Smell in older gerbils ?

[bexpetz]

Hiya,

My dove is 3 years old.
Recently he has started to smell a lot! I just wondered if this was normal.
I clean his tank very regularly now, and his wheel. He is on his own since his partner died and has become incredibly vicious towards any new gerbils - even by split cage.

[gerbilmama]

I am not sure if older gerbils smell more. Though try giving him a dust bath. The persistent smell may indicate an underlying illness or health problem. Usually, when I see aggressive actions towards other gerbils it usually means he or she is lonely. In the beginning of a lot of split cages gerbils will be aggressive towards the other. If you want to give your Dove a new cage mate try leaving the gerbils in the split cage for a while and switching them from side to side. Eventually your Dove may calm down once he gets used to the smell and presence of the other gerbil. Good luck!

[bexpetz]

Okay, I'll give him the dust bath.

He was in a split cage with a young male for 2 months, and was continually vicious. One evening he suddenly broke through a hole he'd been chewing in the fence and they went into deathroll. It was incredibly violent and the other male died soon after.
Yoshi lost half of his tail from the fight, and is now three years old and sleeping nearly all the time. We worry that he might not have long left: in which case getting him a friend could only stress him, or would not be worth it if they were introduced.
He's got other gerbils in cages near him, and he seems happy.

Thank you for the advice!

[gerbilmama]

Anytime, good luck with Yoshi.

[doug]

My concern is that the smell is from an intestinal disorder, if after you give him a dust bath, and change the cage the smell remains or comes back soon after I would look at having him checked out.

Doug