Best Method for babies to dad?

[callimico]

I have to temporarily stop breeding until next fall, as I won't have enough time for each individual pup until that time.

I'd like to retire my CP pair permenantly, as the female is pregnant with her third litter, and that seems like plenty to me.

I'd like to have a small clan of gerbils, 3-4 but would like to keep as many of the babies as possible (have plenty of space for a larger clan, up to 8).

This recent litter they had 3 males and 4 females. one of the males is going to NYC, the other 2 have already been reserved, but I don't want them to have another litter. I was going to seperate the fatehr with his single son, but the person in NYC needs a younger male.

So my question is, should I seperate dad completely, let a daughter help mom raise the third litter, and then try to intro 1-2 of his male pups back to him, along with 1-2 different colored pups from another litter, when the babies are 5 weeks old?

I was considering split-caging dad after the second litter is weaned, so pups from the third litter would be used to him, and he wouldn't be able to get mom pregnant. But I don't want to split-cage dad for the first 4 days, since it will not only be a distraction to mom, but if they pass the pups through the divider, they will die (since dad can't give milk).

Any ideas/suggestions are appreciated!! ;D

[Ritzie/Admin]

If you want to stop breeding, the only option is to seperate the father. You could indeed introduce very young male pups to him (5-8 weeks old).

[callimico]

thanks, but what do you think the best method would be? Split-caging for a week (pups would be 6 weeks old by the time they interacted with dad then), or split-cage for a day so they get a little used to one anothers scents and intro a pup to dad one at a time, or no split-cage? After the different male pups are intro'd to one another?

Would you suggest neutral territory or the same as they've been split-caged on, lots of hay and food scattered around? I also have a 7 week old male from another litter living alone, should I pair him with the CP male and then try to intro 1-2 of hte CP's pups to both of them when they are 5 weeks old? The 7 week old male is from a friendly line, I've never had to split-cage his parents or siblings when they are introduced to other gerbils, so I'm just worried about the CP male accepting his 5 week old pups once he's already living with a 7 week old male for those 5 weeks.
thanks!!

[doomgerbiluk]

always difficult
I have made a number of intros recently
2 days ago I dropped 2 6 week old boys in a 6 male colony and left them to it with NO problems
the same a few weeks back with two similar male pup intros
but the 3 girls intro'd to a lone female had to be split caged for 3 days..........even though a direct itnro had resulted in her attacking a pup and holding it in a nasty bite for around 10 seconds, the intro went like a dream, lift the split and it was as if they'd always been together!!!!!!!!!!
not two intros are the same, mainly because every gerbil si an individual
my advice is a split cage but try the direct intro and be ready to add the split if needed (as I did with the girls)