Scab on nose

[Gerbil Lover]

Hi guys I was wondering if your gerbils have ever had a scab on their little nose? my gerbil somehow managed to scratch her nose on something and keeps itching it and it won't heal. Do you know of any cream I can put on it to make it heal? I'm worried that it will get infected. Can I maybe use a little dab of polysporin on it?

[rhianna]

It's very likely not a scab, but dried mucus. Gerbil mucus is red like blood. The runny nose is likely from an allergic reaction to something, and that's why she's scratching at it. The most common cause of a runny nose is dusty bedding. What bedding do you use?

[Gerbil Lover]

I use carefresh like I always had for the 4 years I kept gerbils as pets. She has never shown signs of being allergic to it before and she is already 2 years old. Maybe her cage is just do for a cleaning then.

[rhianna]

In my experience, Carefresh is a huge allergy trigger. I had a gerbil react to it suddenly after 6 months of doing seemingly fine with it. If you clean the cage and the problem continues, then it might be best to switch beddings. Reactions aren't always immediate and can sometimes be caused by the buildup of dust over time.

[Gerbil Lover]

Ok I'll be sure to clean the cage and watch if it continues.

[Gerbil Lover]

So I cleaned her cage and now i guess the dried mucus fell off but now im not too sure if it was mucus because the spot where the dried stuff was is now a large bald spot. I really dont know what to do now.


[img src="http://" alt=""]
dont mind Silvers sleepy eyes lol she just woke up

[rhianna]

I can't see the image, but it's normal for there to be a bald spot. She just rubbed off all of her fur while she was scratching. The same thing happened when one of my gerbils had an allergic reaction in the past.

[Gerbil Lover]

Oh ok then that makes me feel better about the blab spot. And sorry I guess I don't know how to post photos on here.