No need to beat yourself over the head. These things happen. And if you're just learning to "nurse" gerbils, there's bound to be problems you run across - it's all part of learning. It would be nice if all of us could go to a "Gerbil Care" class, and learn hands on stuff about them with little fake gerbil models to perform on. :) But I'm afraid you can only do this with humans.
Some gerbils seem to be more genetically prone to respiratory infections than others. All other factors aside (bedding, feed, warmth, etc.) some just won't make it. I had a gerbil I nursed - who then made it to the 5 week mark, all the time battling his respiratory infection - only to die over night. It was quite a blow. I'd worked so hard. I had to learn how to feed him - drowned him once trying to get the milk in his mouth, but managed to do a little mouth to mouth :) - hold him, medicate him, and everything. Just look at what's happening as a learning experience. Sometimes things are thrown our way that we just CAN'T fix, and have no control over. Don't give up hope. Just try to learn, and understand what might be causing it. Turns out a pair that I was breeding seemed to come up with a lot of pups with respiratory problems. I have since stopped breeding that pair. I would rather have parents that produce healthy pups, than ones where a 3rd of the litter dies from health problems genetically related. Don't get so bummed. Keep your chin up and love the gerbils you have. Things aren't always as bad as they seem. -Jackie >I'm so upset. We lost another 2-wk.-old baby gerbil today. I took it to >the vet (paid $77 total for medicine, puppy formula, and visit - my >husband won't be thrilled in the least) and the vet said it was really >struggling. She said it didn't appear to be getting milk from the mom >and it's stomach was distended. She said it was having trouble breathing >due to the respiratory infection. She took it away for awhile & gave it >some milk. She sent me home with some bronchialator (?) medicine, puppy >milk, and instructions to keep giving it the medicine for the virus. She >said I'd have to nurse the baby - to put it in a smaller cage on a >heating pad to provide warmth. However, the mom and its brothers and >sisters still snuggled with it in the larger tank, so I left it in there. > When four hours had passed, I gave the gerbil more milk. It squirmed, >but its mouth was open so I thought it wanted milk anyway. I guess I >drowned it or something, because it grew limp. I held its mouth open >with my fingertip and it breathed some more, but it just didn't make it. >I feel just awful. I meant to help it, but I think I was the reason it >died - even though I know it might not have lived anyway because it was >so sick. I think I'm not meant to be a gerbil owner, because I just >can't seem to help them survive. Although I do still have three babies >from Nippy's first litter of six (two died from the virus and one died >from the accident) and three babies from her second litter of five >babies. > >Fortunately, the kids aren't very upset, because they're closer to the >other bigger 2-wk.-old babies. Those three look pretty hardy. That's >why I finally determined I needed to get this smaller one (slightly >bigger than the runt who died) to the vet. >-Jean
