URGENT help needed hand rearing rodents.

madelene · #1 (**permalink**) 02-10-2007, 11:14 AM

Sadly this morning I have found my female Jird dead.
This came as a shock as she seemed fit and well, looked sleek and was eating voraciously.
She had a litter of 5 babies 2 weeks ago.
Dad and babies seem fine but the babies are not weaned yet.
I have experience of hand rearing cats, bunnies and guinea pigs but am clueless about Jirds.

Does anyone have any experience hand rearing rodents as I assume the same goes for mice/rats/gerbils/jirds.
Please help, dad is in the nest with them cleaning them and keeping them warm.

Kylie · #2 (**permalink**) 02-10-2007, 11:29 AM

PM Nerys she will know she has millions of rodents she will be able to advise you on what is best

Athravan · #3 (**permalink**) 02-10-2007, 11:37 AM

I have hand reared rats and mice but nothing more exotic, Nerys will definitely know..

I use a kitten milk formula for hand rearing kittens from the vets. It's a powder, I'm not sure exactly what it's made of, but my vet told me it is suitable for substitute milk rearing of all mammals. The vet can also sell you a bunch of droppers, and then small syringes.

All my advice really is to keep them warm and well fed, usually every 2-4 hours but I guess it depends on the species and the age. As they are 2 weeks old I would think you stand a much higher chance of success than if they were just a few days old. To be honest if you've hand reared cats it should be very similar (even the formula was the same for me!)

Good luck!

greenlikegecko · #4 (**permalink**) 02-10-2007, 11:43 AM

good luck with the baby jirds iv always wanted to keep some, not sure about there specific need but id assume that it will be the same as most small rodents, offer them milk often and maybe give them a heatmat to keep them warm, heres two web pages that might help, good luck

Hand Rearing Jirds
Small Animals 2 Vet On-Line

feorag · #5 (**permalink**) 02-10-2007, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Athravan

I use a kitten milk formula for hand rearing kittens from the vets. It's a powder, I'm not sure exactly what it's made of, but my vet told me it is suitable for substitute milk rearing of all mammals. The vet can also sell you a bunch of droppers, and then small syringes.

Was that Cimicat? I've been told the best is Esbilac, but it's not easy to get and I couldn't get it when I was hand rearing the baby squirrels.

The best advice I can give you is to use 1ml syringes (ask your vet) and feed either Cimicat, Esbilac or goat's milk which you can buy in a supermarket and freeze in small quantities - that's what I used for the baby squirrels which were 2 weeks old when I got them. I made up a formula of ½pt goats milk, teaspoon of pro-biotic yoghurt and 3 drops of ABIDEC vitamins (buy from any chemist). I used the tiny syringe and a Catac orphan feeder teat. I fed my squirrels every 3 hours until they were 4 weeks old and then every 4 hours, but of course Jirds will mature much quicker than squirrrels - they don't start weaning until they're 7 weeks old! However, you may have to start feeding every 2 hours because they are so tiny.

Please remember to check that they aren't dehydrated - that's the biggest killer of orphan animals. You need to try and pinch the skin on the top of the back - if it "tents" (in other words stays nipped and doesn't fall straight back onto the flesh) then they are dehydrated and you need to hydrate them. You can buy a specific electrolyte sachets from your vet or make your own using ½ ltr water (preferably filtered) ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of sugar or glucose.

It will help you enormously that you still have the father to nurture them, keep them warm and toilet them etc - that will make the difference to your success I think.

So sorry to hear you lost the mother and keeping my fingers crossed for you, cos I know they're gonna be tiny!

feorag · #6 (**permalink**) 02-10-2007, 07:09 PM

Just had another thought! As your jirds are probably going to be half the size of my squirrels if you're having trouble feeding them try using a small artist's fine paintbrush. I use that when handfeeding tiny bats.

If you dip the brush in the milk solution, get just a tiny drip on the end and put it to the jird, if it starts taking it, you can 'load' the brush with a second brush, if you understand what I mean.

Also if you make up a milk solution only use it for 24 hours and then make up a fresh one - sorry forgot to mention that!

Good luck!

madelene · #7 (**permalink**) 02-10-2007, 07:32 PM

Thank you all for the advice and links.

I found my old banana glass bottle and scoured Bristol for some teats.
Going by what was suggested here I bought some lactol, the guy on one of the hand rearing links used it successfully so I figured it was worth a try.

As they are so tiny I had a bit of a nightmare getting them into a postion to feed cos I was scared I would squash them but by baby 3 I found that wrapping them in a bit of muslim was the best thing.
Thankfully they were not dehydrated and were hungry but a little confused by the bottle....but once they had figured it out were very cute squeezing it with their paws like they would their mother.

Dad was a bit stressed when I took them to feed them, I took 4 and left him 1 then swapped.
He had to clean them from head to toe when I returned them cos I had given them 'germs'.

I will keep you all updated on how we get on...once again thanks for all your help.

Maddie and Drake(Dad Jird)

feorag · #8 (**permalink**) 02-10-2007, 07:52 PM

That's excellent news! I'm sure Drake will settle when he realises that you aren't taking them away permanently and aren't hurting them.

I would still put some vitamins and pro-biotic supplement in to help their fut flora and growth though.

I use my 'banana bottle' too, but usually start with a syringe because they do get confused by a rubber teat after their mother's but it's easier to push a little milk out with a syringe than the bottle.

Keep us up to date on how you get on.

madelene · #9 (**permalink**) 04-10-2007, 10:05 AM

I have got them a probiotic supplement with vits from the vets that I mix with thier milk.
Sadly the runt died late last night but the other 4 seem to have accepted the bottle and I no longer have to wrap them to feed they just curl in my hand and grab the teat...its very cute.

They are also eating/drinking from a little dish, the vet advised crumbling a piece of sugar free farleys rusk and mixing it with milk...they love it but it does cake on to their whiskers when they dive head first into the bowl (milk bottle top).

feorag · #10 (**permalink**) 04-10-2007, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madelene

I have got them a probiotic supplement with vits from the vets that I mix with thier milk.
Sadly the runt died late last night but the other 4 seem to have accepted the bottle and I no longer have to wrap them to feed they just curl in my hand and grab the teat...its very cute.

They are also eating/drinking from a little dish, the vet advised crumbling a piece of sugar free farleys rusk and mixing it with milk...they love it but it does cake on to their whiskers when they dive head first into the bowl (milk bottle top).

That's excellent news. I weaned my red squirrels on Farleys Rusks and they loved it. Now they nibble on the dry biscuits, but they much prefer their pine nuts and hawthorn berries!!!

Sorry you lost the runt, but I guess that wasn't too much of a surprise, but so pleased that the other 4 are fine! You'll never part with them now, I suspect???

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