I have two gerbils that I got about 2 weeks ago. They just gave birth
to 7 heathy babies this morning. I now have a few questions to ask
since this is my first litter.
Were you planning on having pups, or was this a surprise?
If you got these guys from the same place, it is likely that they are
brother and sister. And as there's no way to know how many
generations they have been inbred (some pet stores sell what is given
to them from the people they sold them to, so brother and sister
mate, pups are put together in the pet store, sold unsexed, that
brother and sister mate, have pups, and so forth). If they are
brother and sister, it would probably be best to separate them once
the pups are around 4 weeks old or so. Put the boys with the dad, and
keep the girls with the mom, to help with the next litter that is
probably on the way.
Right after birth, gerbils come into heat, so it's likely your female
is pregnant again.
I have seen both of the adults move the babies alot. Is this ok for
them to do? They spit up the babies and then they will put them back
together and then take one and move it somewhere else. I'm afaid that
one of the babies will die because it gets cold. Will that happen?
Are they in a room with a lot of activity? Are you handling or
otherwise disturbing them a lot. Sometimes first time parents get
nervous, and will continue to move the pups until they feel they are
in a safe place. If you keep them in a common room, move them to a
quieter room. If they are already in one, then perhaps they are just
nervous parents period. Just check on them once or twice a day to
make a head count of pups, and make sure that all are accounted for,
even if they aren't all in the same nest.
A pup can die from neglect, but usually gerbils are quite good
parents, so I don't think that you should over-worry yourself about
it.
My second question is that one of the babies looks like it might be
blind. The others have dark spots on their eyes but this one is all
pink. Is it blind??
Most likely he his pink because his eyes will be pink, which means
you have gerbils with the recessive gene. If you learn the parents
genetics, you can be more sure of exactly what color he may turn out
to be.
There are many good sites to find more information on breeding, etc.
Someone was kind enough to post quite a few awhile back, so I have
copy and pasted the information here.
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Here are urls to sites on predicting colors,
colors/genetics, and breeding.
Gerbil gene predictor to figure out what color pups
your pair could produce:
http://www.netxp.com/rick/gerbils/frameset.html
then click on "gene predictor"
Gerbil colors and pictures:
home.wtal.de/ehr/gerbils/colors.htmolors.htm
http://www.agsgerbils.org/Color_Strip/index.html
http://www.gurlpages.com/other/emandkel/colors.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9792/spectrum.html
http://users.bart.nl/~fredveen/colours1.htm
http://www.gerbil-info.nl.com/genetics1.htm
Breeding information:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9792/how2breed.html
http://www.rodent.demon.co.uk/gerbils/gerbfaq.htm
Best of luck,
Donna
ABC Gerbils
www.abcgerbils.com
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Hope this helps! If any other questions pop up, feel free to ask.
-Jackie and the Copper Dragon Clan
