind who goes with who in the first place, as sometimes even litter mates won't go back together nicely once they are over 8 weeks (if they have been apart for a while). So try not to split pups from pups before you need to.
You might need a spare holding tank or two as well hanging around, depending on how long it takes to home your pups, as if you haven't homed the first males by the time the second males are old enough to leave mum, they will need somewhere (if they don't mix back together with dad's lot) - and if your first litter is female-heavy, you might not want to leave 4, 5 or 6 females in with mum when her second litter start walking around - especially if she has 6 more pups. 11+ gerbils walking around in 1 tank will be too many...
We'll have to wait and see what you have.....
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