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Maternized milk

 

Here is a recipe created by the veterinary, Manon Tremblay.

Recipe of maternized milk for gerbils

90 ml ( 2 table spoon ) Milk at 3.25 %
5 ml ( 1 tea spoon ) Milk pouder for babies ( SMA, Enfanlac, Similac )
3 drops Corn syrup
2.5 g ( 1/2 tea spoon ) Pablum (cereales mixtes)
3 drops Multivitamines for rodents and birds

 

Preparation

- Do not replace the corn syrup by any other source of glucoses, this could cause diarrhoea. 

- Keep in the refrigerator.

- Make a new recipe everyday. 

- Heat the recipe at about 37°c (98F) before prior to feed the babies. Just like for humans, never use microwave oven because it won't heat evenly and may burn the babies. Poor some drops on your skin to verify the temperature.

- Use a needle less syringe or something to make small drops to give the milk to the babies. Clean the instruments after each use. Drop them in boiling water to sterilise and don't use soap.

 

Gerbil age Feeding schedules
1 to 7 days Feed every 2 hours in the day. Feed one time in the night  (6 to 8 feedings)
8 to 15 days Feed every 5 or 6  hours in the day. (2-3 feedings). No more needed to fee at night.
16 to 21 days and more depending of the need.  Feed once or twice a day until complet weaning. 

 

Recommendations 

- In the first week, you must stop to fee the baby when its stomach becomes white. You'll see a white area on its belly. After a week, the baby will turn the head when he is full. 

 

- Advice: Do not overfeed the babies. This can cause diarrhoea. 

 

- Feed the babies very slowly. If milk comes out trough the nose, this means that you go too fast. 

 

- Hold the babies vertically when feeding them. 

 

-Make sure your hands are warm. 

 

- Before 7 days, the babies can't keep their temperature alone. Once the fur begins to grow, they will be able to create more heat by themselves. Place a heat pad under them to keep them warm. But be careful, too hot isn't better then cold! Keep the temperature between 24°c (75F) and 30°c (86F). Build the nest in a way that the babies can't run around, this way, they will more easily keep their heat.

 

-You must replace the mother at 100%. This means a little more then only giving milk. You must also activate the natural need of the babies. They won't excrete alone, so you must rub the ano-genital region slowly with a damp piece of tissue or a cotton bud. If you are lucky and that the father can still take care of the babies. Leave them with him. He will keep them warm and will also to this for you. If not, you'll have to do this until they are 15 days old.

 

- Even if your young gerbils begin to eat by themselves at around 12 to 15 days, they still need milk. Increase the quantity of Pablum in the recipe. You can give them a little amount of damp pelleted food. Place a water bottle in a way that the young gerbils can get to it easily. Always provide fresh water to your gerbils.

 

©Manon Tremblay - Livre "La gerbille" Édition Le jour

Translated by Joelle Clermont

 

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