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Post by paperdoves on Jul 29, 2014 15:53:14 GMT -8
I have a litter of week-old pups along with their parents. Can I remove the gerbils to a temporary enclosure like a Rubbermaid bin (large size) and clean out their tank? It's starting to have an odor. Or is that a bad idea and we should just wait until the babies are walking around?
The last thing that I want to do is alarm mom and cause her to eat them or abandon them.
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Post by betty on Jul 29, 2014 23:29:35 GMT -8
You can do - but if in doubt, leave everything as it is. There's no harm in leaving it for a bit - I'm sure you cleaned it just before she gave birth so it can't be that dirty now?
However, if you think it is, then depending on your cage set up, you could scoop out some loose sawdust/shavings/carefresh from the opposite end of the tank/cage and replace with new - and if you offer clean hay/bedding/tissue/kitchen roll, the mum will take it into her nest if she fancies a change.
I have accidentally disturbed a nest before with (less than) 3 days old pups in, but afterwards the (first-time) mum kept moving them around until she finally settled about an hour later and I was anxious the whole time what with her leaving pups dropped all over the place. All was well afterwards though - although she chose her new 'nest' in the stupidest place rather than back in the nest box....
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Post by jumpinggerbils on Aug 3, 2014 10:08:21 GMT -8
I'd wait till pups are walking around or have there eyes open before cleaning, just so the parents dont feel too stressed about the pups.
Put them all together in a small tank or container while cleaning with lots of bedding or ripped tissue which you can use as bedding when putting them back in.
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