Post by stumps on Nov 16, 2015 14:52:33 GMT -8
Sorry this might be a bit long.
About 2.5 years ago we 'inherited' a pair of female gerbils and a gerbilarium that had been abandoned. They lived happily together for just under 2 years, when one of them died. We felt sorry for the remaining girl, so bought a tank, set up a split and got a single male gerbil from the rescue section of our local pets at home - there were 5 in total so happy to let us have a single. We don't know how old he was, but he must have been fairly young because we saw him "mature" while he was going through the split process. We split them for about 3 weeks, popped them in together and they were fine.
They were very happy for about 6 months, at which point our other girl died. Now we had one single male gerbil, who was maybe 8 months old (called Stumpy - he only has 3 feet). So we put the divider back in, went again to pets at home and they had another single male gerbil - less than 6 months old but fully mature. We brought him home, named him Gary and put him in the split.
We swapped them by the book for a couple of weeks, put them in together and after about 10 mins they balled so I grabbed them out - Gary had a very small cut on his shoulder, Stumps was unharmed. So they went back in the split, and after another 3 weeks it was all looking great - they were nesting next to the barrier, grooming through the bars and looking settled.
So in they went again (I put Gary into Stumpy's side, because if I had to guess I'd say that Gary was the more dominant). After about 30 seconds they resumed trying to kill each other so were swiftly separated, both unharmed).
I set the gerbilarium up for Gary, and he's been living in that since and stumps in the tank.
So now what?! I have 2 single male gerbils less than a year old. Only one of my cages can be set up as a split.
Do I get 2 pups, split one with stumps and just put the other straight in with Gary and hope? stumpy can't go in the gerbilarium because of his stump and the bars. Or I could get one boy pup to be friends with stumps and leave Gary by himself. Or get an older female for stumps again, but then potentially have to repeat every 6 months because they're old and keep dying. And if I got baby boys, what are the chances that when they grow up they'll de-clan and I'll end up with 4 single boys?! Thoughts please, where do I go from here...?
About 2.5 years ago we 'inherited' a pair of female gerbils and a gerbilarium that had been abandoned. They lived happily together for just under 2 years, when one of them died. We felt sorry for the remaining girl, so bought a tank, set up a split and got a single male gerbil from the rescue section of our local pets at home - there were 5 in total so happy to let us have a single. We don't know how old he was, but he must have been fairly young because we saw him "mature" while he was going through the split process. We split them for about 3 weeks, popped them in together and they were fine.
They were very happy for about 6 months, at which point our other girl died. Now we had one single male gerbil, who was maybe 8 months old (called Stumpy - he only has 3 feet). So we put the divider back in, went again to pets at home and they had another single male gerbil - less than 6 months old but fully mature. We brought him home, named him Gary and put him in the split.
We swapped them by the book for a couple of weeks, put them in together and after about 10 mins they balled so I grabbed them out - Gary had a very small cut on his shoulder, Stumps was unharmed. So they went back in the split, and after another 3 weeks it was all looking great - they were nesting next to the barrier, grooming through the bars and looking settled.
So in they went again (I put Gary into Stumpy's side, because if I had to guess I'd say that Gary was the more dominant). After about 30 seconds they resumed trying to kill each other so were swiftly separated, both unharmed).
I set the gerbilarium up for Gary, and he's been living in that since and stumps in the tank.
So now what?! I have 2 single male gerbils less than a year old. Only one of my cages can be set up as a split.
Do I get 2 pups, split one with stumps and just put the other straight in with Gary and hope? stumpy can't go in the gerbilarium because of his stump and the bars. Or I could get one boy pup to be friends with stumps and leave Gary by himself. Or get an older female for stumps again, but then potentially have to repeat every 6 months because they're old and keep dying. And if I got baby boys, what are the chances that when they grow up they'll de-clan and I'll end up with 4 single boys?! Thoughts please, where do I go from here...?