Surprise Litter- Need advice!

Question
Hi!
About 2 months ago we bought 2 gerbils from a pet store(which they said were the same sex),and housed them in a CritterTrail cage. About 6 days ago,they had pups in the upper level. Never having dealt with baby gerbils, I am not sure what to do now. I'm worried that as the pups get older,they may fall down the tube,or even worse,out of the wires. Also,when they start to need water,would they even be able to climb up to the upper shelf to reach the bottle? I would like to move them to a 15 gallon aquarium so that they are safer,but is this even possible?I've read that you shouldn't change the cage or environment or the mother might get too stressed to take care of them.
Having said all of that, I would really appreciate any help/advice you can give me regarding the best way to deal with this situation. I just want to make sure that all the gerbils(parents and pups) stay safe and healthy!  

Answer
Hi Staci,

I would recommend you move them to another cage as it is a danger for them being in this cage as they may fall down and hurt themselves, especially as they can't see for the 1st 17days!! If you can i would try and scoop up the whole nest in one go and move it over to the other cage so that you are not completely disturbing their home! If you just do this quickly and as smoothly as you can you shouldn't stress the mother too much!!
You do need to make sure the water is in an accessible place for them to reach, and you need to provide lots of small seeds for them to eat when they start on solids (canary seed is fine).
Other than this leave the mother totally on her own with the babies and don't interfere unless you have to. You can handle them after around a week and a half, but be careful as they will be very jumpy!!

Hope this helps,
Charlie