Advice on socializing and separating first litter?

[helpmeplease]

Hello, everybody! :-)

I'm a long time listener, first time poster so please let me know if anything in this post goes against the rules!

I adopted my first pair of gerbils last October, I was told they were same sex when I got them but lo and behold 25 days ago they produced five babies. I've never had baby gerbils before but I've been doing my best. Gerbils are very uncommon pets where I'm from so there aren't any local breeders or owners I can ask, hence turning to this forum. I just need a little more advice on three points!

1. When to remove the dad? My girl gerbil is already pregnant again so I've left the dad in there until this point, but I'm not exactly keen on have three litters lol. Online I've seen everything from three weeks to six. I want to remove him before she gives birth again, but leave him in long enough to minimize stress and help with the babies.

2. How do I divide up parents and babies? I can keep three tanks of them, I've 40gal, 50gal and 70gal tanks. I'd like to keep the mom and the dad. How should group them up with the babies in terms of numbers and bonding them? How do I make the dad bond with babies after I remove him? What are good numbers for groups in those tanks?

3. The babies are not fond of me. They don't bite me but they also definitely don't approach me and often scatter when I approach the tank. I read online that I should interact with the parents and the babies will copy. The parents do like me, they come to see me whenever I pass the tank and let me pick them up and pet them when I open the lid but the babies are still scared. I've only been able to touch two of them. How do I make them like me?

If there's any other advice I need to know that I haven't asked above, please feel free to share!

Thank you! :-)

[betty]

Hello you - and welcome to the surprise world of gerbil pups. helpmeplease is a very apt name!

Gerbils are very capable parents and do very well with pups on their own with very little fussing (unless their are health issues of course). Anyway - here are the brief answers to your questions:

1: Remove dad usually around the 4 weeks mark if the mum has gained ANYWAY noticable weight - leave a few days longer if you think she isn't plumping up and then when you take dad out nearer the 5 weeks - you can safely take out most of the pups with him into his new enclosure (you need to do the maths on rehomable pup pairs and taking into account who you want to keep with mum - but that can come later). If mum gets grumpy with him BEFORE 4 weeks - then take him out earlier. He will most likely accept his pups a few weeks later anyway.

2: Usually you only need two enclosures if you have homes lined up. Basically you are aiming (in the end) for mum with 1 female pup and dad with as many male pups as you have room for in his enclosure - HOWEVER you must always account for the number of pups you can home in pairs so that you can deal with them seperately if you end up keeping any that you want to home past 10 weeks (as they are best paired off at this age rather than left with either parent so they can form a solid bond more easily. Dad and pups bond very well (after some serious overgrooming) - and the more pups you move over at once the easier it is as well - so you can cross that bridge when you are around 3 weeks in and have an idea on pup sexes.

3: How old are the babies already? Baby animals either naturally scatter or naturally freeze - gerbils in the enclosure do the first - gerbils in hands often do the latter. Totally normal behaviour for a litter that wasn't handled from an early age - and it won't affect their friendliness as adults. There is more than enough time to work on handling.


Do give us an update on the above and we can then offer further specific advice. Ask away.