'Tapping' legs...what does it mean?

[gerby]

Hey,

When I first bought my gerbil from the pet shop, I could see another (agouti)pair living with him/her(don't know the sex yet and will need your help to judge it by seeing the pic ) Anyway, I bought only one gerbil at that time. However, the longer I have had him/her, the more I think that s/he is lonely and needs accompanies. So yesterday, I went to the pet shop again to get him/her ex-cagemates (it has been 12 days since I bought the first one) and I tried to re-introduce them yesterday evening by using playpen but split into 2 parts-putting a pair in one side and my first 'gerby' in the other side. They looked like they wanted to attack each other but no sign of biting across the bar(just punching)

Anyway, the most noticeable thing is my first 'gerby' looked quite aggressive and nervous once smelled those two ex-cagemates and started 'tapping' her hind legs constantly while standing still. I don't understand what that means at all. Could anyone help? I then tried putting one of the agouti with my 'gerby' then they kind of chased each other. My 'gerby' got so nervous that s/he could jumb out of the play pen! I'm quite worried about this stressful situation but will have to try introducing them again today.

They are all 8 weeks old according to the pet shop owner. But the agouti (identical) pair look a lot bigger than my 'gerby'. Is it possible that my 'gerby' is female? (cuz from what I read, females are smaller in size) Anyway, I'll get some pics up asap!

Please if anyone know what 'tapping' hind legs behaviour means, let me know. That would be really appreciated.

Many thanks,

Gerby

[doomgerbiluk]

It can mean two things.
The main one is that the gerbil is allarmed by something.
In this case he is upset by the strangers. They have been apart soemtime and forgotten each other so you will need to split cage for a while,
The second thumping is the mating one, females on heat and males who see/smell a female they fancy do this one!!!

[gerby]

Thank you very much for your input, doomgerbiluk I see... So I will need to know their sexes asap before I put them all together! It would be okay if it's just female dominance or stranger issue but if it's the second reason you mentioned then there would be a big... problem!! (lots of lots babies...heh)

Just out of interest, if it appears that the agouti pair is male and my 'gerby' is female then can I still put them together just during play time? (separate housing)

Gerby

[ashgerbil]

no, unfortunately not!
they are highly likely to fight if you do this, and the males could still get your female pregnant!!
ya, so you kinda needed to know your first gerbil's sex before you got the new pair lol
it usually takes a while for 2 new gerbils to get on, even with a split cage, you probably needed to have a split tank, not just a playpen lol

[doomgerbiluk]

To understand why this wouldn't work you need to understand a little about gerbil society.
Gerbils are social animals coming from a desert region where food can be scarce at times. Like other animals in this type of environmnt they have control their breeding AND protect their territory in order not to starve.
A colony will have one dominant female who will be the only who breeds.
A colony is distinct and all memebers are identified by the colony smell. any gerbil without that smell will be seen off or killed.
So you can see that gerbils living in seperate cages are distinct colonies and will see other gerbils as threats.

[gerby]

I really appreciated your clarification, doomgerbiluk ;D By researching some more fact about gerbils from many different websites and forums (plus having my own gerbils, of course! ) , I hope to become a gerbil expert...lol

Yea, I kind of guessed that my first 'gerby' was a girl but somehow when I got to the pet shop and heard that only 2 boys left. I managed to convince myself that perhaps my 'gerby' was a boy too. Or perhaps the pet shop owner was wrong and those 2 were females....sigh Partly, I really wanted friends for 'gerby' and also I felt sorry for those 2 gerbils in the pet shop. They had been there for at least 3 weeks and no one seemed to care or handle them at all!

Hehe...Now I have ended up housing them in 2 cages and 'gerby' will be lonely still. (nevermind, may find her a friend later) Anyway, I am happy... They are all lovely The boys had been running and playing like mad though ;D

Gerby