orphaned gerbil =(

Question
QUESTION: Hi Sheila,
My daughter's English class at school recently inherited a gerbil as a class pet. They did not know she was pregnant when they got her, and after a few days, she had three babies. Sadly, two of the babies and the mother died, leaving only one baby gerbil alive at only 2 weeks old. The little guy just opened his eyes last night, and we are feeding him cat replacement milk with a dropper and keeping him warm with hot water wrapped in a fuzzy towel. Can you give us any advice as to how long we should feed him the cat replacement milk, how long we need to keep the hot water in his cage, when we should introduce him to solid gerbil food and any other important items we should know. The class is trying SO HARD to keep this little guy alive. Any advice you can send would be so greatly appreciated!!
Thank you! Kim Tatman

ANSWER: Hi Kim

Thanks for your question.  I think you are doing an amazing job keeping him alive.  Not many would have survived this.

Regarding food, he should be able to eat solid foods by now so you could give him some dry gerbil mix, scrambled egg, seeds, raw porridge oats, bread, nuts and a little green vegetable (avoid lettuce).  You can also give him baby food - either the type you get in a jar/tin, or the powdered type that you mix with water.  I usually give my babies the creamy porridge oats which is a real favourite.  If you put in in a jam jar lid he should be able to reach it.  Baby food has a lot of nutrients in it, but always make sure he has other things to eat too so that his teeth don't overgrow.  Also make sure his water bottle is at a height that he can reach.

I'm assuming he has left the nest and is walking now??  It is vital for the next two weeks that you keep him warm and ensure he is getting plenty to eat.  Usually babies are separated from their mum at 4 weeks, so in theory any time after 4 weeks you can relax a bit.  

I had a hamster once who was in a similar situation to this gerbil in that his mum died and he was hand reared.  Miraculously he survived and lived a full life but was always a little underweight.

Keeping him warm is vital - usually he would sleep with mum and his brothers/sisters so he would always stay warm.  Babies body temperatures can drop rapidly at this young age.  Sadly I have had a couple of hamsters who got left out of the nest and died when they were about this age, so it is important that you do your best to make sure he is warm at all times.

Every day that passes that you keep this little fella alive the more chance you have of him making it to adulthood.  Providing he is receiving enough nourishment and food right now hopefully he will be OK.

Good luck with this - please let me know how you get on.

Regards
Sheila

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------


Galileo - our little b   QUESTION: Hi Sheila,
Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement! We will keep working to keep our little guy alive.

As a follow up to your response above, what type of seeds can we give him? Sunflower seeds? In or out of the shell? And what type of green vegetable will work since we should avoid lettuce? We just want to make sure we don't mess up and give him something that will hurt him.

This little guy is running all over the place! He seems to be quite strong considering everything he's been through. I am attaching a picture of him nibbling on my daughter's homework during one of our play sessions with him. He seems to love human interaction right now and loves the warmth of our hands! :-)

I will keep you posted and thank you again for your advice!

Best regards,
Kim :-)

ANSWER: Hi Kim

Thanks for the photo - he is gorgeous.

Gerbils love sunflower seeds - as he is only a baby I would suggest giving him ones that are out of their shells as he might struggle to open the shell.  Whilst he will have teeth he can't bite really hard food right now.  He may also like sesame or pumpkin seeds, also chopped nuts.

Vegetable wise you can give peas (cooked or raw), brocolli, cabbage, spinach, french beans.  I would think he'd like sweetcorn too.  Lettuce is to be avoided because it can cause diarrhoea, and if he is slightly run down as a result of his situation, you don't want to overstress his digestive system.

It's great that he enjoys being handled - the more you handle him the friendlier he will be when he gets older.  Gerbils can be a bit nervous and jumpy so with all this extra attention he is getting you may well find that your little guy turns out to be a fabulous pet.

Regards
Sheila


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Sheila,
Well, I am heartbroken to report our little guy didn't make it. After having what seemed to be a fabulous day, he took an awful turn around 4:30 p.m. and died about 15 minutes later. We have no idea what happened. As I was stroking him before he passed, I noticed that his little belly felt as hard as a rock, and it had not felt that way before. The kids noted that his mama's belly felt the same way right before she passed. Would you have any idea what would cause something like that in gerbils?

Anyway, thank you so much for trying to help us. I appreciate that you took the time to answer our questions. At least we can say we had a fun weekend with him, and he knew he was loved when he passed.

Thanks again!
Kim

Answer
Hi Kim

I was so sorry to read that your little guy had died. It is such a shame especially as you were trying so hard to save him.

I honestly don't know what could have caused this - it is interesting that he had the same symptoms as his mother.  I think that there was always a strong possibilty that he wouldn't make it, but with all your care and attention I thought he had a pretty good chance. Although his life was so short at least it was filled with love.

I do hope this experience hasn't put your class off having pets in the future.

thanks for keeping me informed of the situation - I just wish it had had a better outcome.

Regards
Sheila