accidently litter need advice on when to seperate

[becka]

Hi all I was wondering if I could get some advice.

I rehomed a pair of gerbils about 2 weeks ago, they were being given away for free and in a tiny cage.

I put them in my quarantine bin cage and left them to settle for a few days.
When I woke up 3 days later I heard squeaking from the bin cage. It was at this point I realised I hadn't double checked they were both in fact boys.

So I realised that mum was probably already pregnant again after doing some research and thought it best to leave them both together for now.

The pups are now 12 days old and I'm needing some advice on when to separate dad from mum and what age I should take pups away from mum.

I'm hoping to pair up each of the parents with babies once I've worked out what I'm doing.

The parents have become pretty friendly coming up to my hand when I change food and water.

Does anyone have any advice for me

It would be greatly appreciated

[t1gg3er]

Hi. With our last babies we had 2 boys & 4 girls in the 1st litter so took dad, the boys & 2 of the girls out when they reached 4 weeks. Dad then finished raising those pups whilst the other 2 girls stayed with mum to help with the 2nd litter & then became her permanent tank-mates afterwards. The 2 boys stayed permanently with dad. We took the last 2 girls away from dad at 6 weeks & watched them for a week to make sure they were eating & drinking ok before letting them go to live with our son.

We've had litters from 2 of our girls & the earliest the 2nd litter has arrived was 35 days. Last time mum was visibly pregnant again for a good week before the 2nd litter arrived but with our other girl we could barely tell until the day before they were born so they do vary a lot.

If you're unsure about sexing this litter then you could take pics & ask for help on here but even if you get it wrong & later realise you've left a boy with mum (we mistakenly left her with 2 boys the 1st time) you can still leave them to help with the 2nd litter then take them out with any younger boys once the eldest ones reach 11 weeks & then leave a girl or two from the 2nd litter with mum.

[betty]

Yeah, exactly as t1gg3er said above. Once you have sexed the current pups and have decided what you want to do with them (keep or home) then you can decide who you take out with the dad around 4 weeks and who you leave in with the mum.

So how many pups do you have and have you got a second tank big enough to home the dad and possibly 2 of his adult sons (or more if you are planning to keep most of the boys).

I wouldn't plan on leaving more than 2 female pups in with the mum after you have homed both litters though as female clans can be less stable than larger groups of males. Your pup numbers can sometimes leave you with less than perfect amounts of each sex, but see what you have first and you can make any fiddly decisions only if you need to (sometimes the first litter is equaled out by the second litter).

Can't wait to see pictures of the herd...

[becka]

Sorry I haven't been back on here to update sooner. But life can get in the way sometimes.

The babies are 23 days old today and I'm now starting to think about sexing them and when I should remove dad. Also when should I do a clean?

There are 8 little gerbil pups running around and melting my heart.

Mum and dad have been amazing. Both of them and some of the babies will climb onto my hand if I lay it in the bin cage. They are the cutest little things with huge back legs.

I'll try post some pictures if I work out how

[becka]

[becka]

So this is echo mummy gerbil. Sorry my camera wouldn't focus as she always comes running up to my phone when she sees it. Trying to work out what it is



You can see some of the babies around her

[becka]

This is river daddy gerbil. You can just make him out in the blur as he also like to investigate my phone

[becka]

And some of the babies

[betty]

I think we ALL love gerbabies! More pictures are always welcome on here.

Looks like your mum may be a Spotted Siamese or Burmese and your dad doesn't carry any colourpoint genes, so you got all the Blacks and Sapphires/Doves in your litter, spotted or otherwise.

[betty]

As for cleaning, you can do that anytime now if you need to, perhaps a half to 2/3 clean if you want to be cautious depending on how confident you are with the mum - she looks quite relaxed.

While you are cleaning them, you can take out the pups and try to sex them for the first time - if you have a friend with you at the time you could try to get pictures of them, but once you have looked at a few you will start to see when they are different and can compare them side by side if you need. You might need two tubs for them (as they all look similar colours) so don't forget which one you were just looking at!

Have fun.

[t1gg3er]

They're all gorgeous - lovely colours. Have you decided what you'll do with the pups that don't stay with mum or dad? The only problem I have with having pups is I get too attached & struggle to let them go - only 2 of the 18 pups from our 4 litters have moved out & they only live 3 miles away with our eldest son.

Hope you get on ok with sexing them - I can sex them fine using the nipple method at a week old but once their tummy fur comes through I can't tell properly until they're over 4 weeks old & the boys extra bits are visible.

[becka]

So I seem to have successfully seed the babies at 4 weeks.

They are now 5 weeks and still the gender I thought they were.

I separated mum with 2 girls. This left me with 2 girls and 4 boys in with dad. The girls will be coming out at 6 weeks.

Mum seems to be a bit depressed since I separated her from river and the other babies. She has become very scared of me again. I'm try to just let her get used to my hand in the tank but she will no longer come out of her nest to see me.

She hasn't had a second litter yet and isn't looking pregnant still.

I'm hoping to keep some of the babies but will need to find homes for some.

Does anyone know how best to do this

I'm based in Buckinghamshire