|
|
 Links2Go #4 Gerbils |
|
|
|
|
This FAQ is based upon our experience with the gerbils we own and breed. We are not veterinarians or scientists and any advise you follow is at your own risk. There are differing views on ways to raise and keep gerbils, with most differences of opinion in the area of food and bedding. We will try to present these differences fairly, but we have our own opinions.
Any mention of specific name brand products or references to store or sites that sell products does not constitute endorsement of these products and we receive no monetary compensation for such references. All such references are included as illustrations of available products or an example of what we use ourselves.
For discussion, subscribe to the Gerbil Mailing List (GML) -- see Other Sources of Information for instructions.
Information contributed by other people is referenced at the end of that section.
This FAQ may not be reprinted with written permission from the authors. Mirror websites may be added after obtaining verbal consent, provided all text, format, graphics, and citations are faithfully reproduced.
Michelle Haines Kirk HainesNote1: There are several gerbil fancier/breeder societies dedicated to the breeding and showing of gerbils around the world. The these include The Gerbil Club of Missouri in the United States, The National Gerbil Society in England, and several in Europe. Refer to those pages or the GML for more information if you are interested.
Discussion lists centered around gerbils and jirds. I am not familiar with most, but provide additional information for those I am familiar with.
The Gerbil Mailing List is the longest running list dedicated to the discussion of gerbils, and was originally formed in 1993. Several of the original members are still around, as well as many other experts, breeders, geneticists, and hobbyists. An excellent list for gerbil information.
To subscribe to the Gerbil Mailing List, please send an email to gerbils-subscribe@topica.com. To facilitate ease of use of the Gerbil Mailing List, Julian Barker has provided a Gerbil Mailing List FAQ, and the Gerbil Mailing List Charter. These include information about how to subscribe and unsubscribe to the list, rules and suggestions for list behavior. There is a searchable archive of old messages, and a store of messages since 2002. It is strongly suggested you familarize yourself with them if you plan to join the list.
The name, homepage, country of origin and language of the webpage of known gerbil organizations.
Gerbils are small, typically white bellied, agouti coloured rodents which are found in Central Asia, India, the Middle East, and Africa. They inhabit savanna, steppe, hot desert and semi-desert regions of these countries. In appearance their coat varies from a greyish to a reddish brown with a liberal black ticking depending on their habitat, while the belly coat is an off white to a pale cream. The tail is covered in hair, unlike that of mice and rats, and usually ends in a black tuft. They are classified in the same sub-order as mice and rats, the Muridae, but, although they are often referred to as 'desert rats,' gerbils belong to a separate family -- the Gerbillinae which consists of about 90 species.
The gerbil usually kept as a pet is the Mongolian Gerbil also known as the Clawed Jird (Latin name -- Meriones unguiculatus meaning Little Clawed Warrior). It was first seen by Europeans in Eastern Mongolia in 1867. They were successfully bred outside Mongolia in the 1930's in Japan and in 1954 they were imported to the USA and from there several pairs were sent to UK in 1964 (NB. I don't know when they got to Finland).
The Meriones group (technically known as Jirds) occupy the northern most part of the gerbil's range, from North Africa, Turkey, North-west India and Central Asia. Wild Mongolian Gerbils live in family groups of up to about 20 gerbils; of all these only one female and one male regularly mate. They live in a large burrow which extends about 20 inches underground and consists of various chambers for nesting and storing food. Their diet consists mainly of seeds, roots and leaves. Although mainly vegetarian gerbils will supplement their diet with insects. The gerbil habitat is dry and can get very cold. This is why gerbils have evolved to conserve moisture by producing little urine and sweat, and conserve heat by having a stocky build, hairy tail and small external ears. In contrast their middle and inner ears are very large and have adapted to provide excellent hearing of very low frequency sounds such as those generated by an owl's wing beat. Gerbils rarely vocalize and mainly communicate with scent. Most aural communication takes place at times of danger or sexual contact and consists of foot drumming.
Unlike most gerbils and many other small rodents Mongolian Gerbils are not nocturnal and seem equally at home during the day and the night.
Contributed by Julian Barker Factual information quoted from:
Brian Leiper's Gerbils and Jirds
Basset Publications
Plymouth, England
ISBN 0 946873 94 1
Jird is an arabic word that generally means a large desert rodent. It has a more specific meaning for scientists who use the word to describe gerbils belonging to the genus Meriones. That means that the species of gerbil we keep as a pet (Meriones unguiculatus) is technically a jird. There are 13 other species of jird, some of which are kept as pets. These include Sundevall's Jird (Meriones crassus), Libyan Jirds (Meriones libycus), but mostly when people say jird they mean Shaw's Jird (Meriones shawi), an almost rat sized North African gerbil that makes an excellent pet for those with a bit more space.
Although not members of the genus Meriones, two other of the larger North African gerbils are also refered to as jirds. These are The Bushy-Tailed Jird (Sekeetamys calurus) and The Fat-Tailed Gerbil/Jird (Pachyuromys duprasis) also known as Duprasi. Both these species are also kept as pets but are more usually refered to just as "Bushy-Tails" and "Duprasi".
Contributed by Julian BarkerThe full scientific classification is as follows:
*Named after Peter Simon Pallas, a great 18th century explorer of Central Asia.
Pallas was a famous German 18th Century naturalist who went out with Russian expeditions to Central Asia to describe the wildlife there. He is most famous for the Pallas Cat, but was also the first person to describe Meriones meridianus, and M. tamariscinus.
Pallasiomys therefore literally means Pallas Mice, but, the word seems to have first appeared in 1933 when it was used for a new Genus that contained those Meriones species such as meridianus and libycus that share that typical Mongolian "look". Now days it is used for the subgenus of Meriones that includes those same species.
Contributed by Julian BarkerFor more information on wild gerbils and other gerbil species, see Mongolian Gerbils in the Wild and Gerbil and Jird Species at The National Gerbil Society pages.
This is a very individual decision based upon the owner's likes, dislikes, amounts of space, and caretaking abilities. For the benefit of readers that may be undecided on which type of animal to purchase, I am putting in a brief overview on the differences between hamsters, mice, and rats as it related to gerbils, so the information in this FAQ may serve as a rough guide. I suggest referring to the Hamster FAQ, Rat FAQ, and Pet Mouse FAQ for information that is more specialized to those species which are not the function of this FAQ to explain. You may notice that the human owners of these various animals are often fanatical about which rodent makes the best pet, and will argue their cases with an almost religious enthusiasim, but I suggest you make this decision based on your own lifestyle and wants.
The most common hamster kept as a pet is the Syrian or Golden Hamster. They are larger than the Mongolian Gerbil, with a very short tail, and small eyes. There are both short- and long-haired varieties, that most people find quite attractive. The space, food, and bedding requirements for a hamster are essentially indentical to those for a pair of gerbils.
