gerbil update
4:19 pm on the 15th of December, 2003i just started to vclean the tank out for the gerbils and found after filling two shopping bags that there was a lil’ baby gerbil lying looking lost, the big’uns were running about all over the place too i emptied one of the bags back and saw one baby fall back in and so empties the other bag as well. there are three new gerbils now and the mother seems ok, she hasn’t eaten them anyway.
more later
Okay, calmer now.
How I dodn’t know Belle was pregnant I have no idea but she was. Both of them have been getting bigger as they’ve grown older each week so maybe that explains it partly. She looks a lot littler now right enough. Anyway, what a time to decide to clean them out, they didn’t seem to care i was there untill I must have scooped at least one of the little babies into a bag. I only realised what was going on when I started the next bag and saw that there was a wee gerbil crawling about. I emptied the bags back in and saw one fall out of one of them. As time went on I saw another in the sawdust, all of them were quite far apart and the two adults were running all over the tank looking for them. They were really useless though, they kept finding one and then burying it as it went to find another. Eventually I took a risk and collected them together with a bit of cardboard. Iwas really worried that Belle would eat them, as they are famed for doing when a litter is interfered with by humans, thankfully she didn’t (yet) and the pair of them calmed down. I put most of their boxes and sawdust back in the cage carefully and while Belle looked after the poor wee mites, Sebastian reconstructed their nest. It was really cool to see them being parents, can’t really watch them now though because Belle took them one by one inside and undercover.
It’s hard work this parenting, isn’t it? I’ll be better prepared next time, I promise.
I’ll keep you all up to date over the next few days; I don’t think that they can be any more than a day old so by Friday they should have the signs of fur and by Sunday they should be starting to explore and I get to see them next. They won’t be able to see me though, it could be a massive 21 days untill they open their eyes, about three times longer than other small mammals!
December 15th, 2003 at 5:27 pm on the 15th of December, 2003
the breeding cycle begins…
Nice to see you are an attentive owner, Mother goes thru an entire pregnancy and you don’t notice.
Incidentally, Susan said that she used to separate mother and father for a few days after birth, just to give her a break.
December 16th, 2003 at 3:48 pm on the 16th of December, 2003
when do we get to see them, haven’t you got the webcam on them?
December 16th, 2003 at 5:07 pm on the 16th of December, 2003
actually, big bruv paraphrasing his wife’s comments! All positive thoughts should be aimed the missus, all negative thoughts at me!!!
How did you not notice them breeding? - it lasts about 24 hours!
How did you not notice the female was pregnant? The females usually eat non stop and look rather large.
How did you not hear strange squeaks coming from the cage when the babies were born?
Oh and she’s probably pregnant again as gerbils go back in to season and breed again a few hours after giving birth.
December 18th, 2003 at 10:58 am on the 18th of December, 2003
Good grief! Another offspring in the family. The house will be busy at Christmas after all.
Its so careless though. Perhaps you should take them aside and discuss how all this happens. It may make them more careful next time.
Are they not brother and sister?
December 19th, 2003 at 1:08 pm on the 19th of December, 2003
ok, ok I’m a bad parent, but I’ll try to answer come of your concersns;
How did I not notice them breeding? - it lasts about 24 hours! I don’t know but they hide away for a lot of the time, it’s a big cage they have. I’m not sure it would have lasted 24 hours, it didn’t the other day when they were having fun.
How did you not notice the female was pregnant? The females usually eat non stop and look rather large. They’ve both been getting bigger, they were only about 12 weeks when I got them, I can see the difference in Belle now but she wasn’t noticibly pregnant. I had noticed her drinking more ubt stupidly though nothing of it, I’ll know for next time though.
How did you not hear strange squeaks coming from the cage when the babies were born? They’re pretty squeaky anyway, soI didn’t notice any real change.
Perhaps you should take them aside and discuss how all this happens. It may make them more careful next time. As I mentioned above, too late!
Are they not brother and sister? Yes. And cousins.
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