>At 09:19 PM 3/11/00 -0600, Amy Gray wrote: >>OK...this is sounded very familiar. Have you been handling these >>pups often at this soon of age? you may have gotten a strong >>scent on them from holding them so much. Aveda did this >>same thing to Pheobe. Do any of you think this could be the >>reason? I wouldn't touch any pups until the grow up a bit. > >I haven't had any problems with mine, but I followed the directions >that I had read here and on different web sites: I wanted to take >pictures at 5 days old, so I took out the parents and put them in >another container, then I took out the babies & took pictures, >then I put the babies back, and then put the parents back, so the >parents never knew the babies had been away. > >Rebecca... I've never had problems handling pups from day one. I had another single parent, 1st litter, raise a litter of 7 on her own. This was accidental, however, as I didn't know she was pregnant when I separated them. The current females are single because the alternative was to keep the girls together and risk them eating each other's pups. The other female is due tomorrow. At any rate, the only thing I can think of is that the pups were scented with a "foreign scent" possibly that morning ... I know I pulling out single pups to look them over. What that "foreign scent" was, however, I don't know. I have and do take the mother out when I have been taking pictures of the pups, then return her after I'm done and she's run around a bit. There have been no further problems with damage to the pups. They are well-fed, starting to grow fur, and seem healthy. The pup that had it's feet chewed off is hanging in there as well, and he gets around as well as the others. I don't know that he will survive long term, however ... it seems to me he will have trouble eating if he survives that long. I remember at least one case on this list where a pup's feet (one or more feet) were chewed off by another gerbil, but I don't remember specifics and the outcome. I would welcome any suggestions and input regarding the chances of his survival and any special care he needs to have to help him survive. I do have a picture of the pup, but I hesitate posting the link ... if anyone wants to see a picture of him, I'll give it to you. Emily F. -- Owner/occasional breeder of Second Chance Clan gerbils Governing Committee Member of the American Gerbil Society Adopt a gerbil -- http://www.gurlpages.com/other/emandkel/adopt.html http://www.gurlpages.com/other/emandkel/index.html http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/bnfl/574/index.html (pictures)