The main difference comes from the hamster's solitary nature. These animals live alone in the wild, and must be kept alone as a pet. A pair of hamsters, even raised together from infancy, still runs a risk of growing up to fight and perhaps kill each other. This solitary nature can make them a bit tricky for people to bond with on occassion. They dislike being woken up from a sound sleep (especially during the day, as they have an almost completely noctural nature -- as opposed to the gerbils, which has several sleep/wake periods throughout the day) and it is advisable to tickle the critter awake and let him get that sleepy look off his face before picking him up, in case he decides to take his grumpiness out on your fingers.
The various species of Dwarf Hamsters (becoming quite popular as pets) all have different temperments and different social needs, so I will leave that for the hamster people to explain.
Mice are smaller than gerbils, with a different shape to the head and ear, smaller eyes, and a sparsely haired tail. Again, space and bedding requirements for a pair of mice are very similar to the requirements for a pair of gerbils. Food requirements are very similar, although some meat protein added occassionally to the diet isn't a bad idea.
Mice are also very social critters, although adult male mice should not be kept together. Male mice will produce a rather strong odor, so keeping a pair of female mice is probably the best way to go. Mice are generally considered to be the least intelligent of the small rodents.
Rats are bigger than gerbils, with round and slightly bulging eyes and a bald, partially prehensial tail. They require the most space of the small rodents, a ten-gallon aquarium being the ABSOLUTE minimum for one rat. Food requirements are quite different, requiring a different mix of seeds, grains, and meat -- as rats are omnivours. Many people feed their rats lab blocks and supplement this diet with various treats. I personally feed my rats (yes, this particular gerbil person also has rats) a mix of bird pellets and bird seed with a touch of dog food thrown in and leftovers from whatever we happened to have for dinner and didn't eat. Bedding requirements are again the same, although because of the odor of rats is somewhat stronger than that of gerbils and hamsters, it is often a good idea to throw in a little bit of cat litter to help absorb the smell.
Again, rats are very social creatures and quite intelligent. They should be kept in at least a pair, with lots of love and attention from their owners. Their intelligence ranks up there with that of a small dog, and they generally form strong attachments to their people. This would not be a wonderful pet for a child who likes the idea of a pet, but spends most of his or her time ignoring it. Gerbils are happy with their gerbil companions in general, but the rats would be lonely and not as happy. Many people are put off by the unsavory repuatation of a rat, and relatives may react in horror at the thought of you owning one.
In our opinion, two. Gerbils are highly social colony animals and get miserable and depressed by themselves -- if you aren't planning on breeding the best thing to do is to get two females or two males, preferably from the same litter. Two same-sex gerbils will pair bond as closely as a mated pair and will be perfectly happy together.
When you look at the gerbils in the store the first thing to look for is curiosity. When you walk up to the cage they should come to see what is happening. (Of course, they might be sleeping, that's normal.) Have the store clerk take the cages off the shelf and handle the gerbils. They will run when you try to catch them; make sure you pick them up with two hands. When picked up, the gerbil should be curious and try to investigate, provided you have it in a stable position. The eyes should be large and clear, the fur soft, and the tail as long as the body with a tuft of fur at the end. The body should be well formed and stocky.
You should avoid a gerbil that has bites on it or that bites you, this may indicate overcrowding or a bad disposition. Gerbils that are missing part of their tails normally indicate a pet store or owner that gave them an improper wheel or someone who lifted the gerbil by the tail incorrectly (to be discussed later) and there is nothing inherently wrong with such an animal except that they look less attractive. Look closely for a depressed, listless gerbil or one that has diarrhea. This indicates a serious disease and might indicate that the store does not take care of its animals properly. Make sure the animal does not have a sore, red, or bleeding nose, which indicates an infection or allergy to the bedding in the cage -- this may be aggravated by metal bottom cages. Dry or ruffled fur and runny or dull eyes are also indicators of a sick animal. Sometimes a healthy animal will be depressed if it has been alone for too long -- if the animal perks up when you handle it and the fur and eyes look good, then it is probably healthy.
Gerbils seven weeks or older are fairly easy to sex. The testicles on the males are very prominent -- enough so that he will look as he is carrying a little duffel bag under his tail. Before seven weeks is a bit more difficult but it is possible. Some people hang gerbils upside down by the tail to sex them, but it is just as easy to let the animal rest on the palm of your hand and gently lift the tail until you can see the genital area. There is a small bare patch of skin there. In males, it will be farther away from the tail that it is in females. The easiest way to see the difference is to have the store clerk or a friend help you and compare two gerbils at the same time. The only other obvious physical difference is males tend to have a tapered rump and females tend to have a more rounded rump. This difference is more obvious when the animals are sexually mature.
For a visual tutorial in telling gerbil sex, see the Sexing Gerbils section of the NGS pages.
I have seen the lifespan of gerbils listed as three to five years, but from various discussions on the GML, it looks like two to four years is a bit more typical.
The two basic colors of the gerbil are black and agouti, which is a variegated brown, field mouse color. The black variants will be the same color all over (refered to as self colored) except for small white patches on the throat and feet, while the agouti variants will have a creamy colored tummy and feet (refered to as non-self colored.)
The most common variations on these two colors are lilac, dove, argente golden, argente cream (called cinnamon and cinnamon cream in some areas), white, and spotted gerbils of any of these colors. The exact descriptions are listed in the Breeding section under area 7.2.
Spotted gerbils can come in every color. They will normally have a spot or stripe on the forehead, a white shawl around the neck, white feet, a white tail tip, and a white tummy. Sometimes white will also be dappled through the body of the coat; this is referred to as pied rather than spotted.
There are several more specialized colors that are only found in limited geographical areas. We will discuss those more in the Breeding section.
If you already have a sexually mature gerbil (older than ten weeks) the best thing to do is to get a young gerbil (under seven weeks). With either a mixed age pair (one sexually mature and one not) or with two fully adult gerbil, there are two main introduction methods. In either case, when doing an introduction protect yourself by wearing gloves. In case of a fight, you need to break up the gerbils and while they do have small teeth, those teeth can go fairly deep and it can be rather painful. Note that gerbil introductions generally seem to go better if the gerbils have been somewhat isolated for a little while, so they have forgotten previous companions and are a bit lonely. Be aware that some gerbils simply will not accept a stranger, and if you already have a bonded pair (even a same-sex pair) it is not recommended to place another gerbil in with them. Even if you break up the pair you may not get them to accept another gerbil, especially one already sexually mature.
The most preferred method is the split-cage. Place an aqariums divider in the cage to divide it in two. You can find some in the fish section of some pet stores or make one yourself out of wire, but the important this is that scent passes through it but the gerbils do not. For safety, if you use wire make sure that the openings are small enough that the gerbils can not bite at each other's feet if a gerbil is holding onto the wire. We had a gerbil that ended up missing most of the toes off her front paws because of this problem. Leave the gerbils in this split cage for about a week or so, switching them to the opposite sides of the cage every day to get them used to the scent of the new gerbil. After about this much time, try removing the divider and watch very closely for at least a half an hour. If everything is going well, you can relax somewhat, but keep a generally close eye on them for the rest of the day, just in case. Once they've snuggled up to each other to sleep, you're generally out of danger.
