removing father gerbil

Question
my gerbils had babies!  I know I have another litter on the way,  but I do not want a third.  Please help!  I have three babies I think they are about 5 weeks old.  I have plenty of cages and room, I just want to separate them without causing to much stress.  My pet shop has told me all the wrong things.  I still do not know the sex of my babies unless they are all female.  I think I should know for sure in one more week.  Please Help !
thanks

Answer
Hi Shelby,

Ok, is the actual father still in the cage? If so you want to take him out now and keep him out as he will constantly mate with the female. You can if you wish put the baby boys with him so he has company.

If the babies are 5 weeks old you can now separate them from their mother also. Put them in their own cage, and by the age of 6 weeks you want to have separated the babies into their own sexes too. A good way of sexing the next litter of babies is this: When they are still small, and haven't grown all their fur you can see their bellies. The females with have little tiny dots (their nipples) and the males won't. You can only do this whilst they are still growing, as one their fur has fully grown you can no longer see the nipples. Use this method as well as the normal sexing to be 100% sure of the sex, but this way you also get an idea whilst they are developing of which sex you have.

I hope this helps, but if you feel i haven't covered something do ask again, or go onto my website at www.freewebs.com/gerbilworld and leave me a question in the guestbook section!!

Thanks,
Charlie.