My little argente cream girl pup has died. She was 4 weeks today. She
didn't start out as a runt, but at just over three weeks seemed to stop
developing. Does anyone have any ideas what or why this could have
happened? I feel bad that I did not intervene in some way, but just let
things take their course.
On top of this sad news, the mother gerbil (Cara) attacked the argente
cream spotted pup tonight and now the pup's hind leg is dragging behind
her. I could not handle loosing another pup tonight so I have separated
her and her sister from the parents, and plan to give them some KMR
feedings on top of cheerios and regular food.
Any advice or tips would be very much appreciated.
Donna A.
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Donna - Your pups failure to thrive after 3 weeks was probably due to
the inability to produce antibiotics on its own, while getting weaned
from mothers milk. Sometimes, babies have a unknown congenial birth
condition whereby they are not able to make the transition to solid
foods. See 6/11/98 on journal 3--
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/4185/Journal3.htm
What you described is normal, meaning that the behavior has been done by
many gerbil mothers on the list. That is mothers way of driving the pups
away, perhaps to make room for new pups. My Cookie did the same thing
with her early litter, but afterwards didn't mind pups staying and
helping. See 2/27/98 on Journal 2 --
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/4185/Journal2.htm
--
Gary's web pages -
http://home.talkcity.com/StudioDr/go5
