Permanent split tank

[corsagal3840]

Hi all,

I've not been on the forum for a while, but have a dilemma.

last Tuesday I had to split my 2 girls nori and Frankie into separate tanks, after a fight. Frankie was hiding in the corner squeaking and acting terrified everytime nori went near her. there wasn't any blood buta very stressed Frankie.

one week on, Nori is doing fine and her normal self, but Frankie bearly comes out of her bed, sometimes she just sits in her bed there with her eyes open, looking around. she will come out if I go in and coerce her out. which is unusual for her.

she comes out for food, water and the toilet, has a bit of a chew then goes back to her bed. I noticed today she has the red stuff around one of her eyes and I know this can mean she is stressed.

Frankie and nori are about 2 years 2 months old.

My questions are: is she lonely? is she missing nori? should I permanent split them?

I would like your views , as I would like to keep my girl as healthy as possible for a while longer.

Thanks in advance

Dx

[betty]

Difficult. I personally would assume that Frankie was so stressed out by the pressure in the shared tank that she hasn't quite calmed down even after the split. She isn't lonely - she is recovering. I would assume that putting them in a permanent split might still freak your Frankie out as basically Nori has told her in no uncertain terms to 'bugger off' for ever! See what others say of their experiences - not sure if anyone would permanently split 2 gerbils who have declanned? It's not really 'fair' on the loser, is it?

Declans can be really stressful for the gerbils involved way before you you see any fighting. They do try all the polite ways first but of course Frankie couldn't leave the tank - she was stuck in there as the pressure to leave got more intense and she just had to sit it out with no escape...

As for he quite character afterwards - I had a little lady like this - she got so caught up in a 5-girl declan that she reclused badly for several weeks after being put alone and her black face and neck became very speckled with white almost overnight. Scared of her own shadow.

I left her alone for about a month to 'recover' before an older female came up - and I split them together. All went well in just a few weeks (I took it slowly for her but also the older female was on her 4th split through no fault of her own but had a great character). They are still together today - over 6 months later - still best friends.

So there is hope for the future for both of them. Nori would probably still appreciate a friend - perhaps an older gerbil too (putting in a younger one might mean that the younger one might try to challenge Nori when she grows up as Nori is already quite old - and noone wants more fighting at this age)...

[corsagal3840]

Hi Betty thanks for your reply.

I wondered myself if she was still really traumatised by the events of last Tuesday and also wondered if putting them together would freak her even more.

Nori is carrying on like nothing as changed, but I hate seeing my Frankie like this and really want to try and make her feel better. do you have any tips or ideas?

Dx

[corsagal3840]

My Frankie also seem scared of everything even as you say her own shadow.

Dx

[betty]

Each gerbil will be different - but you could either do what I did and find an older calmer gerbil to split her with - or you could set her up with a large filled adventure tank and leave her to it - I don't handle all my gerbils - I like them to be just something to watch rather than always being picked up.

Alternatively you could try her in a smaller tank for a while and make a real effort to take up a slow and steady 'taming process' from the start. Rather than assume she was the same gerbil as before the declan - assume she is a new nervous biting gerbil (so you aren't tempted to just reach in and catch her - this will be a slow process). Start by feeding from your hand for a while and then move on to introducing a picking up tub but never pick it up; then once she happy with the stationary tub - start picking up in a tub within her cage; etc. Build up to being friends again really slowly and hopefully she will come around and be calmer and more relaxed again.