Hi,
I have three gerbils that I believed to be males. They all stay in the same cage and one has just had babies

Is it safe to leave them all as they are until I work out which one of the three is the mum?

I really don't want to disturb them at the moment, or risk taking the mum away from them by mistake. I could try and re-check the sex of the three gerbils, but, I might end scaring mum.

As far as I can tell from what i've read online, mum and dad will not harm the babies, but what about the third gerbil?

Any help appreciated

the third gerbil might, but if you're unsure of the sexes at the moment, then the best thing you can do is leave them to it.

checking the sexes, if your gerbils trust you won;t be a problem as far as i can see.
on the plus side as well, mum will be easier to spot than normal as if she is lactating and feeding the young, her teats will be fairly prominent

Thanks for replying.

I have checked them and know which one is female now. Luckily I have a spare cage that I have put the other two into. They all seem to be doing well at the moment.

Apparently it is possible that the female will be due more babies soon, as gerbils tend to mate again straight after giving birth.

Luckily for me, a friend of mine runs a pet shop and is happy to take them off my hands when they are old enough.

Providing all goes well I intend to keep one of them with mum if there is another female. She is used to the company of the other two, so that will be better than leaving her on her own.

that sounds like a good plan

luckily you have the pet shop owner as a friend too, saves a headache of you rehoming them all yourself

it is possible that she will have another litter, but fingers crossed she doesn't
best of luck with them