Post by psychotherapist on Mar 26, 2015 13:06:10 GMT -8
I've started a split cage, to try and introduce 2 young males to my older male (Brandy) who has recently been left alone after his cagemate died. Brandy is coming up on 2 years old and was introduced to his former cagemate via a split cage when he was about 11 weeks old. Brandy was also always the submissive gerbil of the group.
I've had the 2 new gerbils (Snowy & JJ) for exactly 1 week so far (swapping sides 3 times per day) and they're about 9-10 weeks old now.
However, Snowy appears to be the clear dominant gerbil and continues to display aggressive behaviour towards Brandy.
A day or so back, I tried removing 1 layer of mesh to allow them to make contact (I must stress that this was before I realised Snowy was acting aggressively) - the 1 layer experiment lasted about an hour as Snowy would not leave Brandy alone. Brandy would chew the bars of the mesh and Snowy would constantly come up to him, greet him by the mouth and then proceed to forcefully groom his nose before eventually biting him on the nose and then scratching at the mesh. Brandy just closed his eyes and squeaked slightly, but didn't try to move away. As soon as this happened, I replaced the extra layer of mesh and thankfully Brandy wasn't hurt too badly.
Whenever Brandy is out and about, Snowy will constantly follow him along the mesh and then climb it and/or try to dig underneath it to get at him. JJ pays no attention to Brandy and Brandy doesn't seem at all bothered about either of them, it's just Snowy acting up!
Has anybody else experienced this kind of behaviour in a split and still managed a successful introduction, or am I facing a possible lost cause?
I realise it's only been 1 week, but I'm just a bit anxious really as last time I introduced Brandy to an older Male it took only a matter of days for them to get together and that older Male in question was also dominant.
I've had the 2 new gerbils (Snowy & JJ) for exactly 1 week so far (swapping sides 3 times per day) and they're about 9-10 weeks old now.
However, Snowy appears to be the clear dominant gerbil and continues to display aggressive behaviour towards Brandy.
A day or so back, I tried removing 1 layer of mesh to allow them to make contact (I must stress that this was before I realised Snowy was acting aggressively) - the 1 layer experiment lasted about an hour as Snowy would not leave Brandy alone. Brandy would chew the bars of the mesh and Snowy would constantly come up to him, greet him by the mouth and then proceed to forcefully groom his nose before eventually biting him on the nose and then scratching at the mesh. Brandy just closed his eyes and squeaked slightly, but didn't try to move away. As soon as this happened, I replaced the extra layer of mesh and thankfully Brandy wasn't hurt too badly.
Whenever Brandy is out and about, Snowy will constantly follow him along the mesh and then climb it and/or try to dig underneath it to get at him. JJ pays no attention to Brandy and Brandy doesn't seem at all bothered about either of them, it's just Snowy acting up!
Has anybody else experienced this kind of behaviour in a split and still managed a successful introduction, or am I facing a possible lost cause?
I realise it's only been 1 week, but I'm just a bit anxious really as last time I introduced Brandy to an older Male it took only a matter of days for them to get together and that older Male in question was also dominant.