Bedding Advice...

[aimzzz]

Hi everyone, I'm new here...I bought two female gerbils 2 weeks ago and yesterday one of them had 8 babies. I have them in Aspen now, and with all of this talk about respiratory infections I'm really worried about them getting sick, and wondering if I should switch the tank to carefresh or something. I know it's not good to clean the tank so soon, but what does everyone recommend I do? I just want what's best for them, especially since there are 8 of them and I know that's a lot...but the good thing is that the other female (the mother's sister) seems to be helping a lot. Also, being new to gerbils and only having these for 2 weeks, I am in no way an expert on whats the best bedding or food or anything...so any advice would be greatly appreciated.Thanks in advance for any help you can give me, and thanks to misscurlyj for sending me here :)
-Amy

[aimzzz]

Oh yeah...and if anyone lives around Trenton, NJ and wants some pups in 6 weeks, let me know...i have no idea what colors they are going to be, since I have no idea which gerbil in the pet store is the dad...but the mom is agouti. I would love if someone would take them, especially since my only other option is taking them back to the petstore that had 6 gerbils in a 10 gallon tank and sold me a pregnant one in the first place....
I'll be posting pictures soon! :)

[jewelz1171]

I'm not an expert on bedding, either, but I've learned from this forum that aspen and carefresh are the best for pups. It seems that some people have had a few problems with either one of those beddings with resp. infections in pups. I think that the aspen should be ok, though...just see how it goes and listen to the pups for a clicking sound when they breathe. I think this type of infection usually affects pups between 2 and 3 weeks of age. It might be risky to change the bedding now with the pups so little anyway. Especially since you just got her, she might not be comfortable enough with you yet to allow you to touch the pups. Some mothers will eat their pups if they smell like someone unfamiliar. This is rather rare, but it can happen.

Watch for pups that are littler than the other ones, they may be more prone to the infection. If this happens, you can supplement with kitten milk. And there is an antibiotic you can give them if they do start to "click". Good luck and keep us posted!

[GerbilBoi]

Bedding...keep it simple..carefresh or corn cob...I like to go natural and use a mixture of hay/straw...and them I add shredded paper and toilet paper...not Paper towels.

I've never had a problem with this before. It works great and mom and dad love it.

As for your situation. Gerbils in petshops a no no, unless they work with a breeder, which in most cases isn't the case. If you run into trouble finding home for the pups I will be home around July 4th or so. I live in Hammonton NJ, and Trenton is right up 206 for the most part. I will not pay for them but I can promise homes and a safe haven until they do get adopted. This petshop thing happens just too often and colors like Agouti are extremely hard to place these days.

So if you still have pups that are in need of room and board I like to call it, just give me an email around the begining of July.

Best,

Lu

[andreaS15]

ack- petstores! :wall: when will they ever learn eh?

I'm a carefresh fan myself, have used it for many years, though i'm not breeding. And everything else GerbilBoi mentioned, great advice!

Good luck with your new gerby family!

[aimzzz]

Thank you guys for the advice...and thank you so much GerbilBoi for the offer...that would be hugely appreciated, considering the circumstances. Also, looking at the AGS's color chart, it seems like a couple of them aren't going to be agouti...they're still very pink. So we'll see :)

Right now I'm just enjoying the little guys...I'm just a little concerned because two of them seem small already...and I know that a litter of 8 is pretty big, but I just don't want anything to happen to any of them. :worried: I think I might get some kitten milk tomorrow just in case.

Anyway, thank you everyone for being so accepting of a new person, and for being so helpful...just reading back a bunch of posts really helped me out with all of my questions :)
-Amy

[GerbilBoi]

Amy,

Large litters will usually be pretty small. I just had a litter of 9 pups and they are 5 days now and are still small. As long and mom is tending to them and they have milk in their tummys they will be fine.

You can see right through their skin to check for milk inside them. It will apear yellowish.

Keep us updated!

Lu

[secretjeff14820]

the only problem with carefresh is that when you gedt towards the bottom of the bag thats where the dust is so avoid using the bottom of the bag. i work at petsmart and the breeder uses aspen all the time and so do we.

[GerbilBoi]

Aspen is good. Carefresh does tend to bring up dust. I don't like Aspen on its own though. I find it to be uncomfortable to me so I add several other materials to it.

Is anyone allergic to Timothy Hay? The Green Type? I have serious allergic reactions to this, but the other Timothy or other types of hay I have no problem with....weird?? lol

Lu

[secretjeff14820]

im allergic to timothy hay also wow that weird

[secretjeff14820]

and if you dont mind but what kind of materals do you mix with it

[GerbilBoi]

I use mixture:

Paper (shred)
Hay
Straw (which isn't very absorbent, but smooth and they love it)
TP
Carefresh
Aspen
Corn Cob...I like it a little...not much

Still looking for more :)

Lu

[misscurlyj]

Carefresh Ultra...the upgrade from regular Carefresh is good...and way less dusty....I think some pups are just prone to Resp. Infections no matter what because I have a little guy who got it being brought up on Carefresh Ultra! Never before have I seen this and I have been breeding a long time! You know how some humans seem to be allergic to EVERYTHING? I think this happens in animals as well. Anyway, I treated the little one with the R.I. with Ornacycline and he was better in 8 days. But if one R.I. in 10 years of breeding using Carefresh is all I've had... I still recommend it as the best bedding out there!

[secretjeff14820]

thanks gerbilboi im gonna try that