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Post by Terri on Jun 20, 2004 0:48:26 GMT -8
I need some help! i bought 2 gerbils which petshop sexed as two males.. This morning we found 4 babies. What can we do so this doesnt happen again? when can we take the male out to stop any more breeding? or should we not? sry for all these questions this is first time having gerbils that has resulted in having babies.. What the do's and the dont's? All info on surpised babies and what to do all welcome!!! LOL
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Post by j on Jun 20, 2004 4:27:26 GMT -8
lol don't bother taking the male out now. They mate again the second after birth. So she's most likely already pregnant again. If it looks as if she just gave birth and they're mating.. you might have a chance of her not being pregnant again but since you found them in the morning.. it's probably too late.
You'll have to remove him when the babies are about 5 weeks old. Just put the father and sons in a new tank and leave the females with the mom to help raise the next litter. And learn how to sex them so you don't have any imbreeding going on lol.
If they're not too tame, then you should just leave them alone for a few days. Don't rearrange anything in the cage.
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Jun 20, 2004 8:36:54 GMT -8
I agree with J! I would do what he is telling you! ;D
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Post by Terri on Jun 20, 2004 10:32:02 GMT -8
Right i get ya LOL its too late now ok we missed counted as we didnt want to disturb her so soon.. we have 5 little ones.. and we have just bought another cage.. so what im gathering is, ok! its to late now she could be pregnant so wait until 5 weeks and then remove the males out of litter? and the male and put them in another cage oook . so if she is pregnant 2nd time is hopfully it be time when we can take the males out and the pups at 5 weeks?. i know its like 24 days or somthign like that for her pregnancy and keep the girls as they could help with the new litter with the mother?.. Sry if im sounding thick im still in shock LOL Do we still clean the cage out? or will we just leave the bed alone and change the rest for now?. I have got some vitiamins for the water is taht ok? when we got the gerbils the white one was or looked to be older as the female brown with a white stripe was smaller but then is that because she is female?. i never had to think to deep into gerbils breeding habits before LOL so any more info if you dont mind ill post here.. i have read some of what you have said in other posts and im ready by the great help of your pictures is to recognise the sex of them.. well i hope.. Thanks for the help and help in the future ..
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Post by j on Jun 20, 2004 14:18:58 GMT -8
Yeah it's too late to remove the male. She has to be pregnant by now. It's a ritual to mate again the second after birth. At about 5 weeks old if the pups look like they're doing good, eating on their own and everything, remove the males and put them with the father in another cage. Depending on how many females you have.. You could leave them all or only 1 or 2 with the mom. (I left 3 daughters..which most people think is too many) You want the father gone before the next litter comes. If you take him out while she's giving birth or something, that might just stress her out. It's not exactly 24 days for the 2nd litter.. it can vary a lot. The second litter is delayed a bit untill the first litter is weaned. Just count 5 weeks from today and remove them then. Could take them out a little earlier if they're not drinking milk anymore. Or if the mother seems to be chasing them off and getting annoyed with them. The litter I have now quit drinking milk at 4 weeks old and my first litter quit at like 5-6 weeks. So just depends on the gerbils. If you watch them you'll be able to tell if you should or not. Sexing - Start trying to sex them around 8 days old just so you know how many males and females you have. Females you'll be able to see all 8 nipples. Cage cleaning - Again it depends on your gerbils and how tame they are. If they're used to you and not skittish, then you can probably clean their cage out within a few days. If they seem too skittish and are trying to hide the pups..then don't. Also if you clean it, make sure to wash your hands first and remove the adults first. Put the pups somewhere else. Then put the pups back in, then the adults so it doesn't look like they were moved. You could just put some kind of box in there with toilet paper...they'll make a nest out of that for the pups. Only thing that sucks is you'll have to change the toilet paper every few days. But they like it. ;D What kind of bedding are you using anyways? Pups are prone to respitory infections and they can get it from the wrong bedding. Vitamians - ya don't need. Could use them if you want though. The mother needs more protein right now .. Could feed her something like crickets. The white one probably looks older because it's a male.. Males are kind of bigger than the females. Not fat..just bigger. K. I think that's it..lol.
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Post by Terri on Jun 22, 2004 0:51:26 GMT -8
I'm using cotton wool which supposed to be safe edible vegetable fiber lol and this shredded paper stuff.. it is 2 days so far and all pups seems to be doing OK. we have left mother and dad to themselves with them as the mother goes bit skittish and runs back to make sure they are still there when we are about.. She also made 2 nests which she moves the pups to either one of them like rotating the nests? not sure why?. You said about sexing them at 8 days, i was thinking of doing this on Sunday, but i don't really want to stress the mother out if she is not ready for us to interact with them.. We only got the gerbils just bit over a month ago if i remember correctly. at first they was really skittish but the male seems to be more comfortable with us and comes out and is inquisitive and that.. The mother i thought she was still little skittish but I'm just wondering if it was because she was pregnant? and not wanting to be handled. so it looks like to build up a comfortable safe environment for her is going to be long one if you understand what i mean? i could say relationship LOL but hmm.. We used to have 3 gerbils some years back which they was all girls and they wasn't so stressed in coming out.. Guess this might take some time and Patience, i just don't want them to be bored which we could offer some time for them to run about in a closed secluded area where it be fun for them.. Also i bought some dried cat food which was suggested to me which will give her protein but err she hasn't touched it? I'm bit more concerned in how to give it to only her and not to the male or is it OK that the male will eat it?. Thanks for all the help in your other posts.. Its great to be able to ask these things on a forum and hey i will prob keep you all updated on how things proceed to this wondrous accident LOL..