Another method that sometimes works is to cover the scents with something strong like cheap perfume or vanilla. The theory behind this is to eliminate the "stranger" scent while they adjust to each other and the new surroundings. The covering scent wears off gradually and they adjust to the stranger scent gradually. This method is usually not preferred as it tends to be less successful, but sometimes it will work when the split cage method has failed. I suppose it's a personality difference with some gerbils. Personally, we have used both methods with success and with some failure. To use this method, put he covering scent on the gerbils' nose and scent mark, and use a recently cleaned cage with no residual odors or "landmarks" in it -- ie, if one of the gerbils has been living in the cage, move things like toys, food dishes, and water bottles around so it is unfamilar to both gerbils and thus neutral territory. Again, wear gloves, and keep a very close eye on the gerbils in case of fights. For this method, I would recommend extremely close watching for a longer time, at least an hour, and again keeping an alert eye out for the rest of the day.
Two sexually immature gerbils can simply be placed in a cage together. Watch them for twenty minutes or so to make sure no problems develop and be watchful for the rest of the day.
In our opinion, if you only have a pair of gerbils, breeding or non-breeding, one of better and least expensive forms of housing is a simple ten gallon aquarium. In fact, you can often buy aquariums with small animal lids, water bottles, bedding, food, and a wheel. This is perfectly a perfectly fine arrangement, but you must cover the wheel if it is an open hamster wheel (to be discussed later.) This is our prefered form of housing.
Another alternative is a modified bird cage. These are decent for a non-breeding pair, but I would not recommend them for a breeding pair due to lack of space. These can be somewhat expensive. There are small ones made for a single hamster or gerbil, and there are taller ones that are perfect for a pair. These will often include a wheel (again, probably an open hamster wheel), a small plastic house (your gerbils will probably chew this apart eventually), a water bottle, and a couple movable ladders and shelves to create more floor space. These are easier to clean than an aquarium and provide more exercise as the gerbils run up and down the levels. A definite positive is these cages will often have a sliding tray built into the floor, making cleaning up a snap. Circulating air can help volatile oils from certain types of bedding evaporate more quickly and can lessen the dust the animals will breathe from any sort of bedding. Some drawbacks are the gerbils won't have any place to dig and living in an open area is contrary to their nature, as they are tunnel dwellers, so they may be more insecure or aggressive. Also, this will leave them more open to inspection from predatory animals in the house, they may catch a cold if you place them in a drafty area, and the animals will have a tendency to kick the bedding out of the sides of the cage, creating a monumental mess. The behavioral and mess reasons are the biggest arguments in favor of aquariums rather than wire cages. If you choose wire, you may want to cover the nearby floor area in plastic, set the cage in a box to catch flying litter, and vacuum more.
A normal hamster wheel is a metal or plastic wheel with open spaces between the bars of the wheel. A gerbil has a risk of catching its long tail or leg in this wheel and having it broken or even amputated -- if you have a wheel like this, simply tape if over with duct tape and it's fine, although you will have to repeat this process frequently. Slowly spin some bedding on the inside of the wheel after taping it over to reduce the stickiness of the tape. Gerbils are not often amused at having their feet stick to tape.
The best solution is to buy a solid wheel, such as Wodent Wheels. These are more expensive than the ones you typically find in pet stores, but the added safety is worth it.
No matter the kind of wheel you buy, be cautious about having these in cages with breeding animals and/or young pups. Being lighter in weight, a young gerbil may get caught by the centrifical force and spun all the way around or thrown off the wheel or into any side struts and be injured, especially if the youngster is sharing the wheel with an adult. Either remove the wheels until the pups are a little older, or buy a type that hangs from the side of the cage so the pups can't get into it until they are larger. A two-level cage is very helpful, here.
There are generally two variety of these. Cheaper models you can by at general purpose store, and rather expensive ones you can usually find in speciality pet stores.
The cheaper varieties are very vulnerable to chewing, and the gerbils will quickly find their way to freedom by destroying the tubes or the tube connections on the cages. We consider them a waste of money.
The more expensive varities usually have metal protecting the vulnerable chew points, and therefore will last much longer and are suitable longer-term homes. As with everything, you get what you pay for. In any event, check the variety you are interest in buying closely to look for escape routes that may have been missed.
These are a lot of fun, watching the gerbils learn their tunnels and moving the tubes around from time to time. If you are buying your gerbils as a child's pet, s/he will probably enjoy this type of cage most, as it is a more colorful and interactive environment. The bigger cages that are made to sit on top of aquariums. You can either put dirt into the aquarium to give them a digging room (I will discuss the pros and cons of this later) or simple use it as an extra room.
One big drawback, however, is no matter the type of plastic cage you buy, a gerbils sharp nails and constant urge to burrow will scratch the surface of the cage, making it cloudy and difficult to see into at certain point.
There are several, but the two I will discuss here are making your own cages or using a large aquarium with dirt in it. Other ideas are available on the gerbil mailing list.
Making your own cages is hard work, but it gives you the advantage of being able to keep a small colony in these cages. Making multilevel cages lets your gerbils climb and play and have more than one room to live in. The best thing to do is to get some inch by half-inch hardware cloth and cut it down to pieces to make whatever kind of cage you like, clipping it together with crimpable cage clips. Put screening on the bottoms of the floors to make walking easier for young ones. The arrangement of ramps and steps is up to you, although I do recommend making a special nesting room for the gerbils; they will feel better sleeping in an enclosed area. Screen the nesting area and the sides of the bottom level in order to place bedding and litter in these areas. Bedding on the bottom level is advisable to help keep smells down -- the other levels are optional.
Homemade wire cage do suffer all the disadvantages of premade wire cages listed above. If you'd like a cage to combine wire and enclosed areas -- well, use your ingenuity and figure something out. Make sure no easily chewable materials such as wood or plastic are used in places a gerbils could chew his or her way out and escape.
Dirt aquariums are a fun idea because you can simulate the natural habitat of the gerbils. Remember that the gerbils will be digging tunnels or rooms and they will not be able to have much floor space, so you might want to get a fifteen or twenty gallon aquarium instead of a ten if you don't have a cage sitting over it. Put large rocks or small flower pots filled with dirt and inverted on the bottom of the cage so the gerbils can not dig out the entire underside and collapse the dirt in on themselves. Fill the cage about halfway with the dirt, packing if firmly. After the tunnels are dug, you might want to pack the resulting loose dirt down again, but make sure not to push it down far enough to collapse the tunnels yourself! Feel free to give the gerbils paper and wood chips for bedding periodically. They will pull it underground, but when they feel it is too dirty, they will haul it back out of the tunnels and leave it for you to clean up. Mist the dirt every once in a while so it doesn't get too dry. You can even attempt to grow some grass, but unless you protect portions of it with a small, clear plastic box, the gerbils will eat the seeds quickly. There are some serious drawbacks to this arrangement. Notably, if a gerbil dies, you may not realize if for a while, and then you must dig the tunnels out to remove the animal. If a female gets pregnant, there is no way to monitor her or her pups until they start walking out of the tunnels themselves. It makes it extremely difficult to catch a gerbil if you need to give it antibiotics or for any other reason. It's extremely messy -- if there is too much dirt, they will kick it out of the aquarium and send it flying everywhere. You can help by removing the extra, but it's still kind of a disaster area.
