Bleeding gerbil

[Mariska Rustenburg]

I've got 4 gerbils - all female.
They've lived together now for 2 years and it seemed to be going just fine. But today one of them started to fight the other. Now i've got a bleeding gerbil.

Three years ago I bought 4 gerbils - also all female. After one year three of them started to fight one until she lost a piece of here tail. I took them back to the pet shop, because I couldn't look at them fighting any longer.

What should I do this time? Does anybody know how to solve the problem?
I know that you're supposed to introduce a new gerbil gently to an old group, but these girls have lived together for 2 years without problems. Why are they fighting now? Could it be that she's sick?

[ashgerbil]

female gerbils living in groups of more than three are likely to fight after a while, as females are such dominant and territorial little creatures
they usually start fighting at around 6-10 months, so it is odd that they have starting fighting at 2 years old
what you can do, is either split your gerbils into pairs or you can keep the hurt gerbil on its own
sorry i can't help anymore, does anybody else have any advice to give??

[lizzy]

I don't think that it would be beneficial for you to introduce a new gerbil at this stage. A young gerbil must not be introduced to a group of 3 or more anyway.

It is possible that one is sick but obviously you should keep an eye out for any ailments, but normally when groups start fighting and declanning it is not for this reason.

In cases like yours when blood has already been shed there is nothing you can do to reconcile them. They may be fine tomorrow and the next day but I can guarantee that fighting will start up again and may lead to the death of one of them.

What you need to do is not remove the bleeding gerbil because she is unlikely to be the one starting the fighting. You need to keep a close eye on them and seperate the one(s) that seem to be causing the trouble. Ideally you will end up with two pairs that will live together happily but it may be a sad case that it is just one picking on the other three. The one(s) likely to be causing the trouble usually are the more dominant ones; if you have ever noticed one being the "boss" of them.

Finally, what are you keeping the gerbils in? Sometimes gerbils will declan due to lack of space. As they have lived together happily for 2 years; have you changed their environment recently? Is it a possibility that they may have been subjected to some stress ie if you have moved house.

[emma890]

I've got the same problem but with my males, which I've had for a year and the only problem I had was my cats annoying them, I've removed one of them and I'm going to start looking for a partner for him, after he starts to feel better.

[dangermouse2005]

its werid i had the same problem firstly with my females-were living fine for about 1 year then dangermouse attacked speedy so i had to separate them i had 4 females so i ust did 2 and 2.

then about 6 months later 2 of my males had a fight and i only have 3 males -i didnt really want to go buy another gerbil-so i cleaned the injured fella up and left him in same cage and watched him all day and he seemed fine-they are all friends again since that and that was about 1 year ago and nothings ever happened again-but i was told they would fight till death and wouldnt be friends again-so i proved them wrong!!