gerbil health

Question
my female gerbil gave birth to 8 babies 8 days ago, and 2 days ago we checked on her to find her covered in blood which had come from her nose, we cleaned her up and put her back with the babies however we have since noticed bald patches appearing on her back and she makes a shakey squeekey noise most of the time, what could be wrong with her?

Answer
Hi Sheena

I'm afraid I don't know what is wrong with her.  The bald patches don't concern me particularly as this could be hormonal, however I am concerned as to where the blood came from.  You might want to see if there is another 'expert' who can answer this for you in case they can suggest what to do, but I would be tempted to contact a vet.  How are the babies?  Are they all OK?  Does she seem to be feeding them?  The problem is that if there is something wrong with her and a vet needs to treat her she will probably not be able to feed her babies due to the medication and they would most likely die as they are so dependent on her at this young age.  Depending on what is wrong with her you might have to delay any treatment until the babies are at least 2 weeks old and more likely to survive.  This is an important decision to make and needs to be discussed with a vet.

I personally would be tempted to phone a vet and try to discuss the situation with them in the first instance. Whilst they will probably need to see her to be able to diagnose what is wrong they may be able to offer you some temporary solution.   If you do need to take her in, would you be able to take the whole cage (obviously if you have them in a glass tank this won't be possible) but it is best to take mum and babies in their own surroundings.  

I'm afraid I just don't have the knowledge to be able to guess what is wrong on this occasion.

I do hope you get on OK.

Regards
Sheila