my gerbil has just had 6 babies?

Question

what do i do now?

ignore her... i heard you cant touch her or the babies for a few week, or clean them out?

any advice ppl???

Answer 1

relax take the gerbils mate out of the cage and be very carefull not to touch any of the babys.

dont clean out her mess until you see her babys moving around but be shure to keep the cage in a warn room

give her fresh food and water twice a day

and if you use a water bowl REMOVE IT and get a water bottle


and again i repete take out the mate or he will eat the babys

Answer 2

It depends on the mother.

I used to breed gerbils and my female was really tame and would be fine with me handling the babies from day 1.However if your female is not ultra tame she may feel threatened by your touching them and eat them.

If your not sure leave them and simply top up food and water.Make sure she has a full water bottle at all times.Nursing mothers also need protein so go to a petshop which sells lizards and buy some mealworms.Give her 1 every couple of days.

When the babies start to crawl around on their own and have fur they can be handled and you should then handle each one daily.This will make them tame and easier to rehome.

If you have dad he will help mum with the babies and not eat them but this will mean they will mate and she will have another litter as soon as this 1 is weaned.Odds are she is pregnant again already.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

No you should not disturb the gerbils and it is your choice if you want to take the male out go for it! Remove any water BOWLS and get a water bottle for their cage.Make sure that there is a lot of food for the mom.As for cleaning the cage you should only clean it if it is absouluty needed if you do need to clean the cage pick up the pups with a towel or something.

P.S. do NOT listen to keith m he is just guessing he does not know a thing about gerbil pups or gerbils!

Answer 4

You can clean the gerbil cage but don't disturb the area around the babies. The father can remain, he will help with rearing of the young. Gerbils are very social. Important to have the water dish at the far end of the cage, away from the babies so that none are accidentally placed in in by the mother. Fresh vegetables and fruits are an important part of their diet. It is tempting to play with the babies but don't disturb them until they are the size of walnuts or bigger or the mother will eat them.

Answer 5

Congratz.Yes hat you heard was true.Leave her and the babies alone for 7-12 days,only giving her large amounts of food once every 2 days,if possible.Keep alot fo water availible for her.Once the pups start to explore,you need to lower the water bottle so they can reach it,and soak some bread in milk for them to eat when they turn 2 weeks,which is around the time they will start to wean.You can clean her cage once the pups turn 1 week old,but I recommend them being about 9 days before messing with them.When you go to clean the cage,make sure you rub your hands in the food or bedding if your going to pick them up barehand,and make sure your hands are washed,if you want to be safer use a clean cup to scoop them up,and put them and momma in a clean,safe,warm place while cleaning the cage.Once they turn 21 days-35 days is around the time you can find them a home,or give them seperate cages to live in.Best of luck and god bless you and them.Hope I helped and get best answer.

Answer 6

Do NOT take the male out of the cage! He is not a hamster, he won't harm the babies. He helps the mother to take care of them. While she is off to feed or drink, the male keeps them warm and watches them. Keeping the mother alone is alot of stress on her. I would recommend not changing the bedding for about two weeks. You shouldn't touch them for the first few days. Some mothers don't like you messing with their babies, but others do. They need to be socialized as soon as possible. Salt licks are good to have for pregnant/nursing mothers.

Answer 7

gerbils dont "mother" their babies as such, they are born fully developed with hair and teeth and eating and drinking as if they were fully grown. I have always handled my gerbils from birth and they are fine, they should however stay with mum for at least 4 weeks. Gerbils will start breeding again from 6 wks old so i would check what sex they are and think about putting the boys with the boys and keeping girls with mum and yes you can clean them out and handle them they will be fine.

Answer 8

Yes, you can touch her, and the pups. No, you can't bathe them in alcohol (WTF?).

Don't handle mom as often, as she'll be a little more skittish than usual. When you handle the pups depends on how calm the mother is. See if she'll still take treats from your hand, and if it bothers her for you to move things around in the tank (no major changes, though). If she seems okay with your presence in the tank, you're okay to handle the pups.

