>Thank you for the advice you all gave me. I will take the 1st and
>2nd litter out before mom has her next litter, I intended to do so
>anyway but it's too bad because like it is right now they really enjoy it.
It always seems fine before the trouble happens.
Make sure that second litter is eating well, and you can put
the same sexes from those litters that are still together,
together. If you have not separated them from each other,
they will still know each other and not fight.
>None of the younger females is pregnant by the way! (so no
>birthexplosion....)(there is one of 5 months old).
That you know of yet. It is often not possible to really tell a female
is pregnant unless you happen to catch her making a new nest
(suddenly and with lots of vigor) until you find her with pups at
her feet.
>This brings up a new question, I still have the 2
males that I took out in October, they have been standing next to the
others. Would it be possible to introduce the other males (brothers) to
them? I know introducing in a "group" is hard but the 2 aren't that close so
it should be possible right?
SPLIT CAGE. Do NOT do a direct introduction.
Make a hardware cloth divider, put it in the tank or cage the older
males are living in (I always go from one corner to the opposite
corner, making the tank into two triangles...it is harder for the
divider to be dislodged then). Then put the younger ones in on
one side, the older ones on the other, and switch them side for
side every other day for about two weeks. Do not clean the
cage during this time. It allows them to get used to each other
and their scents...then make sure to be home and around for
the whole day when you try taking the divider out. And be ready
to separate fighting gerbils (gloves and a pail or two with lids)
and put the divider back.
As for pregnant females, I would not trust any female over six
weeks NOT to be pregnant right now. They've been in with the
father, and he's "experienced" and it is known that a young
female under those conditions can come into cycle at six
weeks old.
It could also be that that older 'daughter' has had a litter or
few, you never seen them, and the pups were destroyed right
away by the mother or father of the daughter....or by the
daughter over stress.
Four weeks from now, if you do not see signs of last stages
of pregnancy or have pups already born, you can consider
all your females over six weeks old right now as 'not pregnant'.
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