A variation on this idea is to use peat and straw. The peat will absorb odors and the straw will provide structural support. Follow the instructions above -- everything will work the same way, except that the gerbils will possibly get dirtier than with just dirt.
Yes, it will keep their minds occupied. Toilet paper tubes make a fun toy and are good chewing exercise. Small boxes work the same way. You can also make lego buildings, or buy small buildings and nests and things, or even construct a maze to put them in. The more variety of toys they have, the less bored they will be. I suggest ceramic toys rather than plastic as the ceramic can not be chewed to bits like plastic can. Not only is this more economical, there is less risk of accidental injestion of the plastic.
There are several options here; you can buy prepackaged pellets, buy gerbil seed mixes, make your own seed mix, or get lab blocks. You may wish to supplement any of these diets with fresh vegetables and/or small insects like crickets, wax worms, and meal worms. Fresh veggies gives them some extra moisture and vitamins and they like them; insects are an extra source of protein -- especially important for pregnant gerbils, nursing mothers, nursing babies, and youngsters. If you feed your animals a mix of things, such as a gerbil mix or your own mix, provided you have picked something with a good nutritional balance, they will generally pick out a healthy diet for themselves. Be aware that some seeds (like whole corn and milo) may only have the hearts bitten out; the gerbils may not eat the larger, starchy part -- this is fine as they will stay slimmer.
It is recommended that you have made sure your gerbils have eaten everything you have placed in their dishes before giving them any more. This prevents problems such as gerbils just picking out sunflower seeds, corn, and other high fat foods and leaving the higher protein, lower fat foods behind. We solve this problem by only feeding our gerbils every other day (or every three days if the gerbils in a particular cage eat the food at a slow rate) and leaving lab block or dessert block in the cage at all times in case the gerbils have eaten everything in their dishes before the next feeding day.
Note that gerbils will have different dietary requirements if they are breeders, geriatric, or pets. For non-breeding pets look for a moderate protein content (about 12%) and a fat content between 6% and 8%. For breeding gerbils 15%-16% protein and 7-9% fat is recommended. For geriatric (past breeding age or about two years old) 10-11% protein and 3-5% fat works well. Try to have as much variety in of food as possible in any of these diets to be sure the gerbils are getting all the micronutrients they need. Remember that gerbils are highly active animals that need fat for energy and to keep their coats soft, but too much will give you obese animals in a year or two. If you are breeding too much fat can render your females sterile by building fat deposits around their ovaries.
Prepackaged pellets are not a recommended diet as the sole diet of the animal (note that these are not the same thing as lab blocks). Think of it this way, you can live off of complete vitamins, protein supplements, and sugar water, but you wouldn't enjoy it and you might develop some health problems simply because it is hard to be certain that you were getting all of the micronutrients you require. Pregnant and nursing mothers tend to love these because of the high protein content. The food mix that we use has high protein/vitamin pellets mixed in with all of the other items, but they are not the primary constituent.
Gerbil seed mixes are a decent food source, but can be somewhat expensive -- especially if you have large amounts of gerbils. However, if you have just a couple as pets, these are pretty much ideal. If you have just one or two breeding pairs, these are also very convenient; however, you will need to add a high protein chicken feed or a cat/dog food to bring the protein content up high enough -- these mixes are rarely suitable for breeders. Some of the cheaper mixes will be good for geriatric gerbils, but probably aren't suitable for younger individuals. Try to find mixes with a good variety of foods.
Mixing your own food is what Kirk and I did and is what we recommend if you have a lot of gerbils to feed. This is generally the cheapest way to do things and you know exactly what you are feeding your animals. You can find stores that sell various seeds and feeds loose or buy bags of bird seed mixes and different feeds for horses or chickens. If you don't have many gerbils and you don't want to buy food in several 50 or 25 lb bags, the best thing to do is to call pet stores or feed stores and see if they will mix food to the proportions you wish from larger bags of food. Various bird food mixes are a good base to use because gerbils are natural seed eaters. It's recommended that you also mix in a high protein chicken feed. (A feed meant for egg-laying chickens is ideal.) Three way sweet feed for horses is another good thing to mix in. These normally consist of rolled oats, corn, and barley with a touch of molasses for taste. These are all good for gerbils and greatly enjoyed. Make sure you write down the nutritional analysis for all the separate foods and compute the nutritional balance for what you are feeding your gerbils, this will help you adjust the balance of protein, fiber, and fat if it is necessary. Our personal mix was 50 lbs of Egg Maker Crumbles for laying hens (for protein and vitamins), 25 lbs of Fancy Parrot Diet (for large seeds, dried vegetables, and vitamins), 25 lbs. of Pigeon Racer Diet (for low fat and moderate protein with a lot of variety), and 25 lbs of Fancy Cockatiel Diet (for small seeds). We used to use Pigeon Breeder Diet, but Manna Pro discontinued it. It had high protein, low fat, and it introduced considerable variety in what the gerbils had to eat.
Lab blocks are basically seed mixes that are homogenized into blocks and with most of the fat removed. These commonly have 20% protein and 3% fat. In our opinion, this is not enough fat, so you will need to supplement this diet by giving them sunflower seeds. The advantages to this are it is fairly cheap (compared to pellets and gerbil mixes) and they can not scatter it all over the cages, so it doesn't make a mess. This is also an excellent food if you need to be gone for a few days or only want to feed your gerbils every other day.
Although I've never discussed this with a veterinarian, common sense would dictate gerbils, like most animals, need less protein as they get older. This seems to be a common thing among most household pets; however, it probably affects breeding animals more strongly than others. Breeders, especially females, need a lot of fat and protein to nurture their litters. We do feed gerbils that are retired from breeding a diet that is lower in protein and fat.
NO!! Do NOT do this! While gerbils are desert animals and can survive without water, they will not be as healthy and you will probably shorten their life span. They will be thinner and their coats will not be as healthy. They will be much more aggressive without water, and if one gets pregnant, the babies will either die or the mother will eat them. Just get a water bottle of a size that they will empty on a regular basis and keep it full.
Using vitamins is a personal preference. Some people prefer to add them to a diet to make sure there are no trace minerals or nutrients missing, some prefer simply to have the diet as balanced as possible. Although it is important to remember that supplements will not fix a poor diet, adding vitamins to the diet of an animal that is having trouble (for example, is having problems with his teeth due to a calcium deficiency) or a breeding gerbilcan be useful.
