pregnant gerbil!?!?!? what do i do ? <:( ........stupid pet store man?

Question

ok here is the story i beg and beg and plead and beg some more to my parents to let me get two gerbils , a month of beging and my parents finally sayed yes.me and my parents when to the pet store get my gerbils the man tells us " there is 4 males and 1 female in the cage" , then he lets me hold one,its tame , i like them , i buy them. ok i at the time didnt know how to tell males from females.about a month later(2 weeks ago) i found that one was ........TADAA * sparkle sparkle*.... a female. i decided mabe they wount have babys if i am lucky. ok time skip for a week , i found that sandy ( the female) was fat and waddled like a hamster!! so i went on the internet and found out she is pregnant , about 18-22 days pregnant ...... now she is irritable, fat and squeaks alot...........and i heard that when she has her babys i need to seprate the two. i will not do that!!!!!!!....................... WHAT DO I DO and how do i care for baby gerbils
p.s there names are sandy and dusty

ok this morning ( the day after i made the question) sandy had her babys!!!!!!!!!!!!
she has 5 happy , naked , blind , deaf , little pink babys!!!! and boy am i glad i didnt seperate the parnets! i mean the dad spends more time with the babys than she does! but shes feeding them , they are warm and all is well. but and info about gerbils babys would be MUCH appreciated because i dont know much about them at ALL!!!!

oh the little pinkies are sooooooo cute

Answer 1

This links take you to a site that tells you everything from the birth process and what to do to raising them :http://members.nanc.com/~mhaines/gerbil.html#section7.12

Answer 2

Nononono, do NOT separate the parents. The myth you have heard has to do with hamsters, not gerbils. Male gerbils actually help the mother in taking care of the babies. It is alot for her to handle on her own. Before the pregnancy, if willing to spend the money, you could choose to have the male neutered. I used to breed gerbils, and most pet stores are willing to buy the babies from you once they are old enough.There's not alot involved in caring for baby gerbils, but salt wheels are good ideas to give to mothers for extra minerals. If at all possible, stop breeding though. This takes alot more money because you are feeding and housing more and more gerbils, and eventually the pet stores may refuse to buy your gerbils because they've run out of room.

Answer 3

Let Sandy take care of the babies. Her brain is hard-wired to instinctively know what to do. Make sure she has enough food and water at all times. If she doesn't she might kill her babies, because she knows there isn't enough resources for them and her to live. Dusty needs to get another cage. Daddy rodents a lot of times do not like baby rodents and will kill them. You need to do this if you are planning on letting the baby gerbils live. Otherwise you may be picking baby gerbil parts out of the cage and having to throw them away before they start to stink.

Answer 4

Well you'll have to watch them. I had 2 gerbils and they had babies but i dint have to separate them. BUT if the male is feisty then your going to have to separate them. Then once the babies are old enough, you'll have to get rid of them because they don't care that they are related, they'll mate more. I found that out the hard way! Your local pet store should take them and trade the for food for Sandy and Dusty. If you play your cards right... your gerbils will feed them selves! but be careful because that will wear Sandy down. You'll have to separate them if you don't want babies.

Answer 5

I had that happen to me and I didn't separate them after she gave birth. well that was a big mistake!! when I got home from school the mom had chased the male up the cage and then to add insult to injury castrated him!! it was horrible!! I felt SO bad for him, he passed away a few weeks later after the vet said there was nothing that could be done. you do need to separate them or she will kill him and he can also kill the baby's, when the baby's are grown then you can put them back together, but until then you will need to keep them apart.

Answer 6

You really need to separate them before the babies are born. Rodents are often known to eat their offspring, especially the fathers. Put them in separate cages that are next to one another so that the gerbils can still interact.

When the babies are born, the mother will take care of them. There shouldn't be anything you need to do. Just keep in mind that gerbils often have very large litters. Good luck!

Answer 7

okay im pretty sure hamsters are like gerbils and 2 of my hamsters got pregnant so make sure the girl has plenty of hay(for where she'll have and keep her babies), make sure she has a full supply of food and water, she'll probably be moody and protective so keep your hands out of the cage or you'll get bit, if you wish to hold the babies,make sure the mom can't see or she'll eat them(it happened to my hamster and bye-bye baby)and when your done holding them gently rub hay on them to get rid of the human smell.they should all be okay but if not call a local vet or a pet store.
HOPE THIS HELPS YOU OUT!!!!

Answer 8

dont put your scent on the baby gerbils because the mom will get confused and can eat her babys.....believe me i know

move the baby germils with spoons dont touch them or move them. you will know when the hamster is ready to give birth when you see it making a nest. them mom will do everything else, just dont touch them or move them, dont bother the mother while she is feeding or near the babies. keep water in the cage not in little bowls because they can drown, put it in a little tub thing that drips water. put regular food in the cage. the babies wont be able to see until like there 2 weeks old and no hair.

Answer 9

You absolutely HAVE TO seperate them now since you know she's pregnant. She will get pregnant almost immediately after birth, which is extremely hard on them, sometimes even deadly. The male can also canabalise. If you have any vet bills from the pregnancy, submit them to the pet store, they have to pay for them.

Answer 10

trust me i had a hamster and it got pregnant when it has the babies LEAVE IT ALONE! then after a while once the babies have fur you need to seperate them our the mother WILL eat the babies i know its wrong but you have to seperate them just put them in a dif cage next to the moms 1

Answer 11

the thing about rodents is that if they don't have enough space they will eat their young. yeah that sounds disgusting but they will do it just to have space, so make sure that they have enough space. secondly you will have to separate the male and female because the male will want to dominate and once again territorial issues. put the mother and babies in another cage and put the male in another until the babies are big enough to defend themselves