|
Post by jaguarakat on Sept 11, 2014 10:34:43 GMT -8
okay so I adopted 3 gerbils from my local humane society, a mother(India), her daughter(Juju) and her son (Mojo). The son was separated from the girls by the shelter about 3 weeks ago. However when I went to meet up with a local breeder to pick up the male friend for Mojo she advised me that Mojo looked to be about 4 months old, which is a lot older than what the humane society told me which of course doesn't really bode well for possibility that my girls may be pregnant.
I've been keeping my eye on the girls to see if either of them or both are developing signs of being pregnant but is there any thing in particular that I can look for other than the pear shaped bodies? Like behavior?
Also I really would like to keep my girls together, what would be the possibility of being able to reintroduce them in the event that I do have to separate them? If they both have litters since they are mom and daughter can they still be together or is separation a must?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
|
|
|
Post by betty on Sept 13, 2014 1:40:49 GMT -8
OK, gerbils are normally fertile from about 3 months at the earliest, so it your friend thought he was 4 months and the rescue separated him 3 weeks ago that is virtually on the earliest date for fertility. So it is highly unlikely that anyone is pregnant.
However, these things do happen, so you should be on the lookout for one of the females to start getting chubby around the back end - like a pear - so normal looking down to the ribs and then swelling from the waist to the 'bum'. This starts to happen around a week before the birth so giving you time to plan.
I haven't really read anything good about leaving 2 females together when one has had a litter - but mother and young daughter are probably the only exception - but please wait for others to advise on that. Usually when the litters are concurrent leaving older females in is fine - I currently have a 13 week old pup in with mother and her newest litter are 2 weeks old - but if the daughter in your example is pregnant too then I doubt this would work so smoothly.
I would see what others say - but it is very unlikely that the sister is pregnant at least. I think you should wait for swelling before you worry about plans for splitting them up etc. And set yourself a date for 'no more worrying' - so 2 months from when they were split from the male and no swelling would mean that you are most likely in the clear.
Keep us updated....
|
|
|
Post by Shooting Star on Sept 13, 2014 6:04:59 GMT -8
Gerbils are only pregnant for about 26 days (when it's not a back-to-back litter), so if your girls don't look pregnant yet, they're *probably* not. Some gerbils don't "show" very much though, or only chunk up immediately before birth. Once it's been 4 weeks since the boy was split, you can relax.
|
|