Babies on the Way!

[iamthegolden1]

I finnaly found a mate for my Digger! ;D Isabelle. They fell in Love immediately. Isabelle was about 10 weeks when I brought here home and within several weeks her and Digger started to plan a family. Last Monday the mating started. By Tuesday afternoon they were done. I have a pet store that will buy my gerbils from me when they are ready to go. I will keep one female to mate with my other gerbil Badger. So I am looking for a baby boom her real soon. I am so excited.

I do have one problem. The cage smells. I have read through some of the older threads but was wondering if it was okay to clean the cage with the momma pregnant? I have read to make sure I transfer as much of the nesting materials as possible but what if that is the source of the smell? I give my gerbils what is called "Gerbil Blanket", it is a very soft downy material they shred up and sleep in. If that is what is harbouring the odor is there another product I can provide for the happy couple to bring the babies into the world with?

Oh yea, one last question? If she became pregnant on August 9th or 10th when can I expect the joyous event. I want to make sure I am here for her in the event something should go wrong. That, and I would love to witness the event.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[crazycritter]

Congrats on your new gerbil! ;D

iamthegolden1 said:

I have a pet store that will buy my gerbils from me when they are ready to go. I will keep one female to mate with my other gerbil Badger. So I am looking for a baby boom her real soon. I am so excited.

If I were you, I would be very careful about selling to petstores. You never know who they are selling to. Your pups may be sold as snake food, to a home with a tiny cage, a neglectful home, or singly! A single gerbil is a miserable one Is it possible for you to try to find homes for the pups yourself?

iamthegolden1 said:

I do have one problem. The cage smells. I have read through some of the older threads but was wondering if it was okay to clean the cage with the momma pregnant? I have read to make sure I transfer as much of the nesting materials as possible but what if that is the source of the smell? I give my gerbils what is called "Gerbil Blanket", it is a very soft downy material they shred up and sleep in. If that is what is harbouring the odor is there another product I can provide for the happy couple to bring the babies into the world with?

Yes, you can change the litter while the mother is pregnant, but I wouldn't once she is a couple days away from giving birth. You don't want to stress her out, especially since she is a new mom.

What kind of litter are you using? You should only be using aspen (or corncob) as pine and cedar can cause respiratory damage, especially to pups.

I recommend taking the gerbil bed away. Petstore bedding is often dangerous. If they ingest it somehow, it can easily become impacted. It sometimes gets tangled around their feet. I give my gerbils toilet paper. They shred it up into big fluffy
nests!

If your cage is too small, it might be getting smellier faster. The absolute minimum cage size for a gerbil pair is ten gallons, but I reccomend more.

iamthegolden1 said:

Oh yea, one last question? If she became pregnant on August 9th or 10th when can I expect the joyous event. I want to make sure I am here for her in the event something should go wrong. That, and I would love to witness the event.

The gestation period for a gerbil is 24-28 days unless she is nursing a litter. If she is nursing (which I know yours isn't) then it is 30-43 Days.

The best site to look at to learn everything you need to know is queenoftheniles site... www.gerbilbreeding.com

[iamthegolden1]

My matting pair is in a ten gallon tank with a tube that attaches to a critter one cage. The critter one contains thier wheel, food, and a tube that goes up to the "potty". Digger has been teaching Isabelle that this is where we do our business and no where else!

I am very familiar with the pet store I am using and the owners. Yes, I agree that you don't have control over whom may take your gerbils home, but even if I put them in homes myself I have no way of telling the treatment they will recieve once they leave my home.

I have my gerbils in an aspen and corncob bedding. I line the bottom 2 - 3 inches with corncob because of the absorbtion it provides and then I put in 2 - 3 inches of aspen. Digger seems to have a problem with the aspen bedding in that he gets a sore nose from it. I use neosporin and it heals very quickly. He only minds me putting it on for the first day or so. After that he seems to know that after I put the medicine on it feels better so he is actually quite receptive to it. I just bought cedar to put them in thinking this would help Diggy's nose but I guess it will go back to the store unopened in exchange for the Aspen again.

Badger is a 20 gal tank. He is all alone for the moment but once the babies are ready to be moved I will give him a female. I rescued Badger from a pet store. He had killed another gerbil and had been put in the back of the store in a tank all alone. I asked to see him and he took right to me. The guy who took care of the Gerbils said I was the first person in 4 weeks that he hadn't bit immediatly. Badger rode home from the store in my lap. I didn't even have to put him in the box they gave me. He just sat in my lap, just happy to be loved by someone. Badger doesn't know what to do with a wheel so that is why he is in the larger tank with no wheel. He has lots of tunnels dug and several levels in his tank due to stacking boxes and tubes through out the tank.

Well, I will get Izzy and Diggy's tank cleaned out in the morning and take away the bedding. Looks like it is toilet paper central for my little Isabell.

Thanks. Sorry to ramble. I love my babies.

[sweetie]

Hey congrats on the babies!! We all love pup pictures!!! Hint hint. I like the Aspen. I tried Carefresh which was supposed to be better ( so of course it is more expensive) and it gave all of my 4 sore noses. You mean like red and stuff right? Well I guess Carefresh is the best for pups since everything else tends to give them a respiratory infection??? Not sure why.
Queenies web site is really good if you want info on breeding.

Don't worry about rambling. We all love our babies, Kind of cool how Badger sat on your lap th whole way home!! BTW he has such an appropriate name!!

[iamthegolden1]

Yes, Digger's nose gets red and crusty. It was so bad yesterday it was bleeding. I treat him 2 - 3 times a day with the neosporin and it seems to help to clear any infection that may be there or prevent one from developing. The neosporin also helps it to stay moist so it doesn't crust and cause breathing problems.

I didn't change the bedding out today becuase the gerbils were very tired today. Digger sleeps alot when his nose hurts. Isabelle is busy building a nest and driving Digger nuts. She runs around the cage pushing him to come and play. He sometimes just ignores her. She is much younger than he is. Yes, I will try and get some pics out of the babies. I am not sure of the Lineage of my gerbils because they are from the pet stores and not from a private breeder. Maybe someone could help with the coloring of them. They both look the same in color so I assume the babies will be much the same as mom and dad.

Badger is either a Black Pied or a slate. He is black with white markings. The markings on his face are those of a Badger hence the name.

Well, its bed time for bonzo here, 6:00 AM comes early when you go to bed at Midnight. I have a cake and cookie order to deliver in the morning befor I start my shift at work.

[queenofthenile]

Another thing you can try is shredded up white paper. This needs to be changed way more often (every 3-4 days) but is very hypoallergenic.

It sounds like you will be getting all black pieds. Just be aware that your litters will be a bit small because two copies of the spotting gene results in the absorption of the fetus early in pregnancy.

[iamthegolden1]

I have changed over to all corncob bedding for Digger and Isabelle and have given them tissues and 2 cake boxes for nesting. I will see if this doesn't work for them. I did find the carefresh, but much of what was said in referance to the carefresh is true. It is very pricey. Nearly $20.00 per bag. It is a very large bag but I am not sure how often it needs to be changed out. I will try just the corncob bedding to see if there is an improvement first.

Isabelle is becoming very fat and sassy. I should have babies in 2 weeks. She is not the black pied or slate that is the single male in the other tank.

Thanks for all the help thus far. I will keep everyone posted on the progress of the babies and Diggers nose trouble. I would sure like to get him healthy befor the babies arrive.