ALL kinds of breeding questions. Send help!

[dysania]

Ok guys. I'm BRAND new to this whole gerbil thing... my daughter bought a gerbil months and months ago. Then she thought that the gerbil was lonely and my son decided that he wanted one too. Well, what we thought were two sweet girls actually turned out to be a mommy and a daddy. So, we ended up randomly finding a litter of 5 pups one day. I did my research on how to care for pups and for some hairbrained reason didn't give a second thought to keeping the daddy in the cage. Well well well... litter #1 is 4 weeks old and SUPRISE... another litter. I've read that you should be handling your pups (AFTER a week old/when they grow fur!!!!) regularly for them to become well-domesticated and used to humans. But now, we can't be holding them and playing with them because we don't want to upset mommy and litter #2.

Another issue is that we don't have a second cage, my husband thinks it's ok to just keep letting them breed and once they get to week 6 we will either donate them to our local pet stores or let our daughter try to sell them for $5-$10 each. I don't 100% agree with him that we should just let the daddy stay in the cage and think we need to be getting a second cage so we can separate males from females. But since he doesn't think we should be keeping the babies after 6 weeks he doesn't want to get a second cage. 

Now, I've read somewhere that it was good to keep daddy in the cage to help with the new litter, but also read that the mother goes into heat immediately after giving birth and often times becomes pregnant again the same day she gives birth... 

Anyway, here I am, trying to figure out how to handle 2 different aged litters in the same cage (so far, they all seem to be helping take care of the 2nd litter) and trying to make sure that I have a handle on the whole situation. I know that breeding gerbils for profit should be done with knowlege, care, and understanding. Right now, all I want is to just keep them safe, whether we sell them or donate them. Please someone save me!!! I don't mind having pups, but I don't know anybody in real life that has gerbils and would really appreciate any first-hand advice you guys could give me. Thank you so much in advance!!!!

[Thelodar]

Sorry for the late response!

If your female is quite comfortable with you then some short daily interaction with the older pups is fine. But if she seems stressed I would stop. Genetics play a large role in temperament, perhaps even more of a role than handling. Do be careful, young pups are easy to drop. Even if you are not handling the pups, just sitting near the tank so they can see you and get used to your presence can be helpful in teaching them not to fear people.

There is no way to breed responsibly with one tank, you'll quickly become overwhelmed. You could end up with fighting or inbreeding. If I were you I would get dad and male pups from litter #1 into their own tank as soon as they are weaned, well before you expect the third litter. You can take dad out now and reunite him with the male pups when they are ready, dad usually accept their young pups easily. Three litters in a row is a lot on the mom, but doable if the female was already healthy and robust. If you keep going you are risking her health and the health of the pups if her body is struggling to keep up with the extra work of growing and feeding babies. Mom may also start trying to chase off/attack the older pups if things are too crowded, a cage or tank is hardly the same as the space they would have in the wild. You can keep mom with an older daughter or two to help with this and the next litter, but the rest should likely get their own tank once old enough.

I think it's risky to assume you'll easily be able to find them new homes right away. Have you spoken to the pet shop and made an agreement? Many places will not risk taking animals from someone who is not their usual supplier and they may have a limited amount of space for gerbils. If they can't sell them before you are ready to give them more they're not going to be able to take them. It is not uncommon at all for hobby breeders to get overwhelmed and find themselves with a hoard of gerbils they can't even give away. So you need spare tanks available in case you aren't finding them homes right away. Females can get pregnant very young, potentially even as young as 8 weeks. That's not a lot of room for error. It's also recommended to have the gerbils broken into pairs by 8-12 weeks. If you leave all males and all females in large groups once they are over that age removal of a member/pair from the large group can cause fighting due to a change in social structure.

So my advice is get more tanks, you can get 10-20 gallon tanks on re-selling sites (craigslist, facebook marketplace, etc.) very cheaply, even free. Even if you are planning to rehome everyone right at 6 weeks, you need a backup plan if it doesn't happen. I'd also stop breeding now, get dad out of there before litter three is born. It's what's best for mom and for your sanity.

Good luck!

[betty]

Hello and welcome to the whole gerbil thing dysania - I am sure you'll love it once it has all settled down!

However, point one here will be that you will never make a profit from breeding one pair of pet gerbils no matter how knowledgeable and caring you are - it just doesn't work like that. Infact the more understanding and love of gerbils you have the LESS 'profit' you make! Also, it wouldn't really be ethical to have the mum having litter after litter after litter - just as with ANY animal.

So, best thing to do in your situation - as said above - is to get that second tank (sorry husband) and stop the cycle where you are.

There will already be a third litter on the way no doubt and even if you can find homes for the first litter in time (ie they all match up into suitable pairs for females; or pairs or trios for males), you will still best need a second enclosure so you can split mum with a female pup and dad with a gathering of sons, and stablise yourself back out.

You can absolutely take the dad out now without upsetting anything - and pop him in the new tank with all the male pups from the first litter, and any exact pairs of female pups you have in addition to a single female that you should leave with the mum (so if you have one female - leave her in; if you have two females, leave them both in; if you have three females, put two with dad and leave one in; etc. This way, the original tank with mum and new litters won't 'feel' overcrowded. Ideally she should have a nice high ledge somewhere in the enclosure where she can 'get away' from the pups every so often to calm her nerves if she needs it.

Gerbils mums are usually great if kept calm, and handling the pups once they have been taken out from the mum will be enough to keep them hand-tame. Especially if you are worried about mum stressing over you poking around. Taking her out of the enclosure temporarily (and distracting with treats and something to chew) can give you a bit of time to be around the pups close up without upsetting even the most nervous of mums (always wash your hand thoroughly before going in - and then 'wash' your hands in the bedding too so you smell like mum not a human always helps too).

I'm sure I haven't answered everything - but please ask away specifics as you need.

Oh, and if you really want to keep only mum and dad but stop the pups - you can have the male neutered by a specialist vet; but that is quite a risk for him. But if one tank is all you want - there is also the choice to home the dad and his sons out to a new home and you keep the mum and her daughter (or vice versa).

Lots to think about and plan for here...