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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Help please...gerbils!

35 replies

BuggarMeGently · 08/03/2014 22:39

Urgent!! Our two "male" gerbils have just- THIS MINUTE!- become parents! Do I seperate them?? Wtf? Extra food? A blanket? A nursing chair??? Help!!

OP posts:
JeanSeberg · 08/03/2014 22:42

Congratulations!

gerbilsaspets.com/taking-care-of-baby-gerbils

canyou · 08/03/2014 22:43

Envy Envy Envy

extra hay/straw bedding and leave them eat the babies to get on with it. Our Daddy gerbil used to bring food to the muumy who was an evil witch and needed SS intervention
And dont handle the babies they are really fast and if they escape cannot be caughtHmm

Original poster
BuggarMeGently · 08/03/2014 22:45

Thanks...already a proud "Grandma"...

OP posts:
canyou · 08/03/2014 22:46

I bough organic veg for oursBlush the DC got value pack veg Blush Blush Blush Blush Blush

Original poster
BuggarMeGently · 08/03/2014 22:48

Grin do I separate them'? Anx will they really eat the babies? Sad

OP posts:
2tired2bewitty · 08/03/2014 22:54

Mine did this! Definitely separate mum and dad, they become fertile again very quickly, and before you know it you'll be overrun

canyou · 08/03/2014 22:55

no we think the did as babies used to disappear. It even happened when we seperated the adults so we stopped. DS made a fortune selling the babies to the pet shop

Sars123 · 08/03/2014 23:02

You should separate but only if you can tell which is male and which is female. The last thing you want to do is take mum away and leave dad there. Try and keep it quiet round them and don't disturb the bedding. They will eat the babies if they are stressed

FryOneFatManic · 08/03/2014 23:13

We got rid of ours very quickly after the babies began to appear. By which I mean sold them on, adults as well as babies.

We'd had what were sold to us as a same sex pair. Lovely black ones with red eyes. Ended up with a real mix of colours, so we did make enough to cover the costs we had in keeping them in the first place. Grin

Never again.

canyou · 08/03/2014 23:24

Grin fry i followed a woman around the pet shop to tell her not to buy the gerbils cage she could have mine for free it was a 3 storey delux house she was very Confused that i was selling off all the gerbils. I felt mean not bursting her how cute they are what a great mummy I am buying these creatures for the DC bubble Grin

Original poster
BuggarMeGently · 08/03/2014 23:33

Omds- am I allowed to say omds here??- the dad is msking an extra nest...AIBU to give them names already?

OP posts:
KatoPotato · 08/03/2014 23:35

Wtf is omds?

Goldencity1 · 08/03/2014 23:41

You need to separate them and fast! If you leave the babies together they will breed with each other....you could try keeping the mum and a couple of female babies and sell the rest to the pet shop. My ds' s herb farm kept him in pocket money for ages....We started out with 2 and ended up with over 30.

PterodactylTeaParty · 08/03/2014 23:45

Yes, get the male out of there otherwise they'll mate again and you'll have another batch to deal with. Then leave mum & babies alone as much as you can. www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/gender.htm

Male gerbils do make great parents though - mine used to wash all the babies more often than their mother did, slept on his back with them draped over his stomach, and even tried to nurse them! But they are really fertile and the parents mate soon after a litter is born, so if you leave him in there you'll end up waist-deep in gerbils.

freerangeeggs · 08/03/2014 23:49

Separate them, because as others have said, she'll be pregnant again very quickly. It's quite easy to tell the males apart, as I remember - they have visible testicles (I think, it's been years since I had gerbils!).

Other than that, leave the mum to do her thang. Make sure you separate the babies before they're sexually mature or you'll have a population explosion!

So jealous, I love those wee things

Original poster
BuggarMeGently · 09/03/2014 00:23

Omds--oh my days! Thank you guys so much. Proud parents Mickey ( mom) and Mallory are both doing well. Thinking Pombear. AIBU and Cutted Up Pear...Cup for short...as a nod to the people who got me through tonight...??

OP posts:
70isaLimitNotaTarget · 09/03/2014 00:24

Never had gerbils but as a guinea-pig mum (I had two sows as a child,who turned out to be not two sows ) the dad and mum got together after the birth,
We were told to leave the boar with the group "He won't eat the piglets"
No he was lovely with the piglets. He made another batch Hmm

Most mature male rodents have quite obvious bollocks so you'll tell he's the boy.

Original poster
BuggarMeGently · 09/03/2014 00:26

And yes...we knew Mallory was a boy. We also have,a female cat called Dennis.

OP posts:
Original poster
BuggarMeGently · 10/04/2014 19:19

Oh shitbollocksyfuck

We removed the male

Too late

They get pg again the night she gives birth, don't they?

Six more of the little turds...

OP posts:
Shakshuka · 10/04/2014 19:30

I was going to say that its too late. They'd have mated already and more than likely mummy gerbil is pregnant again. You can leave the dad in to help the mum and put him in a separate cage with the boy pups when theyre about 6 weeks old.

We were in your situation last year and we did get the second litter. No need to panic now, gerbjks are great parents but start working your networks to find homes fpr them. We found homes for all of ours and ended up keeping five in two cages (boys and girls separate). It was quite an experience!

Original poster
BuggarMeGently · 10/04/2014 22:48

Ironically, we'd moved Mallory and the pups- all male- to a separate cage and were going to buy a female companion for Mickey on the Saturday. Then I ended up in gospital, and it all went to pot.

OP posts:
Jollyphonics · 10/04/2014 23:05

Is this a common problem? We got 2 males (or so we've been told) a couple of weeks ago, and a few people have joked about them having babies. I asked the woman at the pet shop if they were definitely both male and she laughed, said "yes", as if I was crazy to think otherwise.

Now I'm worried!

I have the piece of paper saying they are males so if they have babies I'm taking all of them back to the shop! I don't want an army of rodents in my house!

Original poster
BuggarMeGently · 10/04/2014 23:09

Not sure about it being common but the pet shop man told us that Mickey was definitely male. If anyone remembers my other thread, we nearly lost one of the first litter- Uncle Graham- when my DD stepped on him!

OP posts:
trashcanjunkie · 11/04/2014 01:01

I remember the other thread Grin wtf is going on in your house woman!!

Hogwash · 11/04/2014 01:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.