Vitamins typically come in liquid and powder form. Liquid are usually added directly to water in the bottles; follow the instructions on the package. Some powdered vitamins can be added to either the food or the water; again, follow the instructions on the package. There are also brands that can be used for many animals, depending on the exact dosage used. These are normally powdered vitamins that can only be added to food. This is handy if you have a lot of animals of various sorts.
Adding iodine in small amounts to water can increase resistance to disease, improve fertility, improve the health of embryos, and help prevent fungus from growing in the water bottle. The maximum dosage is two or three drops per gallon of water from a 5-7% solution of iodine. Be aware that iodine will decrease the potency of vitamins, so you will need to either rotate vitamin and iodine water or use powdered vitamins mixed into the food.
Although trace minerals and salt are important in a diet, gerbils tend to ignore these blocks. We recommend having a diet that is as balanced as possible and adding a vitamin/mineral powder to the food if that is your preference of it is necessary.. Vionate Vitamin Mineral Powder or SuperPreen Powder for birds are both excellent and will take care of the problem. If you use these in the food, add a couple drops of cooking oil to make it stick to the seeds. Water based vitamin drops will pretty much take care of the problem as well. Be sure to use good vitamins with a wide range of nutrients. I recommend Oasis for water based vitamins.
The most important thing to remember is NO CEDAR! Cedar has highly volatile oils that can cause skin rashes, respiratory distress, liver damage, and in extreme cases, neurological damage to small animals that have to live in and breathe the fumes daily. You run a serious risk of impairing you gerbil's health and reducing its lifespan when you use cedar bedding. Pine is usable, but it has similar volatile oils as cedar (along with all soft woods). Use kiln-dried pine, as it has been baked in order to liberate the oils from the wood, or failing that, at least let your pine air out for several days before putting it into the cages so that the oils will have a chance to undergo some evaporation. (For more information about cedar and pine toxicity, see this article at www.trifl.org/cedar.html.) Aspen shavings are much better, because they don't have any of the aforementioned oils. If you have a cage with a wire bottom over a pan, corn cob bedding underneath the wire makes a good absorbent base, and you can put a softer litter over it. Black and black-based gerbils (lilac, dove, and others) seem to have a higher risk of developing an allergy to wood bedding that may be aggravated by a cage with a metal bottom, rather than plastic or glass. If your gerbil gets a red, sore and bleeding nose, try aspen chips instead of pine. If you are already using aspen, remove the wood altogether and a try bedding such as CareFresh, which is made of celluose fibers, or another non-wood bedding product. These are generally more expensive than pine, though are often comparable to aspen based beddings, and they are very hypoallergenic.
Gerbils will want soft stuff to make their nests with. Tissue paper, cotton balls, cotton batting out of medicine bottles, used paper that you were planning to throw out, ect. all make good nesting materials. Tear the paper into strips and crumple it, but other than that, they will make the nest all by themselves, shredding and fluffing with their teeth and paws. There have been some instances of hamsters dying from ingestion of cotton and wool products, so you may wish you stick exclusively to paper products as nesting materials. Paper is cheaper anyway.
Depending on the size of the cage and the type of bedding that is used, anywhere from once a week to once a month. The best advice I can give you is to follow your nose. When it starts to smell, or seems dirty, clean it. Just about a quarter inch coating of litter on the bottom of the cages is fine; although if you want them to be able to dig and make a few tunnels here and there several inches is better. One easy method for aquariums is to scoop out the litter, spray the floor with some warm water, and wipe it out with a paper towel. New bedding can be laid right away. If the cage need to be completely cleaned use a mild soap on the cage and rinse it thoroughly. Completely clean the water bottles at the same time to prevent fungus from growing inside them. Use a Q-tip for the shaft and an old toothbrush or a brush for cleaning baby bottles for the bottle itself.
Some people prefer to feed by this method, but I myself prefer to put my food in a dish. When you just got it into the cage there is no way to monitor how much your gerbils are eating and it is messier. Yes, the gerbils will scatter some about themselves, but generally they will sit in the dish and eat. You will waste less and keep a cleaner cage putting food in a dish. Pet stores and general stores sell small dishes or you can use a solid plant pot bottom. Ceramic or metal is best, so they don't chew it apart.
It seems to be an individual preference. Our gerbils have always loved zipping around in them, and are quite proficient at dodging corners and furniture. Some cautions: always supervise them while in the balls, put other animals in another part of the house, make sure stairs are blocked off, and put several pieces of tape on the lids -- ours learned how to knock them off. Put them back in their cages after a half an hour. If you are a person who has gerbils that dislikes the balls don't force the issue; replace them in their homes and let them exercise in their wheels.
The only way to tame gerbils is to handle them often. They will probably always run from you when you first reach down to pick them up, but when they will gradually become more tame and will even consent to sit on your shoulder. You can also teach a gerbil to ride in your breast pocket, if you start young. Be careful they don't escape while you aren't home if you have carried them elsewhere. The best way to bribe a gerbil to do anything is to hand feed it sunflower seeds. The animal will learn to trust you and your hands if you always come bearing gifts. For the best results, remove all sunflower seeds from the food and give them only from your hands when you are paying your gerbils a lot of attention and handling them.
Gerbils rarely bite for absolutely no reason at all, although there are isolated cases in which the animal just don't seem quite right in the head and are very aggressive. The two most common reasons are curiosity and fear.
Usually it's the young gerbils that bite out of curiosity. Like all babies, they explore with their mouths, and they're just trying to see if you might be something good to eat. If the behavior persists or is more than just a slight nip, try giving the animal a light tap on the head or a puff of air in the face whenever he nibbles on you. Be aware that if you have the smell of something yummy (to a gerbil) on your hands you may get more and harder nips.
If you're animal is skittish and afraid, there are various techniques to calm him down, some mentioned in section 4.10. If you have a truly frightened, or previously mishandled animal, I suggest using your bathtub to help tame him. Make sure the tub is generally clean and dry, and that the gerbil can't get down the drain. Lift the animal out of his cage by the use of a cup, can, or tunnel if he won't allow you to pick him up, and put him in the tub with a handful of food. When he gets used to the environment and calms down, climb into the tub with him. Just sit there for a while, and let him adjust to your presence. Start making friends in SMALL steps. First just holding your hand out flat on the bottom of the tub and letting him sniff and walk over it, then offer him some nice treats the palm of your hand, maybe pet him on the back very gently while he's taking the treats; you get the idea. Work up to actually picking him up a little bit at a time, and have patience. Trust takes time to build.
The best way is to make a little cave of with your two hands and scoop up the little guy. Let him or her poke his nose around in your hands for a minute, then when he calms down, open your hands and let him walk over your palms. Be careful to keep him over the cage, so if he jumps down you will not have to chase him all over the place. You want to be especially careful if the gerbil is a baby because they can easily jump out of your hands and hurt themselves. With time, the gerbil should become used to being picked up and handled, and you won't have to worry as much about him jumping down and leading you on a merry chase through your home.
