Questions about split-cage introductions (Update!)

[aj2013]

Hi everyone!
I am the proud new owner of a male gerbil named Watson! He is probably about two months old. I am keeping him in a 20 gallon tank. He is my only gerbil so I wanted to gather some info on what doing a split-cage would look like. Please be patient with all my questions! I’ve never had any experience with this sort of thing, so I want to be sure and do it right if I try it.

I read the post on split caging in the gerbil FAQ so I have the general idea of what to do – rig up some sort of wire mesh divider in the middle of the cage and switch the gerbils to different sides of the divider three times a day. Any other tips on how to make the divider or set up the tank?

In another post (in the general info section) someone recommended that I get a young pup to introduce. Would two be okay, or would just one be better? Or does it matter?

How young should the pup(s) be? The youngest I could get them would be about 3 weeks old.

Is there anything specific I should be looking for in the pup(s) I pick out?

How likely is it that the introduction won’t work?

Would it be less likely to work if I wait? I might like to wait until I have more time to spend on it (like in November during my Thanksgiving break). At least, I would like to wait until I can finish taming Watson.

Are gerbils introduced by split-caging more likely to declan later?

Thanks for any answers!

[theia]

It helps to keep the tank as bare as possible, so just a water bottle, bedding, scatter feed food (no bowl) and of course toilet rolls/card to chew.

Two pups should work out fine so long as they are young enough, I believe 6 to 8 weeks is the best age range. I'm pretty sure (or at least I have read before) that a pup should not be seperated from it's mum any sooner than 5 weeks so I'm a little concerned that you know somewhere to get them from at 3 weeks?

I think the ratio of sucessful to unsuccessful introductions is that successful introductions outweigh the unsuccessful ones (personally my success rate is 2:1 and that one was a very unlikely intro to start with).

I don't think waiting will harm your chances, if you've only just brought Watson home then it's probably a good idea to give him some time to adjust to you/your home before starting (stressed out gerbils can be harder to introduce).

[aj2013]

I thought someone at the pet store I got Watson from said they got their gerbils at three weeks old, but this could be misinformation. I also could have misheard her, she might have said that they got their gerbils three weeks ago.

[t1gg3er]

We tried to get 2 single (young adult) boys together but it didn't work so we decided to introduce a pup to each of them instead. We kept the pups together for a week (quarantine) before separating them & putting them in the splits with Comet & Ernie so they were nearly 8 weeks by then. Both splits only took 3 days. Ernie was a little unsure for the 1st couple of hours as Eric (pup) was quite boisterous & Ernie didn't quite know how to handle it but they were fine after a while. Comet & Asterix were fine straight away.

We made our dividers using this mesh: www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-13mm-Galvanised-Mesh-Panel-600mmx900mm/p/187723

We made 2 wooden frames to fit the tank, cut the mesh to size & sealed it in between the frames with aquarium sealant so there were no pointy nails/tacs that could hurt them. We also used sealant to attach steel brackets into the sides of tank to give a channel to slide the divider in & out.

[aj2013]

Is there any way to cleanly remove the brackets once you are done or are they there permanently?

[theia]

Oct 1, 2015 7:00:18 GMT -8 aj2013 said:

I thought someone at the pet store I got Watson from said they got their gerbils at three weeks old, but this could be misinformation. I also could have misheard her, she might have said that they got their gerbils three weeks ago.

Ahh that would make more sense to me Good luck with your split, I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice on here.

[t1gg3er]

We just used 8 small 'L' shaped ones - pairs top & bottom each side of the tank. We left them for a couple of weeks after the boys were together so as not to disrupt them too early on. When we removed them we put the boys into a playpen & used a stanley knife blade to take the brackets out & scrape off the sealant with a bit of help from some neat acetone. You'd never know they'd been there

[PurpleSheep]

You can use hot glue to attach the brackets, this will allow you to remove them later.

It would probably best to do the introduction as soon as possible - Watson is still very young, so there is a really good chance of it working with another young gerbil. Taming a lone gerbil can be more difficult, it will probably be much easier to tame him (and the new gerbil) once they are together and more confident.

