>Donna,
>None of my females get pregnant right after birth. I
>always read that they mate right after having the pups
>and then she ahs the new babies soon after the first
>litter stops nursing. This has never happned to me!
She does conceive right after giving birth and is
reimpregnated usually by the male. It may seem not,
as her nursing her next litter tends to delay the gestation,
dragging out the pregnancy.
>Mine always take FOREVER to have the next litter. My
>female Clytemnestra had her first litter (3 pups) late
>last december and she is just now about to have her
>second litter. Also my babies (all of them from all
>the different litters) have stopped nursing well
>before 4 weeks and never done it again. Since i am a
>new breeder i have only had 3 litters all with
>different mothers..but everything i have stated has
>happned with all 3. Hope this helpped any.
Then for some reason Cly didn't ovulate right after
delivery, which sometimes happens. The female's
body takes a break, and there is no rhyme or reason
to that either. Not unusual.
A first time mother that had her first litter young, or
an older female that had a few large litters in a row,
often shows a break between her present litter and
the next one. The usual rule is if a female starts
producing litters around four months old, she will
be rebred by the male with her as she delivers the
current litter, then the next one is delayed to about
28-35 days, 33-38 not unusual. And she can have
several litters in a row if allowed.
Even if the male is removed as soon as the litter
is found, she is probably pregnant again and will
have another litter in 4-5 weeks....
>Jocie Kessinger
>The Titan Clan
>> I am still breeding, although Peaches (light DEH)did
>> not have a second litter after her large first
>> litter
>> of seven (has anyone ever seen this before? -- the
>> first litter is 6 1/2 weeks and she's very scrawny.
>> I just placed the last two in the litter and I think
>> she nursed up to the very end).
Yes. Sometimes the female just dosn't ovulate and
her body takes a break. Especially after a large litter
or a few large litters in a row.
>> Promise my other breeding female seems very plump,
>> perhaps she'll break her string of "twins" with this
>> litter?
Count how many days AFTER you think she is big enough
to deliver based on past times, and add a pup a day to a
base count of two. I had one of ELEVEN, and she had had
four before...and when I thought she was ready to deliver,
she just kept ballooning out. She was in lethargic misery
for about three days before she started delivering that time!
[nothing that I intervened on,she had the classic 'labor' look
like I've suffered, not the 'I'm mysteriously ill' look that worries
gerbil keepers everywhere]
>> Donna
>> ABC Gerbils
>> www.abcgerbils.com
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
