Gerbils, help?

Question

Ok, so mommy gerbil, or daddy gerbil ate one baby, bit the back feet off another, and had started biting on the feet of a third. I separated them when I cleaned the cage and found the dead baby. These guys are not starving, though they might have been a bit hungry - they squirl their food out of the the dish and I can't tell if they hid it or ate it, but I feed them on average every time I see the dish empty.

Here is the question - mommy gerbil is definately expecting again - will she eat newborns after already eating the pups from a previous litter or does she know the difference. Should I remove dad before the new litter is born?

Also, what are the chances that the baby with no back feet will survive? The wounds have caughterized themselves and are not bleeding, but he/she can't jump, though he/she can move around pretty good...? Will the siblings kill it?

Right now I have the 4 remaining pups in a cage all their own, their eyes are all open and they are eating seeds

Answer 1

This is quite common. I've experienced the same thing and it boils down to the fact that the eat each other because they are either the weak ones on not so popular. I've even seen brother and sister gerbils gang up on the mommy gerbil and kill her...real sick animals. But after the mommy gives birth and the newborns can eat regular seeds, take them out as soon as possible.

Answer 2

You definitely need to seperate the daddy from the cage. It puts the mom under a lot of stress so she will not take care of the babies. My hamster ate her first litter but did much better with her second. I think she was just too stressed. As far as the gerbil with no back legs, He should be just fine. As long is there is no sign of infection and he does not look sick or under stress. I think he will be just as happy. You might need to pay him extra attention. I would remove him from the cage before mommy has babies again. He might want to hurt them too and it might cause the mom to be stressed out too. Hope I helped. --Ash

Answer 3

The answers you have are accurate. The mother may not eat the second litter. Two people have managed to pull of parts of gerbil tails in my household and both of those gerbils lived. I don't have any familiarity with eaten feet.

Answer 4

Chu, Nubby, Nibbles, Shadow, Scooby, Chico, Apple, Cheeks, Inky, Mousche (moosche), Nougat, Cheeser, star, Pots, Tops, Serenity, Muncher, Neeps, Beady, Eyes, Sage, Tonzi, Cemra, Bottle, Nipper, Choco, Plato, Edison, Piggers, Nimo, Nina, Elishar, Jemmy, Jenny, toddler, Lovey, Indiotina, Indochina, satisfied

Answer 5

From what I remember raising gerbils growing up, you must separate the mother & father when the mother is about to give birth. The mother will eat the babies "to protect them" from the father, no joke.

Here is specific information that's probably more accurate:
http://www.agsgerbils.org/Gerbil_Care_Handbook/breeding.html

Answer 6

I have experience with this many years ago. The babies are eaten usually because there is some deformity or abnormality that only the parents will know of. They know what is best and have to do away with unhealthy babies.