[yorkiekrazed]

I took in 3 gerbils a month ago, someone was giving them away for free. She said they were 9 months old and had never had any offsrping. Well, they just had babies 3 days ago. So, now I was trying to sex the adults to see who was the dad, or if there were 2 females, etc. I successfully checked one, and moved onto the next. He wasin my hands and I had just turned him over, he moved so quickly one of his back legs just snapped and I heard it. God, I began crying and crying, I gently set him down and he started hobbling around and inspecting his leg, which he now holds up in the air. There is no bone sticking out and it does not look swollen at the moment. He is the daddy of the babies and I am so upset. I want to splint it or something but am afraid if we try we may hurt him again. I tried getting him to eat bread with milk but he just sniffs it and hobbles off. They have a house and its only about 1 inch high, however, they tend to go on to it to go potty. He was just up there and was trying to clean himself down in his crotch area and kept falling over due to lack of balance. I cannot take this house out because its where they all are in comfort.
I need serious advice on what to do. I live out in the middle of no where and there are absolutely no specialty vets and definitely no vets open on Sundays, and by what I have been reading the vets do nothing anyways!
I need advice from someone that has had this same problem.

Anyone, anything please..I dont want this to ruin his life and I dont want him to get upset and eat the babies, etc.

 

[Georgia163]

I highly doubt that he will eat the babies.. and i am sure you are not ruining his life as you are doing the best you can. Stay calm and keep him warm, and safe. Make sure he gets pleanty of liquids, you can do this using a eye dropper. If it isn't swolen i dont think it would be broken, maybe he has just twisted or sprained it?? My female jird hurt her leg by falling over, it wasn't broken and it heald itself. Although do try to get him to the vets asap... Good luck
Georgia

 

[Susinko]

If there is a place that he likes to hang out, I would move some food there for him. That way he'll not move around as much. Also, you may want to move the water bottle so it is easier for him to reach as well. You can give him bits of food like apple that have a high water content. Not too much though. There really isn't much you can do for a gerbil with a broken leg. Most heal up just fine. Just keep him warm and in a quiet area.

 

[lilchris_28]

I would get him to the vet to have him inspected when possible. Can't really do much for a broken leg, but they can give him something for the pain. Another thing is unless you want more babies, you should probably get him out of there now. I don't know if gerbils are like rats and hamsters, but I'm guessing they are. They can breed right after having babies. Don't stress out too much over it unless it swells up. I had a hamster with deformed back legs and she got around as well as any of the others.

How is your baby doing now?

 

[yorkiekrazed]

Thanks for all the response. It has been going good. He is actually walking around on it now, I just noticed this yesterday! He can stand up just on his 2 hind legs now. I can say its healed up and he will be just fine! His name is Master Splinter by the way because one of his ears is always down and one is up. (Master Splinter is the rat with one ear from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!)

Anyways, their babies are SO ADORABLE. They are uncontrollable now...they run around with their eyes closed and the mom scurries after them! I am assuming their eyes will open up by the end of this weekend as they are 2 weeks old now I am just dreading to have to break up the family. I wish there was a way to have them stop reproducing! I know the mom is already pregnant again because she is PLUMP! Whatever the case, I will care for them all.

I was given advice to not take the daddy out or the male babies out until the babies (that are already 2 weeks old) are 5 weeks old, then take all the males out and place them in a separate cage. Leave the 5 week old female babies with the mom to help raise her next and final litter that she is already pregnant with. Then do what I want from there.

Im such an animal lover, I just dont want the mom to miss the dad

 

[Jess]

Small animals legs tend to heal on their own pretty well.
My sisters rabbit broke hi front leg, and even though we went to the vet, he chewed his cast off, so it didnt really do much. His leg healed on its on, but he cant use it very well.
Just make sure there arent any things he would be able to hurt himself any more on. He should probably be fine.

 

[Susinko]

I know that you can neuter rats. Does anyone know if you can neuter gerbils? If you think that the mother and father might miss each other (and they might. Gerbils become really attached to one another), you can try and find a vet that would do that for you. Good luck!

 

[Georgia163]

Yeh, you can neuter girbils.. i dont know whether all vets will do the op though cos they're soo small critters. And yeh small rodent legs seem to heal pretty well.. keep us updated..