>My pups have been attacked by their parents. Only the 3 boys tho. the 2
girls
>r fine. Rudolph's hind right foot was betten off. they are only 4 weeks
old.
>they eat seeds but dont kno how to use the water bottle. i am takin them to
>the vet. please help me. wha should i do?
>
>Lisa & TFC
If you put them back the parents will continue the destruction.
I had this happen when I did my first rescue of gerbils, the
mother decided that she didn't like me removing some of
the juveniles (6-10 weeks old) from the vastly overcrowded
colony and turned and attacked the pups in nest. What I
did find of eight, was three with parts of their hind legs
missing (from paws up the leg a ways) and one missing
it's tail.
You will have to suppliment feed with KMR and an eyedropper,
get them used to lapping at that, and have a water bottle in
the tank too...switch over the next week from offering some
KMR and some water (alternate) from the eyedropper and
they will learn to use the waterbottle.
After they recovered (I kept the three survivors together) I
did pair one with a regular gerbil, and they did fine. They
do learn some socialization skills from the parents, but I
paired them up young enough (they were attacked about
four weeks old, I paired them at six) that they learned from
the partner who had learned from being with their parents
for that additional two weeks.
There was something that stressed one or both parent
and caused the attack...
The next litter the parents will be fine and there will be
no more likelihood of the parents attacking that litter
than if they'd never attacked this one.
Luck.
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
