>birth to another five pups. Too many gerbils in too little space?
>We keep them in an aquarium which should be big enough for
>2 big gerbils, but might be a bit overcrowded with the old pups
>and the new ones. Right now things seem quiet in the tank,
>Mini is lying in a corner with the small pups, they have 2 houses
>but she doesn't use any of them. The big pups seems pretty
>curious about the new ones, but generally leave them alone,
>I haven't seen Fedte by the new pups.
You might want to take out the houses, as that allows a gerbil
to 'hide' in one and defend turf, which isn't a good deal. Or get
chased into one and cornered. Leaving them all out in the open
is ok, and will cause less chances for fighting while they are
'slightly overcrowded'.
>My question is this... what to do? Should we remove the old
>pups or is it too soon to do so, or should we just go on like
>before and see what happens?
Gerbil gestation for first litter or one when the female is not nursing..
of 24-28 days. If the female is nursing, the second litter is usually
delayed to 33-38 days, around 35.
If the older pups are not bothering the young ones, you can leave them
in for now.
If you don't want litter after litter, now is the time you can separate
the breeding pair and give each one a companion or companions
from the older litter; and the female will have one more litter after
this then quit.
[if the breeding male is in with the female at the time she delivers,
she will be impregnated and produce another litter. So consider
your female is carrying AGAIN right now]
She will not allow the older pups to nurse (although they are nearly
totally weaned at 28 days anyway) now that the younger ones are
there.
In a week, you will need at least two more cages. At five weeks,
I suggest that you take out the older litter....and separate by sex.
At six weeks, any young females still in with the breeding male may
come into cycle, and be bred. This is delayed if there is no older
experienced male around (i.e., their littermate brothers instead of
their father) but it isn't worth chancing.
If you want to separate the breeding pair and end the litters; instead
of just taking the older pups out at 5 weeks...take out the breeding
male and all the older male pups to one cage. The father will be the
dominant male, and they will be fine. (I am assuming you have 2-3
older male pups). Leave ONE older female pup in with the mother.
Remove the rest to another cage.
This older daughter will help raise the younger ones, and when the
mother has her last litter after this, will help raise those. You remove
both the current young litter and the one after it at the five week point,
and the mother and daughter pair will live together after that.
Or...just remove the older pups at five weeks, separate by sex into
the two cages you've prepared, and find them homes. When the
next litter reaches that age, repeat....
Good luck.
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