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Post by j on Jun 22, 2004 8:53:43 GMT -8
Yeah if she's acting stressed she probably wouldn't want you touching them.. it might make her attack them or something. Inever had a gerbil like that so can't really help ya there. But moving the pups and making new nests usually means they're stressed, nervous or not happy about something. Does she have any good boxes she could hide in? Try just putting a small completely enclosed cardboard box with just a small hole in it for her filled with unscented toilet paper. Or try covering half/most of the cage with a towel to keep it dark, that usually calms them down. Don't let them out of the tank yet.. wait a few weeks untill the pups are older. She'll be to stressed being away from the nest, same with the father. Dried cat food.. doesn't matter if the male eats it or if the female doesn't. I never used the dry cat food thing and the mother had no problems. ;D
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Post by penguin on Jun 22, 2004 9:19:04 GMT -8
I had the same problem you did. We bought two supposed boys and ended up with babies. If she doesn't like the cat food you could try a little piece of plain scrambled eggs. My gerbils love the stuff and it is high in protein.
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Post by queenofthenile on Jun 22, 2004 18:04:32 GMT -8
I just want to add that you may want to take the male out a few days before 5 weeks. My female popped the babies out every 35 days on the dot, so if you remove at 5 weeks, you may have to deal with another litter . I would say to remove at 33 days, just to be on the safe side.
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Post by terri on Jun 23, 2004 5:12:58 GMT -8
Thanks alot for the info and err no no more surprises after the 2 sets of litters LOL... the gerbils was for my daughter to help her take responsibility but hey she is loving the idea of little babies and having few more than we planned.. HEHE
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Post by terri on Jul 1, 2004 0:23:49 GMT -8
Well Ive got a update confirming my suspicions and what you have said about the mother and her moving the babies.. We added a extra cage which they could go through a tube to go to another cage, which when we was checking the babies and trying to sex them to see what we have is that after doing that she totally moved them to the other cage.. which hands up! i have no clue in how she did it, as she had to get up this pipe and then long stretch of twisty bits and then down the tube to enter the first layer of the cage. and then down again another tube to enter main area.. Hmmmmm then when i checked later another day to make sure that the babies was ok from her handling is that she moved them back to the other cage!!!.. LOL i know its not funny but i thought we was making head way with the two in taming them..but thumbs up to Gerry that she hasn't attacked them and she is looking after them very well.. So I'm going to have to NOT go near the babies until she feels more comfortable and with the male moved. which darn how am i suppose to sex them and move the male pups with the male.. In a couple of days i should be able to post some pics of the little house movers LOL
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Post by crazycritter on Jul 10, 2004 23:17:52 GMT -8
To reduce stress on my females, I usually cover half of the tank in a towel, leaving half of the tank uncovered for ventilation. Cover the side of the tank where she has her nest. Don't handle her, and only open the cage to feed and change her water. Provide a nesting box and a lot of toilet paper for nesting. I also take out all of her toys, except for a wooden house. ( I give then a toilet paper tube every second day). I give the toys back , except for the wheel, when the pups are four weeks old. GOOD LUCK!
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Post by terri on Jul 15, 2004 23:26:31 GMT -8
Ok the pups is 4 weeks old and the mother is looking rather round. The pups seems to be taking water and some food. Do you think maybe i could separate the male and the boys this weekend? i don't want any surprises turning up and then she falls for her 3rd litter..
The mother maybe is 28 days and i know its 32 or more days she could give birth but I'm having a dilemma as last time we saw her looking round is that she dropped few days later..
The pups is totally active. If we have trouble in sexing them do you think that if i posted pics of them would you be able to help us?. I'm sure we will be ok but i just want to be total sure .. I'm sure we have 4 boys and 1 girl when they was bold underneath but arrghh I'm concerned that we could be wrong now they are all furry ..
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Post by j on Jul 16, 2004 1:36:42 GMT -8
Yeah, seperate her now. Once they start looking huge, they're due any day. Plus she'll get used to not having the male around and it will be less stress on her.
Depending on how weaned they are and how the mother feels with the pups around.. you can seperate them if you want. Can wait another week or so though..
You don't have to worry about sexing them yet. It's hard around this age. Wait anothe week or so and it will be more obvious. Don't rely completely on the nipple method. The nipple method worked with my first litter, the second litter.. I had 3 boys with a few nipples. By the time the males are able to impregnate, you'll definatly know which are boys.
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Post by queenofthenile on Jul 16, 2004 9:26:09 GMT -8
You can seperate the father now, and move the boy gerbs over to his cage in a week. Adult male gerbs will usually readily accept very young pups (5 weeks old) without a split cage. That way you won't have to worry about mating again, and also you will be able to sex properly by that time.
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