Post by lucille on Nov 24, 2014 9:49:13 GMT -8
about 5 days ago I looked at Jack Jr and it looked like his back right leg was injured.... I blinked and it looked normal again so I thought it was in my head. As I watched him I could almost kind of see that he was favoring it a bit... but couldn't really tell if I was just being fretful. 3 days ago when I went to go pick him up everything seemed normal beforehand but he didn't like being picked up and after I put him back in his cage he was squeaking and fussing over his leg. It's very strange - one second he will carry it like it's broken and then a split second later he'll be standing up on it or running around. And then only if I look very close with the occasional limp.
After I knew for sure he was injured, I closed off his tubes and have him confined to his aquarium. I figured I'd start off with 5 days of rest for him. He's still eating and drinking and behaving normally and happily chittering away at egg cartons and toilet paper tubes most of the day while I sleep. He hasn't lived here with me for very long so he's really not tame enough for me to handle without risking exacerbating the injury. I've marked two weeks on my calendar as the next time I'm allowed to try picking him up to be on the safe side - since it seems he had an injury that was healing and my giant hands probably set him back a bit last time. I've been trying to observe him walking and running around in the aquarium but he spends so much time hiding that it's hard - I think I won't know until I open the tubes up to him again and can really see him walking. How long does everyone think I should keep him cooped up?
Has anyone's gerbil had similar injuries?