Picking your gerbil up by the tail is not recommended, except in an emergency situation, as it isn't exactly the best way to make friends with a gerbil. However, if you absolutely must do this, make certain to grasp the gerbil's tail firmly at the base, right next to the body. Make sure that you can feel the bones a bit through the skin, because if you just get skin, you may pull it off and leave your gerbil with a bloody, painful tail!
The best way to hold a gerbil for medication is listed in section 6.4.
Permanently, no. However, if you "gerbil proof" a room by blocking off all exits, putting towels under the doors, and having no boxes and things they can get lost in then you can let them run around in that room for an hour or two while you supervise them. Be forewarned they may be difficult to catch again.
Yes. Gerbils, like most rodents, have a strong chewing instinct. They can keep their teeth at the proper length by grinding them together unless the teeth do not line up properly, but still instinctively chew on anything they can get their teeth on. Cardboard or store bought chew sticks are OK, but the cheapest and best thing to do is to use branches and bark from trees in your area. Pine cones are a great hit too.
Gerbils, like most animals, need a day/night light cycle. However, leaving the cages in direct sunlight, especially plastic cages or aquariums, can be dangerous. The sunlight can overheat the cages and cause the animals to die of heat exhaustion. Lack of regular light can cause breeding animals to either not breed or the mother to miscarry her litters (there is some dispute over just how pronounced this effect is, or even if it really happens. Check with Gerbil Mailing List for more information.) One solution for this is to place the gerbils in a room with bright lights such as flourescent lights that can be hooked up to a timer, so even if you get up late or forget to turn the light on the gerbils will still have a normal day/night cycle. Making sure you turn the light on every day at the same time will work as well, although most bulbs do not produce full spectrum lighting and this may or may not impact breeding animals. If you choose to use sunlight for lighting, make sure plastic cages or aquariums will never be in the path of direct sunlight during the day.
Gerbils thump for two reasons: communication of danger and sexual excitement in a male gerbil. Gerbils startled by a loud noise or another pet will make a consistent, quick "da-dum, da-dum" sound. This often infects other gerbils in the room until it sounds like a gerbil percussion section. Males will sometimes make a long running thump during sexual activity as they move around.
Thumps are produced by the gerbils pounding their back feet on the floor together simultaneously. It is actually quite interesting to watch and a surprisingly loud sound for such a small animal.
Young gerbils are somewhat more easily startled than adults, but it also seems to be a bit of a "Look, Ma, I can thump!" sort of thing. It's harmless -- even their parents ignore it most of the time. It is cute, though.
Pair bonded gerbils or family units will cuddle, bathe each other, wrestle, box and play chase. They will often sleep in a heap, some gerbils lying on each other's backs. Mated pairs will often wrestle as they bathe each other, with the loser being held down and washed vigorously -- this is quite adorable.
Gerbils that are being aggressive to each other will often box with each other, push each other side to side, and chase each other violently -- one fleeing in a panicked way and one chasing. Aggressive and playful boxing can be difficult to tell apart, so the best thing to do is rely on other signals and the general mood of what is happening. When a gerbil feels itself in danger, it might squeak loudly in panic. The most dangerous behavior occurs when the two animals roll into a tight ball with each other. You must separate them at this point -- they are trying to kill each other. We have never been successful at reconciling two gerbils once this behavior has occurred.
They are marking their territory. Lift your gerbil and look at its stomach. You will see a small, narrow patch of bare skin there. This is the scent gland -- it is larger in males -- which produces an oily secretion with a scent unique to that animal. They will mark everything they consider their property and all the gerbils that are a recognized part of their family group.
There normally won't be a problem, but if you are worried about infection, wash the wound with hydrogen peroxide and/or use a topical antibiotic. You will need to ask your veterinarian for that. Neosporin has been suggested to me as a good topical antibiotic that you do not need to go to the vet to get.
If it's a closed break, not much. Make sure the gerbil is warm and eating. Baby gerbils that are still nursing will stop eating and starve themselves to death if they are hurt, so you will have to nurse them by hand. If the gerbil eats and drinks, it will probably recover in a day or two and be hopping around as usual.
An open fracture is much more serious. The best thing to do is use a topical antibiotic every few hours and hope for the best. If an infection develops, your vet might need to amputate the leg. Never fear, gerbils can get around on three legs without much problem.
Remember some of these injuries will look worse than they are. This advice goes for all broken bones, I have seen a baby that I thought had broken its back walk in a few hours and fully recover in a day.
The most common form is an infectious disease called Tyzzer's Syndrome that prevents the intestines from properly absorbing water and nutrients, but the name "Wet Tail" generally covers all forms of diahrrea that are life threatening. For more information about Tyzzer's disease specifically, read this article. All forms are extremely serious, young gerbils will often die from it before any symptoms are noticeable. Although it can be treated, gerbils that are in the diarrhea stage will usually die anyway. You can save the cage mates. It is normally caused by extremely dirty cage conditions or excessive stress and spreads quickly.
The common symptoms of Wet Tail are extreme, green-ish colored diarrhea, depression, listlessness, and a lowered body tempature. The first time our gerbils were infected with this disease, we also saw a red mucus gumming shut the eyes of the infected animals. This particular symptom lessened in severity as the disease progressed through the population until it disappeared entirely, and we have not seen it occur with later bouts of Wet Tail.
The remedy that has worked best for us involves two different antibiotics combined with subcutaneous fluids (if you are not confident with sub-Q fluids, use Pedialyte in the water bottle instead). Use the commercial medicine packaged as Wet Tail medication every day for each gerbil, putting four drops for youngsters and seven for adults directly into their mouths. They will struggle, but don't give up. Second, put tetracycline in their water and use it as their only water. If you have more than one cage of gerbils, wash your hands thoroughly before handling the second cage or you will pass the disease around yourself. Make sure all gerbils in the infected cage, even if they look well, are medicated every day for five days. The tetracycline should continue for another five days.
Clean cages are crucial with this disease -- the animals may keep picking it up from the bedding even after you think you have it licked. The first day you see the symptoms, and every two or three days after that, dump all food and bedding out of the cage and scrub the cage and everything in it with bleach water (a concentration of 1 part bleach to 10 parts water is an effective disinfectant). Rinse everything thoroughly and let it dry completely before replacing the animals.
The best method I've found (that we picked up from a vet during hand surgery on our beloved Blackie) was to catch the gerbil by the tail and hold it there with your "good" hand (right if right-handed, left if left-handed). With your "off" hand, grasp the somewhat loose fur at the back of the neck firmly and lift the animal. This is known as "scruffing." Then you can use a needleless syringe or an eyedropper to give the animal medication.
Note that adult gerbils will likely squirm during this procedure, as it is somewhat painful, but if you have enough of the scruff held, they will usually stay still long enough for you to put medicine in their mouths. However, they won't be very happy with you, so keep your fingers away!
Subcutaneous fluids (often abbreviated as sub-Q fluids) is injecting a saline and glucose fluid underneath the skin of an animal when it is dehydrated and lacking nutrients, which is why it has helped get several of our gerbils through Wet Tail. To do this, you will need a small needle (usually 22 x 25), a 1 cc or 3 cc syringe, a supply of sub-Q fluids (ask your vet for it), and a person to help you.
