Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i bought my three sons 1 girble apiece. one was fighting all the time, so i seperated him from the other 2. this morning i checked on them, and noticed something besides "his" tail was moving inside the house. i lifted the house to find 3 babies!!!! "he" is a "she"!!! now, an hour or so later, there're 4!!!

1. will she eat them? she seems to be "doting" on them quite a bit.

2. will there be more in another hour or two?

3. can i take pics without touching them?

4. what do i do??? i have a fairly small tank for them, and an extra "critter trail" for them, (that's how i seperated them). but, it's made of plastic, and my silver one ate the spiral climber half-way up and died! what's better for the new family of girbles i have now?

That's exactly what happened to me. I thought I had 3 males until one day my kids discovered some little pink things in the cage. That was a year and a half ago and we have had about 8 litters of pups since then. I don't consider myself an expert but I will tell you some of the things I have learned.
#1. I suggest you look up the AGS (American Gerbil Society) website. They have a great gerbil care handbook and I learned a lot from that.
#2. Gerbils are very good parents. Both the male and the female will help to take care of the young.
#3. It is my understanding that gerbils do not kill their own young. However, if one of the pups dies, the adults will eat it because that is the only way they have to dispose of the body. They do it keep the nest clean. You should not handle or touch the pups until they are a week to 10 days old, but I suggest you look in and check on them every day just to make sure they are o.k. If one dies you want to remove it as soon as possible.
I think the pups are a joy to watch as they grow, espcially after they open their eyes and start dashing around the cage. I hope this helps.