Post by Spikedholly on Jul 20, 2015 10:35:13 GMT -8
On June 28th, our elderly gerbil (Spaz) of 4 years passed away leaving 2 buddies (Loki & Acer - 1 yr olds) behind (all of our gerbils are male). When split caging these two with the elderly gerbil, Loki (self-named...) took it upon himself to scale the chicken wire and squeeze between the tank screen and the split cage (chicken wire) screen to visit Spaz while we were away and (lucky for us) there were no incidents (that we saw) and they lived happily ever after.
To be nice, we thought we'd get our two remaining gerbs a friend and split cage them with a new gerbil. Unfortunately in our grieving, we didn't research that this is a big no-no. One of our gerbils didn't have a problem with him, but the other did.
After realizing our error and as pet owners we don't return or give away our pets, we purchased our new buddy (Squeaky "Squeaks" McGee-dark blonde) a buddy of his own (Lil' Bennie Burrow-light blonde) along with another tank and began the split cage with them on July 9th.
Saturday the 18th, we thought we'd introduce them in the bathtub for about an hour to give them a feel for each other. While the results weren't what we wanted (back arching, puffing, side stepping, chasing, thumping, some teeth chattering and a lot of staying at opposite ends of the tub) they did not go death ball on us, nor did we hear any squeaking coming from them.
After this, we put them back in the split cage and proceeded doing the odd amount of swaps.
Yesterday I attempted the same thing with them in the evening, leaving them in the bathtub together with me lying next to the tub donning my gloves to break up any fights.
It started off the same way (back arching, puffing, side stepping, chasing, thumping, some teeth chattering and a lot of staying at opposite ends of the tub), but as the night progressed they seemed to get friendlier the more they sniffed. They got to the point where they were cleaning themselves while the other watched and laying down on the tub floor. They eventually got to the point where they seemed to accept one another and made a little fur pile. (Video links below to show their behavior throughout tub time)
After seeing this for about 15-20 mins we thought they would be ready to remove the split so we de-scented the tank, cleaned it out, and set it up for them to live happily ever after. However, after removing them from the tub to the tank Bennie seemed to get a little aggressive toward Squeaks when he tried to join him for a nap. He would show his side and either side step him out of the way or chase him away and go back and lay down. After passing 12:30 am this morning with no success we put the split cage back up to avoid any incidents while we slept and thought of reattempting this again later today.
Last Night's Bathtub Behavior
1 of 2 youtu.be/ORXAIKPd9S8
2 of 2 youtu.be/9mM4jeFWy-Q
3 of 4 youtu.be/oEaVaOVZ3-0
4 of 4 youtu.be/EZ78y67j6j4 (Sweet Endings)
My question is, after reading my post and/or watching my videos - are we hoping against hope to get these two together or is this going alright? Any other thoughts/recommendations for these boys?
Thanks for your help!
Holl
To be nice, we thought we'd get our two remaining gerbs a friend and split cage them with a new gerbil. Unfortunately in our grieving, we didn't research that this is a big no-no. One of our gerbils didn't have a problem with him, but the other did.
After realizing our error and as pet owners we don't return or give away our pets, we purchased our new buddy (Squeaky "Squeaks" McGee-dark blonde) a buddy of his own (Lil' Bennie Burrow-light blonde) along with another tank and began the split cage with them on July 9th.
Saturday the 18th, we thought we'd introduce them in the bathtub for about an hour to give them a feel for each other. While the results weren't what we wanted (back arching, puffing, side stepping, chasing, thumping, some teeth chattering and a lot of staying at opposite ends of the tub) they did not go death ball on us, nor did we hear any squeaking coming from them.
After this, we put them back in the split cage and proceeded doing the odd amount of swaps.
Yesterday I attempted the same thing with them in the evening, leaving them in the bathtub together with me lying next to the tub donning my gloves to break up any fights.
It started off the same way (back arching, puffing, side stepping, chasing, thumping, some teeth chattering and a lot of staying at opposite ends of the tub), but as the night progressed they seemed to get friendlier the more they sniffed. They got to the point where they were cleaning themselves while the other watched and laying down on the tub floor. They eventually got to the point where they seemed to accept one another and made a little fur pile. (Video links below to show their behavior throughout tub time)
After seeing this for about 15-20 mins we thought they would be ready to remove the split so we de-scented the tank, cleaned it out, and set it up for them to live happily ever after. However, after removing them from the tub to the tank Bennie seemed to get a little aggressive toward Squeaks when he tried to join him for a nap. He would show his side and either side step him out of the way or chase him away and go back and lay down. After passing 12:30 am this morning with no success we put the split cage back up to avoid any incidents while we slept and thought of reattempting this again later today.
Last Night's Bathtub Behavior
1 of 2 youtu.be/ORXAIKPd9S8
2 of 2 youtu.be/9mM4jeFWy-Q
3 of 4 youtu.be/oEaVaOVZ3-0
4 of 4 youtu.be/EZ78y67j6j4 (Sweet Endings)
My question is, after reading my post and/or watching my videos - are we hoping against hope to get these two together or is this going alright? Any other thoughts/recommendations for these boys?
Thanks for your help!
Holl