sister-fight; need to split a cage tonight

[mamahousemouse]

Hello!

We have cagemate sisters, about two years old who have been best friends since the day we brought them home. About a week ago, they started fighting. Nothing serious, just chasing each other about the cage like mad and then curling up to sleep & groom each other.

This afternoon, the dominant female decided to chase her sister EVERYWHERE about the cage, not letting her sister stay anywhere but in the very top level - which has no food or water. Any time her sister would come down the ramp, she was chased back up. We thought perhaps it was a squabble, and just watched. This evening however, the chasing got bad enough that the submissive female lost a toenail (it got caught in the mesh) trying to escape her sister quickly enough. We moved food & water to the top level for her, but her sister wouldn't let her at that either.

Just within the hour, there is now blood on the dominant sister's nose. It appears as if it's from her sister's hand, but that's rather troubling as well. Seeing as they are old-er, but not OLD yet we're assuming this is a declan and have decided to try and split them before someone gets truly hurt.

We have a 20 gallon aquarium with a 1 1/2 level wire topper. Our quarantine cage is a teeny tiny plastic bin, and not big enough for anything but a trip to & from the vet. We can get a second cage, but at this point we need something to get us through the night... does anyone know of a safe way to get water into the bottom half of a setup like this? Our thought is that for the night, we can simply zip-tie the ramp up so one girl can have the top & one girl can have the bottom. Any ideas would be gratefully accepted - as I've said, all we need to do is last the night here, but my daughter is heartbroken because blood has been shed & we need to do something to keep them both safe.

Thanks!

[mamahousemouse]

Okay, this is the best we were able to come up with on our own... the bottom water bottle swings freely, but is attached so it can't come down on her head. Also, her food dish can easily get buried in the hay & aspen but it's there for her. Is there a better way to have them for the night, or will this be okay?

Also, is there any way at all they would be okay together again, or is this truly the end of their peaceful coexistence?

Thanks!

[mamahousemouse]

Well, it would appear as if we're going to be okay for the night. I just saw Flower (dominant female, in the bottom half) drinking from the suspended water bottle, which was our biggest primary concern. I can also now tell that she was NOT hurt - her face is scratch-free after all.

Thumper is asleep on the top. I wasn't sure if styptic powder would be okay for her, so I dipped her foot in a bit of cornstarch and she licked it clean... but that stopped the bleeding, and at least for now I'm not seeing any signs of infection or swelling.

So my lingering questions would be, what should we be watching for other than obvious signs of infection in Thumper, and is it best to keep them separated - or try to reintroduce them after she's healed? Like I said, these two have been the best of friends up until a week ago. They did EVERYTHING together; sleep, groom, eat, dig, run in the wheel - even sharing a water bottle.

I'd sure hate to separate them for life, if there was a way they didn't have to be lonely!

[Bailey]

Sorry they've been fighting. I hate it when that happens! It's odd that they are having trouble at two years old. I bet the submissive one's injury will heal just fine though. I wish I could give you a guess as to why they started fighting, but I have no idea. It's possible the dominant one has some sort of age-related discomfort and is taking it out on her sister, but that's a wild guess.

The set up you have looks pretty good to me, but if you could make a good split, perhaps swapping them back and forth for a week or two might help. But if it were me, I'd worry about leaving them together now unless you see very consistent signs they have completely re-bonded. Some gerbils do well in permanent splits where the mesh is wide enough that they can at least sniff and touch each other a little, but maintain their own spaces.

We had a pair of non-related females awhile back that declanned after six months together peacefully, but were each introduced to male gerbils and did fine through the rest of their senior months of life.

Remember that gerbils can do okay on their own, even though it's not ideal. Best of luck and please update your situation. I hope they can reunite!

[bettina]

My girls did exactly the same. We had put them in separate tanks, and unfortunately it was impossible to re-introduce them. Whenever they saw each other they would start grinding their teeth (is that the correct term?) They have been living apart for almost a year now. It is heartbreaking, but there is nothing to do about it.

[mamahousemouse]

Thank you both!

They both weathered the night just fine. Poor little dominant Flower is sitting dejectedly in the corner of the cage, looking forlorn, but Thumper is VERY happy this morning hopping about and digging up a storm. her foot looks amazingly better this morning as well.

We picked up what I believe is a 29 gallon aquarium (30 x 12 x 18) with a wire lid via Craigslist this morning, and my husband is in the process of wiring a wheel into the lid right now so they're not stacked like this. Once Thumper's foot is healed, we may try to split one of the cages and see what happens - but at this point I'd rather not count to heavily on that so our alternate plan is to add a wire topper on this cage as well.

We've never worked with a tank this HIGH before. We've also never had a cage without the topper. Are there any obvious differences in how to go about setting her cage up without the topper? Obviously we're planning on doubling her hay & aspen, but is there anything else we should do to make her comfortable?

Thanks so much! I am so relieved at how well Thumper looks. Now it's just going to be a matter of keeping her sister happy. Fortunately, she's the cuddlier one... Flower LOVES to hang out with people, so adding extra handling & floortime will be easy.

[Bailey]

Looks like you have it all figured out. It's nice when you have a taller tank because you can put more substrate for her to dig tunnels. Also, I think extra time out of the tank with them as singles is always a nice way to alleviate their boredom, both for shy and outgoing gerbils.

I'm glad Thumper's foot looks better. In the past, we have rescued neglected gerbils with terrible injuries such as missing or smashed toes, and missing tails, and they heal quickly with no obvious psychological scars.

Many gerbil owners will tell you that once they draw blood, it's very hard to get them to re-bond. However, I just got an email from a friend with a three year old father/son pair who just had their first fight, and there was some blood. She kept an eye on them and now they are fine, like nothing happened. But that may not be the norm. I thought they were too old and too bonded to fight, but apparently gerbils get grumpy with each other at times!

Please keep us posted.

[twinkietwixoreo]

I know how you feel! I have had three sisters for almost two years now (two years in June), and they were very happy together for all that time. They slept together, played, ate together. Last week, the smallest one was starting to chase the other sister, while the biggest one remained neutral. It got worse by the day. I had to separate the victim in her own tank, putting the "neutral" sister with her off and on (one day with one sister, one day with the other). That didn't last long because Oreo and Twixie (the victim and the neutral one) started showing signs of fear of each other too. So, now I have Oreo alone in one tank, and Twixie and Twinkie (the original bully) in the other tank. Things are peaceful now, but I hate to see Oreo alone...