20gallon would be quite small for three fully-grown gerbils, so it may be better to get just one other gerbil, unless you can get them a bigger tank in the future.

[aj2013]

If I could find a way to attach or hang some sort of shelf in the tank would it be suitable for three gerbils?

As far as taming goes Watson seems comfortable with sitting on my hand and eating small treats and will coming running up and climb on and sniff my hand for treats when I stick it in the cage. I got him on Tuesday morning (the 29th of September). I have never tried to tame gerbils like this so I don't exactly know if this is fast or slow or normal.

[t1gg3er]

You could add a topper to the tank once they've been introduced (lots of topper pics in the ideal set-ups thread and you can make your own which won't cost a fortune either) & yes, shelves are also good to make better use of the space they have. We've had triangles of glass cut locally & siliconed them into some of our tanks to make extra levels.

Sounds like Watson is doing really well

[aj2013]

Maybe I could use the idea for the divider to make a shelf - only instead of doing it vertically I could do it horizontally across about 1/2 or 1/3 of the cage. I could even do one on each side and be able to slide them out easily when I want to clean the cage. Would the wire mesh be a problem though? It seems like they could get their feet stuck in it.

[GerbilUK]

Hi, you've had some good advice here, just wanted to add a couple of things:

I really don't think you'll have too many problems with the intro. I have done about six intros with pups (male and female) and all have been fine. The only intro that has gone wrong was between a very aggressive adult male and another adult male. Looking back it was never a good idea to even try it. Take as much time as you like though, I waited a full week with my first intro, the last one I did it was a matter of hours, as I got more confident at reading the signs.

Secondly, for my intros I use a very small tank (just less than 10gallons). - the bottom of a small pets at home gerbilarium. I hate keeping them in such a small space but its not for long and means they cannot avoid each other and their smells. For the divider I just cut a piece of mesh to fit the diagonal and wedged it across. I have also put another second piece next to it just for a little security to start with. I usually remove that once I am sure there won't be any biting etc. it's not the most secure way but I find it suffices. You need to keep an eye on them for a while to make sure they cannot get through/over it. The top of the divider fits against the lid, which I also made by bending wire mesh to make the corners.

I don't think there is much you can choose in terms of pups, in adults I would choose a submissive gerbil if possible but that doesn't really apply to pups. It's just personal choice, colour, healthy, friendly etc. I would say 8 weeks old max to make it as easy as possible.

Hope that helps

[t1gg3er]

I wouldn't use mesh for platforms for the reason you give re feet getting caught. One of our girls had what we think was a broken leg & the only way we can see she did it was getting caught in the wire platform of the cage they used to be in (she recovered fine but no more wire platforms for us).

You could use mesh & cover it with cardboard or woven mats (neither will last long as they'll destroy them), use glass (easy to keep clean) or wood but that's harder to keep clean & they tend to use the flat surfaces as their toilet. If you go for wood use kiln dried, untreated stuff. If you search there's a list of safe woods to use somewhere (can't remember whether it was on this site or another one).

With a bit of research, imagination & some very basic DIY skills you can make a safe gerbil wonderland for them

[aj2013]

Thank you so much everyone! All your info and advice is much appreciated and really helpful! I will definitely post an update if I decide to try an introduction.

[aj2013]

Well...I think I'm going to try it!

PetSmart is putting out new gerbils tomorrow. I will probably just get one (since they will have three and I don't want to leave one by himself). Today I got an aquarium divider for my 20 gallon tank and I wanted to see if you guys think it will work or if it's just a horrible idea. The main reason I liked it was since it was made to fit in our aquarium, but if it doesn't seem like a good idea I will probably just get another mesh lid, which should fit diagonally with some bending.

Here is a picture of the aquarium divider (Sorry it's so huge):


It's basically a piece of plastic with a bunch of teeny-tiny holes through it.

Here my current wire lid (with wheel attached):



If the aquarium divider doesn't sound like a good plan, I'll just get another one of these and wedge it diagonally across.
I just wanted to double-check since the aquarium divider is different than what anyone had suggested. Thanks!