Adult gerbils should get no more than 1 full cc of fluids this way three times a day, usually more like once or twice, depending on how sick the animal is. Youngsters will get less according to their body weight. We usually have about three-week old gerbils on 0.1 cc maybe twice a day (again, adjusting for how sick the animal is and how much fluid it will need) and adjust up from there for older pups.
To prepare a syringe, warm up the fluids to slightly over your body tempature. A drop should feel slightly warm on your wrist. Draw the fluid into the syringe until it is at the proper dosage, then turn it so the air bubbles can rise to the top. Depress the plunger to remove the air bubbles. Place your needle on top of the syringe and depress the plunger again to remove the air from the needle.
Have your helper hold the gerbil on his/her lap, grasping firmly by the tail and shoulders. With a prepared syringe in your hand, gently lift the scruff of the animal with your other hand -- making a tent of skin -- and insert the needle into the "tent." Be careful not to either push the needle into the muscles, or all the way through both sides of the skin, but make sure they head of the needle is all the way inside the skin, or you will get fluid leakage. Slowly depress the plunger until the fluid is all inside the scruff, then gently massage the lump to east the pain of the injection and to help move the liquid around. That's it, you're done.
Some cautions: If you are not confident with this procedure, don't do it until you have checked with your vet -- put Pedialyte in the water bottle or hand-feed it to the animal with an eye dropper instead. Too much fluid can be just as bad as too little, so err on the conservative side when estimating volumes. Be certain that both the needle and the fluids are sterile -- you can't help a sick animal by introducing more dangerous bacteria!
He probably has an allergy to the bedding. Switch to aspen chips if you are using pine. If you are already using aspen, try CareFresh or corncob. If it persists, give him an antibiotic for a few days and that should clear it up. A topical antibiotic will work best in these situations; oral antibiotics may not work unless the gerbil has another infection or illness. See section 4.6 for more information on bedding types.
Yes, this is a common way to get infected by Wet Tail. We recommend giving antibiotics in the water of healthy looking animals for a week, and adding oral antibiotics to animals that already have an infection of some sort. You can also quarantine the animal for two weeks.
That gerbil or its cage mate is plucking the hair on the tail. It's probably bored or lonely. Give it some new toys or a wheel. If you have a single gerbil, and it is a fairly non-aggressive animal, you might try a companion. To correct the problem, dip the gerbil's tail in Bitter Apple or something else that tastes nasty every day.
Sometimes gerbils, especially young gerbils, will be over stimulated by accidents or unusual things. The animal may have what looks like an epileptic fit or will suddenly become completely still, almost as if the animal has died. Keep the gerbil warm and it will normally come out of it in a minute or two. It looks scary, but it isn't as serious as it looks.
The NGS pages has a section on Diseases and Ailments in Gerbils, so check there if your gerbil's problem isn't listed here. If it's not listed there either, you should definately see your vet. [The NGS pages also has a Recommended Gerbil Vets listing.] Post your problem to rec.pets or the GML so the rest of us can learn about it.
There are six different gene loci that pertain to gerbil colors, and a theorized seventh one. Capital letters refer to the dominant gene in the pair, small letters to the recessive, an asterisk means it doesn't matter which gene is in that place.
Not all of the exotic colors are in this list at the moment. Updates are added as time and knowledge permits, and there are other gerbil pages with more information. All of these colors, plus some more exotic varities, can be seen at The Gerbils Color Palette.
I'm leaving out the spotting genes, because the effect is the same on all gerbils. The more exotic genes (e-strain or g-strain) have their own color charts. This chart should help you breed different colors yourself. If you need more help figuring out what color pups your gerbils might have, try The Gerbil Genetics Calculator.
Non-self colored gerbils
Self colored gerbils
[Note from Michelle: European Dark-Eyed Honey gerbil DO develop a light ticking at about the same time in life that the Nutmeg gerbils will develop their ticking. There appears to be a slight difference in some of the genetics between European and American ee-strain gerbils.]
I'm not quite sure what A*ppC*ee looks like. I think it's pretty much indistinguishable from Argente Golden (A*ppC*E*). Ruby used to have some babies that looked like Argente Golden but with grey under-fur; those MIGHT have been A*ppC*ee. We didn't breed any of those because it wasn't particularly attractive.
Another case where two distinctly different genotypes produce the same phenotype (i.e. they look just the same) is Argente Golden with white markings and Argente Nutmeg with white markings. This one puzzled us for a LONG time! We had a pair of Lilac/pied who kept having what looked like Argente Golden offspring mixed in with the Lilacs. Finally they had a golden one without the white markings and we figured out what it was.
The following table shows all the gg gerbil strains known.
Obviously the chch combination will generate PEW and dark tailed whites depending on the P genes.
Contributed by Julian BarkerBasically, pick a male and a female of some colors that you would like and place them together while they are young. Nature will take its course and you'll have some babies.
It is strongly recommended you do NOT place two females in with a male to breed (or any other reason). Females are the dominant sex in this species, and they compete fiercely for mates. Even if they live together happily and raise one or two litters together, it is nearly inevitable that they will eventually come to blows, which may result in a dead gerbil.
Some people have two males in with a female with no problems, although it is then difficult to tell who fathered what pups. In rare cases, the males will come to blows over the female, but it's a much more common occurance the other way around.
Inbreeding can be a very contreversial topic, and it is true that too much inbreeding has caused some problems in other domestic animals, notably dogs and cats. However, one important thing to remember is inbreeding does NOT create genetics defects and outcrossing does NOT erase them. The genes are still there. The only thing that inbreeding does is increase the likelihood that both parents will carry the gene, and outcrossing decreases the chances. This is why many people make a policy of never breeding any animals, outcrossed or not, that have shown or are related to an animal that has shown a genetic problem.
On the negative side, it means you can selectively breed an animal for a trait that will eventually cause the animal problems. Large dogs or working dogs, for example, often have hip dysplasia. Certain breeds of cats, because people liked the flat-nosed look, now have breathing difficulties and problems with the tear ducts in the eyes because the breeders didn't foresee the consequences of breeding for such flat noses. On the positive side, selective and careful inbreeding can help you "set" a trait, like an unusual coat color or pattern, or to develop a trait more fully, like a longer-haired animal.
So, in a practical sense, what does all this mean for gerbil breeders? Rodents in general tend to be resistant to defects showing up from inbreeding. They aren't immune, however, and there are several traits that have shown up that may be related to extensive inbreeding. So, there are some basic rules to follow when doing any sort of inbreeding. The first rule of any sort of breeding is to breed ONLY healthy animals. Even if it's an unusual color, you don't want to breed an animal with a congenital balance problem or a kinked over tail. This also goes for animals that have thrown several defective litters -- have the male neutered or seperate the pair and stop breeding them. Also, try to limit your inbreeding and line breeding to a maximum of four generations before outcrossing for some fresh genes. For most casual breeders, probably most of the advice you'll need is as long as the parents aren't closely related and are healthy, you can breed a pair of siblings together without much chance of ill effects.
