Mating your gerbils

If you have a male and a female gerbil you can expect to mate any time after they are 12 weeks old. Don't worry if you see the male chasing the female around, and drumming his back foot on the ground. This is normal mating behavior. The mother will be pregnant for 24 day. During that time handle her gently, and give her milk to drink and vegetables every day. But don't make the mistake of overfeeding her. When gerbils are breeding it is really more satisfactory to keep them in a cage, or a tank with woodchips(a good 4 in deep) at the bottom. If they are in a tank filled with burrowing mixture the mother will give birth"underground," and it is difficult to know if she and the babies are well. Gerbils are good parents, and the father will be very protective towards the babies, and help the mother look after them. Don't move him to another cage when they are born. If you do, you will never be able to put him back with the mother- even after the babies have gone to new homes- because she will look on him as a stranger and fight him. When the babies are born, you will hear their piping cries coming from the nest. Don't try to look at them yet. If you alarm the mother, she might attack the babies- her instinctive way of protecting them. After three days take the parents out of the cage while you look at the babies. Using a small stick, first rubbed in the used woodchips to make it smell familiar to them, move the nesting material aside carefully. If any babies have been born dead, you must remove them, and then put the nest back as you found it. As soon as the babies are born, start looking for homes for them among your friends, or ask your pet store if they would like them. The babies should stay with their parents until they are six weeks old. But if the mother has another little before then and you cage or tank is rather small9 less than 19 by 9and a half in. 0, you can move the older ones to a seprate cage, provided they are eating well on adult food.