Abandoned/injured baby gerbils?

Question
Hi Lauren,

I am panicking here. Here is what just happened: I just returned home from grocery shopping to find my 7-day old gerbil pups strewn about their cage; some in the wheel being tossed around while Dad ran, one in the nest, and one sprawled outside the wheel. I quickly scooped them up and put them all back in the nest, but a few looked like they may have been injured. In the 45 minutes or so since this happened, the Mom has hardly even looked at them and the Dad is just running around the cage. Sometimes it looks like they may be eating them (but that may just be my paranoia). I tied up the wheel so it can no longer turn to prevent further accidents, left the babies piled in the nest, and put a towel over the cage to calm everyone down (there was a bit of screaming on my part when I discovered the situation). I am just not sure what to do: Take the Dad out? (or will this further stress them?), Is there any way to help the Mom reacquaint with her young? Is this a lost cause? What should I do?? Thank you for any advice - this is my first time having pups and I'm so scared this may be it for them..
Thanks again, Becky

Answer
Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you on this, my internet has been screwy the last couple days.  Take Dad out since he doesn't seem to be helping matters.  Leave mom and pups alone as much as possible and don't disturb the nest.  If this is her first time or she's very young (i.e. less than 5 months) you may lose the litter.  It's very common for mom to get stressed for be overly protective and eat the babies to prevent them from intruders or starvation.  If she seems to have calmed down and is taking care of the babies (i.e. nursing them and guarding the nest) then there may still be a chance.  My best advice is to not reach in and disturb anything and only go in to remove dead babies.  If mom's not interested at all in taking care of them there's not a whole lot you can do.  You can try feeding them with a tiny kitten bottle a milk replacement formula (KMR sold at pet stores) if you want to save the babies and mom is 100% not interested.  If she's still taking care of a couple, leave her be, she knows how many she's capable of taking care of.

Good luck and let me know if I can be of any more help,
~Lauren