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Post by KatnissUna on Sept 28, 2023 11:10:35 GMT -8
My gerbil Skye had her babies this morning, I accidentally left dad in a little too long, so she is probably pregnant again already, but she had two pups. They both seemed fine, eating well etc, however, I took them out to weigh them quick, and I noticed one of the pups' foot was completely gone, probably chewed off I'm guessing. There was some blood on her tail, as well as on her fingers and toes. The other pup has all her limbs thankfully, however there is also blood on her fingers and toes, and tip of her tail. I heard it is pretty rare for the parents to eat their pups, and I have never had this happen before except when the pups had been dead upon arrival. We put down the pup with the missing foot. I also heard that the one remaining pup isn't likely to survive due to lower milk supply of mom, but now I am also concerned about the blood on her toes, tail, and fingers. I have no idea what I should do.
update: we had to put the other pup down, her toes were getting eaten. What to do for the future litter?
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Post by betty on Sept 30, 2023 6:29:07 GMT -8
Sorry for the late reply - and sorry you had this happen, but sometimes a gerbil mum feels that her litter isn't what she wants.
There are also the odd times when the mum just isn't able to raise a live litter to weaning age at all and she will lose almost every litter - or at least the most part of every litter. The fact that gerbils often have the second litter as routine - it is terrible knowing that this isn't something you can do anything about before they are born anyway.
Gerbil pups are notoriously difficult (if not impossible) to hard rear from birth too unfortunately so it really is a sit any wait scenario - unless you have or know of another gerbil mum who wil be giving birth within days of Skye that can adopt them?
I have had this happen only once with a female of mine - only 1 pup out of 9 survived unscathed. She was from the second litter, which was larger, so I think it was just a numbers game. So sad.
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Post by KatnissUna on Sept 30, 2023 7:49:22 GMT -8
Sorry for the late reply - and sorry you had this happen, but sometimes a gerbil mum feels that her litter isn't what she wants. There are also the odd times when the mum just isn't able to raise a live litter to weaning age at all and she will lose almost every litter - or at least the most part of every litter. The fact that gerbils often have the second litter as routine - it is terrible knowing that this isn't something you can do anything about before they are born anyway. Gerbil pups are notoriously difficult (if not impossible) to hard rear from birth too unfortunately so it really is a sit any wait scenario - unless you have or know of another gerbil mum who wil be giving birth within days of Skye that can adopt them? I have had this happen only once with a female of mine - only 1 pup out of 9 survived unscathed. She was from the second litter, which was larger, so I think it was just a numbers game. So sad. that makes a lot of sense. There isnt another gerbil I have that would have babies around the same time, so I guess it really is just going to be a "wait and see" thing like you said. Thank you for the reply though! |
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Post by TJ's Rodent Ranch on Sept 30, 2023 12:50:09 GMT -8
Hello there. I'm so sorry to hear about this.
I recently went through something similar with one of my females (ziggy) earlier this year, and no I wasn't able to save all the babies in either litter, but I did save some.
The first litter was chaos, in which, near the very end when Ziggy had killed all but one of the four, we took the last one out and tried to hand-raise it ourselves. Unfortunately, this is where our two situations differentiate since mine were already almost four weeks old. We were able to raise him, and he's now one of my sweetest males. Ziggy's second litter we anticipated, and were ready when she started attacking them in the second week. After the first litter disaster, we decided to breed a second female (skittle) right away so that when Ziggy was giving birth to her second litter, Skittle would be giving birth to her first litter. This worked quite well, and we were able to put all but one of the five babies in with skittle. Sadly, the fifth didn't make it, but the other four Skittle raised quite well. I don't know if you're able to do this or have the supplies/breeding pair needed. To me, it felt a little extreme, but I really wanted that last litter to survive.
Honestly yes it is rather "wait and see" which is sad when there's not a whole lot you can do. If she doesn't start injuring them until the middle of the third week, I would recommend trying to hand-raise them. We used small amounts of kitten formula for them, which we heated up with warm water. If you do try to raise them, I'm sure there are people on the forum who have more information on this.
Anyway, there's still a chance she might not attack them, so it might go okay. I hope that this helped, and best of luck with the upcoming litter!
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Post by KatnissUna on Sept 30, 2023 19:59:04 GMT -8
My other question is, is it more likely for the parents to eat the pups if they were born early? I swear Skye gave birth pretty early, we had weighed the pups, and they were around 3.5 grams if that give any information to possibly having been born premature.
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Post by mygerbilprince on Oct 8, 2023 15:37:35 GMT -8
I've never bred gerbils, so I don't have any advice on this topic. I'm really sorry for your loss, I hope future litters will be happy and healthy. Good luck!
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Post by TJ's Rodent Ranch on Oct 9, 2023 11:02:23 GMT -8
It's very possible... I couldn't answer for sure, though. I've heard that if a mother thinks that the pups won't survive, she'll eat them. An early birth could cause her to think that. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell due to so many possible reasons. A lot of times if a mother is stressed, or just isn't satisfied with the litter, she'll eat them too.
Keep an eye out for any irregularities like this, as it could bring up an answer. I hope the next litter goes so much better! How much longer does she have till her due date? (If you were able to get one)
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Post by KatnissUna on Jan 11, 2024 11:31:22 GMT -8
Sorry for such a late reply, but I thought I would update that she did seem to lose that pregnancy, which is kind of sad, but also in a way better than having to watch the pups potentially get harmed again.
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Post by TJ's Rodent Ranch on Jan 12, 2024 20:50:01 GMT -8
I'm so sorry. I hope this doesn't discourage you in breeding. I'm not sure if this is your first, but I had a rather terrible experience with my first litter, and when the babies died I convinced myself that 'if that's how it is, I can't do it'. I almost gave up breeding, but luckily when my other female (who was bred at the same time) had her litter, which went beautifully, it convinced me otherwise. I kept going and pushed through the hard parts, and it has been soo worth it.
I hope that you aren't discouraged over this, and again, I'm so sorry. I know how it feels to not be able to do anything, and just have to sit back and watch. It doesn't feel good, and I'm really sorry you had to go through it.
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Post by betty on Jan 15, 2024 6:01:10 GMT -8
Sorry for such a late reply, but I thought I would update that she did seem to lose that pregnancy, which is kind of sad, but also in a way better than having to watch the pups potentially get harmed again. Thanks for the update - and both a shame and a blessing as you say. Hopefully she in herself is recovered and still living a happy gerbil life - and that this whole experience hasn't changed her character towards humans either. |
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