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Post by chazzvessalius on Sept 8, 2012 20:11:31 GMT -8
One of my baby boys has a nasty habit of chomping down on people, me especially. I always wash my hands after handling food or other pets so I'm not sure why he bites...
Anyway, how does one treat a gerbil bite? He has my hand pretty battle scarred with bite wounds... I've been doing basic first aid (antibiotic and such) but I wasn't sure if there were any concerns I should have?
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Post by belldandy on Sept 9, 2012 9:26:17 GMT -8
are you up to date with tetnis shots ?..<sorry dont know how to spell that >
if so you shouldent have to worry as long as you keep it clean i have had some realy bad bites from breaking up gerbils fight's one bit so bad it bit to my bone on my pinky finger and the whole finger swel'd and trund blue purple and i couldent bend it for 4 days... but when i got bit i "bleed" the wound a little buy squeezing near the wound to make it bleed a bit more to "wash "out any debris then ran it under water then peroxside changed bandaid every day and neosporin and i heald up..
im sorry you have a biter im sure you yelp loudly when you get bit.. i would think he would learn biteing equals loud unplesant sound and stop.. good luck
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Post by ste on Sept 9, 2012 12:03:52 GMT -8
Maybe he just does not like being held and never will why not just enjoy watching him play and have fun some will never be tamed, a few years ago i use to buy pairs my first pair very tame every night i got them out for a play when they passed away i got another pair and one of them always bit problem was they were both identical so i just avoided holding them but i still enjoyed keeping them....
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Post by Awaiting Abyss on Sept 9, 2012 21:17:06 GMT -8
With every bite I've received from a gerbil or rat I have always washed it with soap and water and then kept neosporin on it... and a bandaid if its bleeding a lot.
I used to have a gerbil that was a biter and I stopped her from biting by making a "eek" sound to let her know I didn't like the biting. Its a method used for rats to keep them from biting and it worked with my gerbil also.
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Post by latentfire on Sept 9, 2012 22:29:52 GMT -8
I use awaiting abyss's method too. Best success rate
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Post by chazzvessalius on Sept 14, 2012 7:46:08 GMT -8
He seems to be much calmer now that I moved his tank farther away from Sora and Yoite's. I think them being so close may have stressed him out. He's a very twitchy boy and spooks easily. I think I'll wear gloves and take it slowly with him. I will use the "eek" method when he bites and hope he makes progress  Thanks guys~ |
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EffBee
Member
I also luv squirrels
Posts: 93
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Post by EffBee on Sept 26, 2012 15:35:22 GMT -8
I read somewhere that if a gerbie bites you should reprimand it by giving it a little flick on the nose nose immediately. Not hard enought o do do any kind of harm but not so gentle it won't be noticed. I recently got 4 young gerbils that had a habit of nipping me for the first few months. I did't retaliate at all and put up with it. Now some months on they don't do it anymore. Daily handling and feeding treats and spot cleaning and playing has seemed to teach them that those big pink smelly things that keep entering their tank are a normal part of their life, and best not nibbled on. On the few occasions I have been really badly bitten (splitting up fights) the puncture wounds healed after a few days but did get a bit red and responded satisfyingly to a bit of gentle squeezing for the first day or so. Odd that after a fight I rush the gerbies to the vet and get them on antibiotics o prevent infection and abcesses from the deep puncture wounds, and don't worry about any kind of treatment for myself |
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Thanks guys~