For a more extensive discussion on this topic, as always, refer to the GML.
The fertile period for gerbils normally starts at 10 to 12 weeks and ends at 18 to 24 months. However, a young female with a sexually mature male will sometimes come into estrus sooner than normal.
The average is six days apart for about twelve hours. It can happen every fourth day or every eight.
This will normally happen at night when you can't watch, but the male will thump a lot and then mount the female. If she is receptive she will lift her rear end; if not, she will run away. The male will mount several times, each lasting just a second or two, before ejaculating. The male will check himself between each mounting; when they both check themselves, he has probably ejaculated.
She might eat more or drink more. The easiest way to tell is she will get fat and when you lift her she will feel like she has a sack full of tiny potatoes in her tummy.
21 to 24 days. Directly after the mother gives birth, you may notice your gerbils mating again. If this pregnancy takes (it doesn't always) implantaion will often be delayed so that a second litter is born around the time the first is mostly weaned, so don't be alarmed if pregnancy takes a bit longer.
Father will normally not consume the pups, and should be left in the cage with the mother as he will coparent the infants. If you have a rare father that does kill his offspring, you might consider taking him out and not breeding him again. If you do remove the father, it will be very difficult to get the mother to accept him again after the young are weaned and gone.
Gerbils will mate literally within hours after the female gives birth. In most cases, this pregnancy will be viable, but the implantation will be delayed for a little while until the current litter is a bit older. The timing generally works out so the second litter will arrive when the first is about six or so weeks old. There have been observed matings several days after the birth, although the exact reason is still unknown. The strongest theory is that the first postnatal mating didn't take, but the issue has been open for discussion for some time.
If you want to prevent a second mating, probably the safest way to do it is to remove the father shortly before the mother gives birth. Unfortunately, this will leave her to raise the pups on her own -- not an ideal situation, but if you're determined that you want no more pups, she can do it. When the pups are about six weeks old, you should introduce one of the male pups to the father as a companion. Male gerbils are generally very tolerant of youngsters, even strangers, so usually this is not very difficult, but refer to introduction techniques in section 2.7 for instructions on how to do this safely. Leave one female pup in with the mother as her companion.
This depends on you and your gerbils. If your gerbils are fairly comfortable with you, than yes, but be careful with new mothers. We have always handled our babies every day of their lives, but I have heard that handling will cause the mother to eat the babies. It is important to count the babies when they are born to make sure the parents aren't eating them.
This nearly ALWAYS occurs after the pups have already died. Unless you actually witness one of the parents kill the pup, not just eat it, assume it died for some other reason. If you DO happen to witness a gerbil kill it's pup, you can see if any of the problems below might be the cause.
If it's the father, take him out of the cage and don't breed him again. If it is the mother, there are several things that might be causing the problem: she doesn't have enough protein in her diet, she doesn't have enough water, she feels overcrowded, or you have been handling her babies too often. If it's the protein problem, you will need to adjust the balance of food for all of your gerbils. Try giving this mother some small insects every day until her litter stops nursing. Water is fairly obvious, you either need to give her a water bottle, check it more often, or make it more accessible to her nest -- although I've never heard of a gerbil mother that wouldn't leave her nest for food and water. Overcrowding is most common when you have left earlier litters in with their parents. Remove all gerbils except the mother's bond mates (mate or mate and sister) and her current litter. If you are over handling the babies, put the cage in a quiet corner of a quiet room and leave her alone except to check food and water for about a week.
Be aware that once she has started killing her current litter, nothing you do may make her stop. You might wish to remove the pups and try hand raising them yourself. Most cases of babies being killed or simply abandoned occur with first time mothers who aren't very experienced and never saw their own mother raise a litter younger than them. If this is the case with you, give her at least one more chance before deciding not to breed her again.
Gerbils that are nearing the end of their fertile period will tend to have smaller and less healthy litters. It will not be uncommon to have stillbirths and pups that die a few days later because the mother's milk is no longer adaquate. Try increasing her protein and giving her a hand feeding the babies. The mother will usually attempt to recycle the protein and nutrients of her stillbirths by eating all or part of the bodies. Let her do this as it will be less strain on her body. Remove any body parts she discards without eating.
You can use human formula or puppy formula to feed the pups with at about double the normal concentration, as gerbil milk is very concentrated. Like human babies, gerbil pups need warm milk, so make sure the milk is the same temperature as the inside of your wrist. When you placea drop there, you shouldn't be able to feel it. You can put the milk in a small beaker or glass, but test it every once in a while to make sure it stays warm. Use a small eye dropper and while holding a baby in your fingers -- somewhat upright so she/he can't choke -- place a drop on the mouth. The milk will take a few seconds to drip into the mouth, but if the baby is hungry, he/she will begin eating as soon as the milk is tasted. It will only take a few mouthfuls for the pup to become full.
Large litters may need some supplemental feedings to help the mom out. Be aware that sometimes a mother will not have enough milk for a large litter (more than six) and if you don't give her a hand some of the babies may die. However, in MOST cases, mom does just fine by herself. Don't interfere unless it is obvious the pups aren't getting enough. A few feedings a day should be fine. If you are raising a litter completely on your own, you will probably have to feed every hour or two and you might lose quite a few.
If you have another mother who is nursing you can place the orphans with her young and she will care for them. It is best to make sure the orphans are well mixed into their adopted siblings and their bedding material, so they take on the new scent. This is usually successful even when the mother's litter of pups is almost weaned. Keep an eye on the orphans for half an hour or so by which time the adopting mother will probably have started to feed them. For more info subscribe to the GML.
Contributed by Jackie RoswellWhen they are born, gerbil pups are tiny, blind, hairless, and unable to hear. They start to grow hair in a few days, but if will take about two weeks for them to become fully haired. Their scent of smell works at about 4 days, and their ears open several days later; the eyes take around two and a half weeks to open. They will start moving around in a few days, and are hopping around in a week and a half. The pups are fairly easy to handle until their eyes open, then they become extremely skittish about being handled. One thing to be very careful about, however, is that babies who have figured out running and hopping, but do not yet have their eyes open or have only just opened their eyes, will often happily go running and bounding right off your hand. If this results in a long fall, the baby could be injured. So, be very careful when handling blind but active young so that this does not happen.
Fifteen to seventeen days.
Gerbil pups will wean themselves. They start nibbling on food when they open their eyes, but don't take this as meaning they are eating and can be removed. They will need a bit more time with their mother to acclimate themselves to solid food. If you forcibly wean the pups, they will develop more slowly than pups left with their parents until they wean themselves.
You need to wait until at least four weeks to sell the pups. (In fact, here in Colorado, it is illegal to sell any rodents until they are six weeks of age.) The pups will hold up better under the stress of being moved to a pet store and sold again if you wait until they are six weeks old to sell them.
|
|
|