GERBILS PREGNANT

Question
I went out and bought a boy and a girl gerbil. I was sure that they would breed soon, weeks passed and i wasn't sure if she was pregnant or not. now i am sure she is pregnant because she is WAY bigger. but i am not sure when she is going to have the babies cuz i dont know when she got pregnant.

Answer
Hi Lacey.

The typical gestation period for gerbils is 24-25 days, this is about four weeks and sometimes it can seem like forever.  However this information will help you very little in your current situation since you don't know when the female became pregnant.

The longest a gerbil's gestation will stretch is 42 days, and this only happens when a female becomes pregnant again within minutes of giving birth to a litter, and sometimes not even then.

Also, gerbils take a bit longer to reach sexual maturity than other rodents; generally around the ages of two to three months.  They can be weaned and sold as early as a month old (and sometimes people sell them earlier), so if you bought yours very young, you may have a few more months' wait before your female even starts to have regular heat cycles and becomes fertile.

I hope this answers your question!  Feel free to ask me any others you may have!