Need advice please. Gerbils keep fighting

[crittermom]

Hello

We adopted a mother daughter pair over a year ago. The girls are doing well and have been great additions to our family.

Recently though, the mother has become very aggressive towards her daughter if we take them out of their tank, and I have to put a divider in the tank for 8 hours or so before they will stop fighting. The aggression usually starts as soon as they are put back in together.
This has created a dilemma as the younger one gets rather depressed being separated from her mother.
I can avoid the fighting by not taking them out of the tank but they both love getting out. They are used to running around our bedrooms and now they are not getting the attention or stimulation that they should be. It also makes cleaning a bit of a challenge.
I have tried taking them out separately but this doesn’t seem to make a difference.

I welcome any suggestions you may have. What in your opinion would be worse, permanently separating them, or not letting them out?

Thank you very much

[betty]

I had a pair where one of them was wonderful out and about and could be out all day and go back into the tank with the other one without raising a whisker - however, if I took them out together there would be chasing, humping and fussing all over the place.

They were sisters and had been together their whole life - and nothing would shake them apart from coming out together (or just the other one coming out alone). So like you, I had the choice of what to do about the quiet one.

I decided that they loved each other all the time - and I couldn't guarantee there would be anything better for them split to other 'friends' - so I left them together and would either get neither out or just the bossy one. Sometimes she would be out for ages - leaving the other one the free run of their original tank, and then put her back in an all was well. They were still together until last month when I had to have the quiet one PTS. I have just tried to split the bossy one to another female - and it was going nowhere. So I'm glad I didn't separate them earlier!

I'm not sure I would have liked to have seen them divided by the mesh all the time when they usually hugged and groomed each other. Difficult choice, something only you can decide I think - you have to live with them...

[crittermom]

Thanks for your reply.
I might try letting just the daughter out for a bit of exercise and see how that goes.
The mom seems to get aggressive & territorial when she is moved to a different space so perhaps I should just leave her as is.

[eaturbyfill]

I had a pair like this. I did not take them out of the tank or change all of the bedding at once to prevent fights. I think some are just more territorial or easily confused than others. I don't feel like outside time is too important as long as there is a lot of enrichment in the habitat.