I have seen my gerbil father helping the mother clean the pups after they
were delivered.


 >Donna Anastasi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote

 >I was wondering about the different ways that male gerbils help to raise
 >their pups.
 >
 >For the first 10 days of pup rearing Alan and Cara seemed to work in
 >shifts.  They had two nests established with Cara on the "pup nest" most
 >of the time.   Whenever Cara got up to eat or drink or gnaw up something
 >Alan would run over and settle right in on top of the pups.  Sometimes
 >Cara would move over to the empty nest and take a break and let Alan
 >spend a good amount of time sitting on the pups.  Four or five times I
 >found a single pup with Alan in the other nest (he seemed to take the
 >same one every time -- the argente cream girl) -- maybe he got lonely
 >there all by himself.
 >
 >Now the nest is moved to a third corner of the tank and  the whole
 >family all sleeps there together in a big gerbil & pup pile.  They seem
 >very content.

Gerbil fathers do a range of duties. A recent article in New Scientist
concerned Djungarian (Russian) Hamsters and evidence that the males
physically deliver the kits by pulling them out of the mother. Jackie
says she once saw a male gerbil do this. I would be interested in
hearing from anyone else who has seen this. it seems unusual to me as
the other usually pushes the male away during late pregnancy.

--
Julian

************************************************************************
*                           Jackie and Julian                          *
*                         [EMAIL PROTECTED]                        *
*                        National Gerbil Society                       *
*                       http://www.gerbils.co.uk/                      *
************************************************************************


God bless,
              -Jenni(the human behind The JenniFUR Clan)

_**************_
**GERBILS 4 SALE**
~**************~
I currently have many gerbils for sale.  They are FREE (+ $25 shipping if
you can't drive to Wilmington, DE or Coatesville, PA to pick them up).
*female pair (agouti & PEW)

visit our web site at:
http://www.angelfire.com/nm/jennthompson
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