(Kayla & Makaio)

Of course, everything starts with breeding! A female gerbil *can* get pregnant as early as 6 weeks in some cases (though this is very bad for her), but it is usually between 8-10 weeks when she first comes into heat. If she is with a mature male, he will breed her then. They will mate, usually in the evening/night, for about 2-3 hours in most cases. You can usually tell if he is successful by the fact that most of the time they actually 'connect' they will both check themselves afterwards.

(Kayla, a few days before the birth of her 1st litter of 6 pups)

If the breeding took, the gerbil will begin to start looking pregnant around day 16-18. (sometimes sooner) Gerbils are pregnant for 24 days. In the last 3-4 days, you will be able to see the pups moving if you look closely while she is resting or asleep. This is most noticable on the day of the birth.

(Kayla)

The birth starts with contractions. As you can see from the pictures above, it is pretty easy to tell when they start coming. The gerbil will have contractions about 10-20 times (45-60 seconds apart, each one lasting only about 5 seconds) before the birth of the first pup, and after that the rest (of the pups) usually come 5-10 minutes apart. (at least, this has been my experince with my gerbils)

(Kayla)

And finally, a pup! She will begin licking herself, and the pup will slowely arive (usually back feet first) She will lick it all over, especialy it's face/mouth, and will then clean herself. If the afterbirth did not come with the pup, it will come a few minutes later and she will eat that and then try and rest.

(Kayla)

Then, contractions begin for the second pup. Which usually arives much quicker and easier then the first. After this the pups come fairly quickly.

(Kayla & Makaio's 1st litter. Day 1, Day 4, Day 8)

And after all your waiting and worry, you finally have a beautiful litter of pups! =) They start out very little, pink, ears/eyes closed, and no fur. Cute only to parents and owners! hehe. As they grow, if they are dark pups their skin will begin darkining. Ears open around day 4-5. Fur starts coming in around at around 7 days, and they have a full coat of soft fur at about 12 days old. You usually know the colors of your pups but this time.

(Kayla & Makaio's 1st litter. Day 10, Day 14, Day 21)

At day 16-18, eyes will start opening. They will be VERY active at this stage so be careful when you handle them!! They are the cutest, sweetest, little things at this point, and you will enjoy them *very* much. =) Be sure to handle them often and keep them friendly and tame.

To see more of our litters growing up, go to my current/past litters page.

I hope you have enjoyed this page! If you have any comments/suggestions, please email them to me at oreokitten16@yahoo.com