10-11 wk old male gerbil not growing, worry?

[Siobhan]

Hi there, I'm pretty sure I created a login, but can't seem to remember it at the moment.

About 2.5 weeks ago, we got two gerbils we were told were 8 weeks old from PetSmart. One of them, Kirby, is black and white, markings like a skunk, close as I can describe. We did a split-cage introduction with another gerbil, Quincy, and they just met on Sunday and are getting along great. But Kirby is very very small still and hasn't grown since we got him. He's not very active and seems to remain in their house, although Quincy comes out pretty regularly. I have to check in their house to make sure Kirby is still alive -- that's how seldom he ventures out! I haven't seen him eat or drink, but his food and water supply did go down when he was in the side by himself before he met Quincy, so he must have eaten. I don't think he's chewing much, though, as he didn't chew much cardboard while on his own side, and I never see him chew with Quincy.

At the same time, we got Jerry, Kirby's littermate of the same age, to be a companion to another gerbil, Jake. Jerry is grey, and he has continued to grow quite significantly since he's been here. I was just comparing the size of Jerry to Kirby, and was really shocked to see how much bigger Jake is.

Is this something I should be concerned about? What can I do?

Thanks so very much for any suggestions.

Siobhan

[freedom]

I am a first time gerbil owner, so I don't know if this advice will be very good or not. But, three months ago, I bought two gerbils from PetSmart as well.

One got sick and the first signs were not coming out from her hiding spot. I let her be, and the next time I saw her come out, she looked like a completely different gerbil because she was so skinney and hunched over. I didnt really know what was going on, so we waited another day before we did anything. The next day, she started having diarrhea. That's when we went to pick up some medicine for her.

First we tried DriTail, which ended up spilling over after we had given her a few doses, so we had to go back for something else. An employee reccomended WetTail, so that's what we got. I gave Heidi several small doses of that a day for about a week before she was finaly better. She did NOT like the taste of it, but it made her better. But,, during and after she got sick, she didn't grow any bigger for several weeks. Now it looks like she has finaly caught up in growing compared to her sister, although, she is still a little bit smaller.

So, Im not sure if Kirby just hasn't had his growth spurt yet, or if he is about to get sick or what. But, i would keep an eye on him and if he starts to show some signs of being lethargic, hunched over, eyes half-shut, or diarrhea, I would suggest taking action right away. The WetTail helped for my gerbil, but I had to hand feed it to make sure she was getting it into her system. If she hadn't gotten that into her system, Im positive she wouldnt have made it.

As for him hiding all the time, maybe he is still trying to get used to his surroundings and used to you and the other gerbils. It might be something like that and nothing real serious. But, I would make sure that you keep a careful watch just in case it does turn out to be something more serious.

Sorry for the really long reply! I just wanted to share what happened just incase the info helps in some way or another. I hope and pray it isn't anything serious!

Freedom