Mom died, gerbils are 3 days old

[dietpeppers]

Hi there. One of my adoptees informed me this evening that his female "choked to death" 2 days after her babies were born. The father is still with them, but they are feeding them with a bottle. I told them to feed with an eye dropper, several times a day, using kitten replace milk. Is there anything else I should relay to them?

[doomgerbiluk]

not really
I managed to keep a pup whos mum wasn't producing milk alive for a week but sadly he did not make it...I don't know if anyone has successfully managed to raise such yougn gerbils
The other optionis fostering if a nursing female is avilable

[dietpeppers]

I do have a non-pregnant mom who will be weaning her pups in about two weeks. She wouldn't kill them or anything would she? I told her I may be able to let her go, but I have to make sure my own pups are okay first.

I'm running through all sorts of options, but want to do what's best for all the gerbils involved. Should I tell her these babies probably won't make it? I've got 29 here, that would be 5 more, but if I knew she'd take them back, I may go get them for my nurser to take care of until they're weaned.

[doomgerbiluk]

If the pups are older than 16 days then she is unlikely to accept newborns.
If her pups are under 16 days you can try it by rubbing taking her pups and some bedding, rubbing them gently together in yoru hands and outting them back in the nest
distract her while your doing this with a treat or soemthing

I've never had a pup rejected

One warning..be careful accepting other peoples pups to foster to yours if their is any indication the mother may have been ill...you don't want to introduce infection into your own stock. It is best to put the foster family in quarantine.

[dietpeppers]

They claim this gerbil choked, I have questioned it, and waiting on the answer as we're communicating in email right now. I'm worried as to have happened there and if I even want any of my gerbils over there... so if I do this, they will definitely have to come here. I have one mom who's due to give birth in about a week I assume, the other one, her pups are 15 days old as of today. Those are the only two milk mommas I have.

I hope they do as I told them with the milk, but I already told them I had a feeling they wouldn't live and that's sad to lose mom and her babies. The owner is a young boy, but his mom is very involved with this.

Thanks for the help! I'll let you know what happens.

[doomgerbiluk]

well it is your decision
it is possible she might take the pups and certainly thier chances of survival would be greater but it is important to be aware of the risks involved!

[sandy]

Yes, doomgerbiluk is right on. Also be warned, I did try to foster newborns onto a mom with three week-old pups and she ate the newborns, so I'd think 2 wk. old pups is about the max. Also consider that the competition for nipples will be quite fierce, and the older pups can get there a lot faster. You might want to try alternating the mom into two tanks, each with a seperate litter of pups. Say, 3-4 hours in each tank, instead. I have had some success with your kind of situation using that method, if the mom is very calm and doesn't spend a lot of time rearranging the new tank. Put the older pups in the new tank, keep the young ones in the old tank so she doesn't neglect them as much. The older pups are already able to find mom when they want a drink.

[dietpeppers]

I just thought I'd let you know all the pups have died. The little boy is in distress and is wanting another female. I'm going to see if I can have a talk with him and his mom and see if they really know what they are getting into, etc... I have plenty of females here, but I still want to know how mom choked before I enlist another gerbil in their care.