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Do you want to know if you have a male or a female? Look here. Or have a look at my development page, to see pictures of male and female gerbil pups at different ages.
Gerbils get reproductive when they reach sexual maturity at the age of three months. Because the gestation period is about 24 days a healthy couple can thus produce their first litter at four months of age.
The female can produce litters up to an age of 14 to 20 months. On average, a female will produce about 7 litters in her life. The average litter size is 4 to 5, but there can also be 10 pups!
 A female gerbil is ready to mate when she is in estrus, a certain stage in her fertility cycle. Only in estrus, she is fertile.
Before the animals mate, they play a game of chasing each other and thumping their feet once in a while. The couple sniff's at each other's genital organs, and when the female is willing, she will lift her behind inviting the male to mount. He will mount the female several times, the male has to penetrate the female about 10 times before he will have an ejaculation.
A female gerbil is most fertile when she is about one year old, before and after that period she will have less litters, with less pups. Also when a female had a very large litter, she will be less fertile for a while. This is a natural protection, in this way the female has more time to regain strength. Usually a female will mate again immediately after giving birth. This is no problem, while the female is nursing pups, the birth of the next litter is delayed. So when the second litter is born, after 4 weeks, the first litter is independent.
It is not always visible that a female is pregnant, sometimes she clearly gained weight, sometimes however you don’t see anything at all, and she will be as active as ever.
The pups are born bare, deaf, toothless and their eyes are closed. They weigh about 2.5 grams and are the size of a small peanut (about 3 cm). Sometimes, especially in small litters, the pups are a bit bigger. Their tail is very short, about 1 cm. In this phase they are completely helpless, the only thing they can do is squeak when they are hungry or cold, and hope their mum comes soon.
These pups are only 12 hours old, you can see their stomachs filled with milk.
The first few days are critical, especially in this stage the weak ones die. It can be useful to give the nursing mother some extra protein. Give her, for instance, some dry cat food. To make sure the pups are getting milk, you can check their stomachs, they should be visible through the skin, when filled with milk they look like white beans.
The father also helps caring for the babies. An essential task of the father is keeping the pups warm.
His help is also needed when the pups are about 10 days old. Then they start running around and he can help the mother in returning the babies to the nest. They do that by carrying the pups in their mouths.
During labour, the father withdraws.
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Because of this, my first gerbil female gave birth in a jar that was too small for mother, pups and the father. The father made a bigger nest elsewhere in the aquarium, where he was lying, the day after the birth. Once in a while he took a look in the jar, but it really was too small to join the others. He probably could not stand the fact that he was excluded, and when the evening came, he decided to kidnap one of the pups. He took the little animal to his nest, and kept it warm. Until the mother realized that it would be better to lay down all together. Then both parents moved all pups to the fathers nest. From this moment on the parents took care of this litter, and all the following litters together.
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