Strange squeaky noise at night

[5nizza]

Dear gerbil “experts”,
I hope you will be able to give me couple hints on what’s going on with my gerbil. For the past couple nights I’ve been woken up by a strange sound, which I can describe two ways:
1. It sounds like a dull sound from a squeaky toy
2. It sounds like a newborn puppy

Usually my gerbil is pretty quiet and barely vocal. If he makes a noise, it sound more like a little bird tweeting, rather than the noises described above.

So, this night I finally got up to investigate. The gerbil was inside of his borrowing nest (shredded paper and bedding). I made some noise around so he would get out so I can take a closer look at him. The gerbil looked fine, normal self. He got couple pumpkin seeds from me but still kept making that noise much quieter and less often after that. He run on a wheel for a bit, and I guess went back to sleep. What could it be? He’s buddy died a year ago, could he feel lonely just now? I thought he might be cold, but reading different threads on the form, the temperature in the room was suppose to be fine for him. What could cause him to make these sad, almost crying noises?

P.S.: pardon me for any possibly mistakes, English I my second language.

[Emmys Gerbils]

I am not very sure it might be that he feels lonely though

[esztershine]

it could be some respiratory issue if it carries on contiually. If it only happens once or twice, it may be just squeaks here and there. I had a gerbil who squeaked when he dreamt
It could also be that something is irritaitng him and the scratching makes him squeak, which could indicate bedding, environment or skin issues

[Emmys Gerbils]

yeah eszter, i just re read it and my gerbils squeak a lot at night, mostly because 1) they are dreaming 2) fighting who has to go get more bedding LOL

[racammann]

Esthers suggestions both sound like feasible reasons. My pairs squeak when they're in the nest together, but this is because they are grooming each other. I'm not sure why a lone gerbil would squeak.
I have noticed gerbils sometimes let out a squeak when scratching a really intense itch - so the skin irritation theory might be the answer, although he might just be generally itchy.
I have seen squeaking dreaming gerbils - so it could be that.
It could also be a respiratory issue, but this tends to sound more like clicks than squeaks, but can be squeaky too.

[esztershine]

If the squeaking is periodic then it could be something in the air that causing the irritation. Am thinking dust, substrate, pollen etc

[rjsusko]

Check his nose or eyes for discharge. One of my girls was making a similar noise and it turned out to be sneezing! I just had to give her antibiotics for about a week and a half and she was good as new.

Of course, it could be any of the other reasons mentioned, too.