The least stressful way for you to handle them is to take the adults out of the tank, and put them in a secure container. A spare tank/cage, a plastic bin, even one of those roll-about balls will work, for a short period of time. Once the adults are out, rub your hands in their bedding, so that you smell more like the gerbils. Then you can (carefully!) pick up the pups, and set them down on a clean towel, paper towel, or piece of paper. Do not keep them out too long, as they get cold quickly. Put them back in the nest. Then put the adults back in the tank. Also put in some hay, food, cardboard, or tissues to distract the adults a bit, so they are less anxious that the pups aren't quite how they left them.

I'm assuming this litter was a surprise; do you have both parents? If so, DO NOT REMOVE THE MALE. Male gerbils make excellent fathers, and will NOT eat the pups! This is a common misconception. A female's first litter is very stressful, and she will really benefit from the help the male provides. If you've already removed the male, and he's been separated for more than a day or two, do not reintroduce him. His communal scent that identifies him as part of the clan will have faded, and the female will probably not recognize him, which means reintroducing him will cause more harm than good at this point.

If you have two females, meaning the mother got pregnant at the store, REMOVE THE OTHER FEMALE. In the wild, only the dominant female in the clan has pups, and she will kill any pups belonging to her subordinates. If one female was pregnant in the store, there's a very good chance that the other is pregnant as well. Two nursing females in the same tank is just asking for trouble, so put the second in a separate tank before she gives birth. If she turns out not to be pregnant, you can always introduce her to a female pup from the other's litter by way of a split-cage.

Take out any wheels or heavy toys, making the tank as simple as possible. The female will likely become nervous over these changes, but wheels and heavy toys can kill pups. The female should calm down quickly, and you can give her plenty of cardboard to distract her.

Keep her water bottle (not dish!) full, and make sure she has enough food. Cannibalizing pups is relatively rare in gerbils; usually it is because the mother has no water, so she gets it from eating a pup. Give the female high-protein treats: small portions of nuts, mealworms, crickets, or cat food. "Wet" foods (fruits and veggies) should only be few sparingly, once a week at most, and in gerbil-sized portions.

Try not to change the bedding in the tank until the pups open their eyes, around the third week. If you have to clean the tank earlier (if the water bottle leaks and soaks the bedding, for instance), save as much of the original nest as possible, and put it back in the clean tank.

The pups will start nibbling food around the third week, but they are not fully weaned until at least four weeks. If you still have the male in the tank, take him out at around the third week. Gerbils mate immediately after (and sometimes during) birth, so the female will be pregnant again by this point. She should give birth to the second litter about four weeks after the first was born.

A few days to a week after she has the second litter, you can put the male pups from the first litter with their father. Males are usually very accepting of younger males, even if they have been separated for a week or more. You can also leave the males with the mother for longer, as long as the mother does not start bullying them in an attempt to force them to leave the nest. You should be able to leave the first-litter female pups with the mother until they are about six weeks old, at which point you should separate all of the pups from the first litter into same-sex groups, except for one female pup to stay with the mother and one or two male pups to stay with the father.

You can rehome the pups or keep them, but make sure to keep no more than two females or no more than four males to a tank. The rule of thumb is five gallons of space per gerbil, so a pair would need a ten-gallon tank, a trio would need a 15-gal, and a quartet would need a 20-gal.

With the second litter, separate the pups into same-sex groups around week five. You can keep one second-litter female pup with the mother and first-litter female if you wish, but remember they will need 15 gallons of space rather than 10.

Good luck!
If you have more questions or you run into problems, feel free to email me. My email address is on my website (the "Availables" page), which is the last link below.

Answer 9

I would leave them alone. I had gerbil babies once and I left them alone, and the mother ate them anyway! I never could figure out why. I just figured that they were often cannibals. Maybe the mother was too young and inexperienced...but it was disgusting! So, don't be surprised if she eats them no matter what you do. Good luck.

Answer 10

Dont ignore her check her once in a while to make sure that her and her babies is doing fine. That is true u r not supposed to touch her babies because it will have ur scent on it which will make her want to kill them or make her seem like they r not hers. Same thing with a cat.