What pups need

[doomgerbiluk]

It struck me that we have lots now about whether to breed etc
And I firmly believe that we should impress on people the important of thinking breeding through VERY carefully.

But we don't always have readily available advise on what pups need.

So here's my thoughts.

1) Healthy parents. Parents that are both physically and mentally healthy produce the healthiest pups.
2) A mum fed a good balanced diet, subjected to minimal stress and not exhausted from repeated litters. (A break means no litters, pregnancy or nursing for 2 months or more!!)
3) To be allowed to stay with mum for at least 5 weeks, preferably 6 weeks minimum. Pups wean at 4 weeks but need to learn gerbil behaviour too!!
4) a warm nest, soft white tissue is just fine. A reasonably deep substrate to allow for their and mums natural digging behaviour.
5) A simple environment to begin with, or an artifical burrow system (see Egerbil www.egerbil.com/ , for how to build one)
6) a stimulating environment as they grow. I have seen pups as young as 3 weeks picking up seeds and mouthing them, digging and exploring. Once their eyes are open the need the opportunity to explore, including enough substrate to dig. I also add small seeds such as canary mix from 3 weeks to encourage mouthing and tasting. Toys as appropriate ( a wheel can be dangerous for small pups but toilet rolls are great fun!!)


I'll add to this as I think of more

[doomgerbiluk]

Guys when I wrote this post I hoped that people would add to it.
Please do!!

[fran]

ok a water bottle that they can reach! and being introduced to human hands as they grow

[mickeyandlola]

i am not certain because i have never had pups y last girl was an accidental pregnancy and she lost them before they were born. i lost her as well (R.I.P. Lola). a tank to keep them in when they are too old to be together. (even if you have homes lined up in case someone backs out) and i thin k one of the number one things would be they need to have your time.

[ohmylokix]

I like to make one corner of the tank dark so that they have privacy.

[petlover]

Gerbil pups need LOVE. Both from there parents and from us.

[~Amavanna~]

Well I have never bred before, But it is my honest opioion, that before they leave home or when they are 6 weeks old, they s hould all take a trip to the vet, and get a clean bill of health. This is to ensure that any health problems at least have a chance to be caught early on.

[plann2walkonwata]

ok i read that you shouldn't take daddy out... b/c he helps take care of the babies and a lot of times it's hard to reintroduce them together... is that true? I do have another girl gerbil in the tank too... would momma be ok with her if i take out papa? I've had Tofee (cp silver nutmeg), Semi-Sweet [daddy - slate - looks blue in the light though] and BrownieBits [mommy - nutmeg] for a 2 months and a week now... and she's pregnant with her third litter... i thought i just bought a fat gerbil... she had babies shortly after getting her home lol... her first litter though and being stressed... they died after me nursing them every hour for 4 days solid... but anywayz... i don't want her to be all stressed for having babies back to back... but i've seen her mate while having birth and i've read that they can get pregnant while giving birth... so... what's the REAL scoop? The second litter (2 weeks today) love having papa around though... and Toffee (big sister) is REALLY attached to them... so separating ANY of them right now... just don't feel right...

[ohmylokix]

Take the father out and place him with a son when the babies are 5 weeks old. Take the sister out{Even if she's been nice so far!}-- breeding trios with 2 females often end in fights. And Toffee could get pregnant, too, which could lead to a huge amount of pups.

Gerbils shouldn't have more than three litters in a row. Babies that come from overbred animals are often more sickly and weak,

[plann2walkonwata]

I thought gerbils were monogomous... Plus I do plan on removing her soon... and getting her a mate of her own

[Shooting Star]

(Next time, please make a new thread.)

Gerbils are "monogamous" in that they usually have one breeding female and one breeding male in a wild clan.(1) Daughters usually have delayed sexual maturity because of the dominant female's presence.(2) But none of this is guaranteed.

I would take Semi-Sweet now, and put him with his sons once they're old enough. Unless you've seen Semi-Sweet mating with Toffee, she's probably not pregnant, and you should be fine leaving her with the others.


(1) "Gerbils in the Wild."
www.gerbils.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/gerbils/wild.htm#Social

(2) "Socially Induced Delayed Reproduction in Female Mongolian Gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus): Is There Anything Special About Dominant Females?"
www.sociallearning.info/home/pdf/comp_psych%20116(4),%20363%96368.pdf

[sirius]

ohmylokix said:

Take the father out and place him with a son when the babies are 5 weeks old. Take the sister out{Even if she's been nice so far!}-- breeding trios with 2 females often end in fights.

Now son can mate with growing femalepups or mom gerbil. And we wouldn't want that, eh
Breeding with 2 females usually end in fight IF the mom gerbil is not the dominant one. Usually when the boss gives birth pups are growing up fine. There are also interesting results which I read last week; if mom's older sister helps with pups she can take better care of hers when it's time.

plann2walkonwata said:

ok i read that you shouldn't take daddy out... b/c he helps take care of the babies and a lot of times it's hard to reintroduce them together

If father kept there, same thing in up. Males do mate with mom gerbil or older pups. Mom being pregnant and feeding pup at the same time is really stressfull and hard work.

[delusional]

sirius said:

ohmylokix said:

Take the father out and place him with a son when the babies are 5 weeks old. Take the sister out{Even if she's been nice so far!}-- breeding trios with 2 females often end in fights.

Now son can mate with growing femalepups or mom gerbil. And we wouldn't want that, eh

Pups aren't fertile at 5 weeks old, so the male pups will not mate with the female pups or the mother. It is recommended that you leave pups with the mother / an older gerbil until 6 weeks, so that they can learn gerbil behaviours.

[sirius]

delusional said:

sirius said:

Now son can mate with growing femalepups or mom gerbil. And we wouldn't want that, eh

Pups aren't fertile at 5 weeks old, so the male pups will not mate with the female pups or the mother. It is recommended that you leave pups with the mother / an older gerbil until 6 weeks, so that they can learn gerbil behaviours.

I do know that
I misunderstood the whole sentence, like: take dad out and replace him with son > no any info what son, so i thought like from older litter I thought the point was that gerbils do not mate with relative (as they truly do)

[sandy]

I don't think it is stressful on the mom to be pregnant and nursing young pups. In my experience non-pregnant nursing moms are more excitable, they seem calmer when nursing and pregnant. For most of the time the mother is nursing the pups within her are still very small, and the pregnancy means her hormones are less unstable. But it is good for a mom to have an extensive rest after every two or three litters. And I DO think it is stressful for a mother to be birthing and nursing small babies when the older pups from the last litter are present, particularly if they still want to co-nurse. For that reason I remove pups after they are 5 weeks old and put them with a friendly older sibling from a previous litter or with an older gerbil who is gentle with pups. Usually this is a father who has been taken away from a mother about to give birth who needs to have a rest, and so he is used to having his own pups around. It also helps him not be too lonely for his mate.