Lone Gerbil help.

[RaisingRodents]

I'm not too sure if this is the correct place to put this but I hope I  can get answers anyhow. 

Well, story first I suppose. Around 3 pm today I went over to check up on our two girl Gerbils, Mary Belle and Isabelle. Isabelle was the older of the two, we had to buy Mary Belle as when we first got Isabelle, it was from a woman who couldn't take care of her anymore. We introduced them using the Split Cage method and everything was great. Isabelle actually found her way past the barrier somehow to go over and see Mary Belle. Amazingly everything was fine between them, they were great together and all for the 3 months they knew each other. And for the news that this post is about, like I said, I went over to see them and check how they're doing as usual. I saw Mary Belle poke her head out of the tunnel and run up to the surface as usual when she hear's a noise.



That's when I noticed that Isabelle didn't come up as normal. (WARNING: You might find this next part a bit graphic..)

Well, that's when I saw on the cage walls..blood. Splattered on every side of the cage, I immediately saw a small bunched up pile of bloody bedding in the corner and there was Isabelle, dead. I picked her up and saw that there was blood all near her ear and neck area. We assumed that Mary Belle bit her there and it was a fatal blow at that. Well, I dug her a hole in the garden and buried her there.



Now, we only have Mary Belle. I've thoroughly cleaned the cage along with everything that was in it and threw away anything that couldn't be washed. She's been nibbling at me ever since Isabelle's death, I'm assuming from stress or what not, I'm not too sure exactly. But she's back in with food, water, and toys. My boyfriend thinks we could give her up for adoption to someone that needs a Gerbil for theirs but I'm wanting to keep her as is. I'm not sure what we should do with her all alone. Would it be too much stress on her not having a friend with her or is it best to keep her alone?



If you have any help or knowledge as to what's best, please let us know. Thank you.

[snowballandnugget]

I'm so sorry for that loss of Isabelle.

Single gerbils can have just as fulfilling life as a bonded pair if their humans give them enough attention. I'm not sure how recently this happened, but i wouldn't rush into the idea of putting her up for adoption. If you do decide to keep her and want her to have a tankmate, consider finding a breeder so that you can adopt one who is quite young but fully weaned from the mom. That way there is a smaller chance of dominance issues. Good luck and keep us posted!!

[aquamarinegerbil]

Hi, 

I am very sorry to hear about Isabelle. 

I have gone through a very similar situation. I bought two gerbils Sparkly and Ashley on Kijiji (which I know was a risk) and when we got home we realized Ashley was very sick. Exactly one week later she died. My gerbil Sparkly was sad for a little bit. Not as hyper and she wouldn't sleep in the place that they used to sleep together.

But if you give her attention and things to do (wood blocks or toilet paper rolls, I give mine kleenex or a little bit of toilet paper for bedding which she rips up, maybe plug your bath tub and let her run around in it) If your gerbil is like mine, she will be fine. If Marybelle DID kill Isabelle which I'm not sure if you know for sure...? But is she did she might do the same thing again. I say just keep her by herself and give her things to stay occupied. Good luck!!

[RaisingRodents]

Thank you for the replies and kind words. We're almost 100% certain that she did kill her. We'll be keeping her though and trying our best to still give her an enriching environment. She seems to be fine at the moment, digging and chewing as usual. I'll be keeping an eye on her to make sure she's doing alright.

[GerbilUK]

Hi, firstly is it possible that Isabelle died naturally and marybelle was trying to dispose of the body? Gerbils can do this to avoid attracting predators to the next. However if blood was splattered around it seems highly likely that they were fighting. Did you notice any rough/odd behaviour beforehand at all?

Secondly, I have the same problem in that I had to split two males up who had injured each other fighting. One had a history of agression so I decided to leave him on his own from now on. He lives with my friend who is at home a lot and he seems to like their dog of all things.

The other, milkshake, I decided to try with another lone male whose partner had just died. He was very aggressive in the split to the extent that after a week I was struggling to get the top back on quick enough and he did get over and draw blood from the other male. Few days after that he escaped again and was rampaging around the place trying to attack all the other gerbils in their homes.

I decided he would have to be alone too. The point of this rambling tale is that from then on I vowed only to try introductions with adult-pup and only with a submissive adult. Do you know which was the dominant one before Isabelle's death?

Milkshake was looking unhappy on his own I must admit. He was in a ten gallon tank with topper. I bought him a 2.5 foot tank all to himself which I can fill right up with cardboard boxes, twigs, hay etc. he seems much better now and is always active and doing something.

It's up to you but in your situation I would be tempted to leave marybelle alone. If you put her with another adult or pup you do run the risk of it happening again, you would need to observe them closely for signs that they weren't getting along.

Others may disagree though. Hope this helps a little.

[GerbilUK]

Eta I have just retread your original post and I had the same experience, I introduced milkshake to silver link when milkshake was a pup. All was fine. Then when milkshake was getting to adulthood the fight broke out. I imagine he decided that he didn't want silver link to be in charge any more and challenged him. Unfortunately for me they were both dominant personalities and neither backed down. They both had frontal injuries although silver link came off worst.

That's why I will only introduce submissive gerbils, less likely to be fights in future as the submissive adult isn't really bothered who is in charge. I learned this stuff from the excellent advice on here. Hth