gerbil question..

[tikeyas_mom]

At what age do MALE gerbil pups become SEXUALLY mature? So I know what to take them out of their mothers cage and start the split cage method with their father.

Another quick question. What should I feed the mother gerbil for extra nutreints? She looks so skinny, and I want to fatten her up. Should I add corn and sunflower seeds back to her diet?

[shellonabeach]

They should be removed at 6-7 weeks.

Corn and sunflowers should never have been removed from the mothers diet, just fed in moderation.

[tikeyas_mom]

ok thank you.

I herd that babies were supost to be removed at 4 weeks??? I will wait itll they are 5 weeks old befor I place them with their father then.

[shellonabeach]

4 weeks is too young. They should be left with Mum until at least 6 weeks.

What is happening with Sage - are you going to get her a companion? She will be awful lonely on her own

I just removed my two 7 week old female gerbil pups from their parents (dad is neutered) to put them with a lone rescue adult female (who is 1.5 years old) and the parents seem rather sad without them - I thought the Mum would be pleased to have some peace and quiet!! The babies don't care because they have a new Mum!!

[CathyBogart]

I give thin ratties a bit of yogurt to fatten them up.

[cali]

the mom needs extra protein, give her some kibbles in her diet, I raised some REALLY healthy gerbils with this method make sure you are handling those babies lots so they will be nice and tame it is sooo rewarding when you gerbils learn to trust you scribbles and doodles trust me so much, that they will calmy stick there head in my mouth and they give me kisses on my lips! does sage get a companion???? if not make sure ya give her lots n lots of attention! and dont leave out the kibble! it will really help with her health and the babies

[apcrs5122]

My friend had hamsters who kept having babies......they started out with 2 who were "suposed" to be the same sex and by the end of 4 weeks they had around 40 hamsters ! Finally they got rid of all but 2 who were once again suposed to be mother daughter......they had babies and when those babies were 4 weeks old, they had more babies and so on.....I'm not sure how many they have now if any their mom can't say no to any of the 4 kids.....the dad warned her what would happen, but she wouldn't listen so he wasn't a part of it. I just had to share that story with you guys!