Accidentally got fat tailed gerbils

[cat]

Hi,

I'm completely new to gerbils! I really missed animals about but am living in a rented apartment (with 1 flatmate) and am out Mon to Fri from 8ish to 7pm (work) - so a dog's def out! I thought gerbils sounded perfect - content in pairs, sociable with humans, not fully nocturnal like hamsters, don't smell, short lifespan 2-3 yrs, curious, active etc.

I mentioned it to my boyfriend (Tom), researched a bit more, but pretty much decided against it as a daft idea. Tom mentioned it a few wk-ends later tho, convinced me to ask my landlord & said why don't we go look at some. So at the 3rd pet store we found them; they were sleeping, the assistant handed us 1, it promptly started running around in our hand and along our arms - I was surprised to be allowed to handle it and impressed it seemed so happy & v friendly esp after being woken! They were fat tailed gerbils which I'd ruled out of getting purely because I wasn't particularly fond of the tail (I'd therefore researched nothing further about them specifically & as the shop assistant handed them to us when we asked for gerbils I assumed they were identical bar the tail - D'oh!).

My landlord hadn't replied by the time we arrived home & tbh I hadn't fully decided myself. Tom was pretty interested tho & said worst case they could stay in his place. His enthusiasm was infectious so I very stupidly said ok. We knew there were 'normal' gerbils at 1 other pet store but I agreed that we'd handled & liked the fat tailed gerbils we'd seen & the look of the tail really wasn't a big deal.

Sooo....off we went, bought the gerbils + food, bedding, toys, water bottles etc. They stayed at my boyfriends for 2weeks (the landlord took a while saying yes!). They woke up & became super active each night around 11pm - he didn't get much sleep those 2wks! They moved in with me yesterday.

I just started googling tonight to see if I could change their sleeping habits (so I actually get to interact with them!) and also if there was a reason for their lethargy much of the time. It's only now that I've realised fat tailed gerbils are v different to the more common gerbil & are less curious creatures, more like hamsters.

They love the wheel & both run like mad on it & completely re-arrange their home but are only active during night hours & that's only 8hrs max a day! We've had 2full wk-ends with them & during the day they really only get up for 10minutes at a time a couple of occasions a day.

I'm really kicking myself for getting the wrong type of gerbils, Tom figures it's simple - bring them back to the store & swap them. They've already moved home twice & I'd feel guilty as sin abandoning them. So basically I'm hoping I can get some opinions from people who've already owned fat tailed gerbils, it would be really great to hear from people that have owned both types of gerbils - are they really that different? I'm imaging over 3yrs of feeding & otherwise caring for creatures that I never see awake, and are completely dis-interested. I would do this but I obviously hoped to enjoy their company, play with them and think of new fun things for them to enjoy.

Thanks,

[maya]

Keep them. I got one fat tale gerbil and one thin and both are both lovely, even though one sick now-not sure why-read sick gerbil (it's a thin tale one, now all thin, poor thing). The advantage of have a fat tale is that their tale gives them a great support while doing their biting mischieves. You can change their sleeping patterns if you gave them some sort of motivation to get up in the morning to do certain things or evening when you get back and took those over night away. They'll get used to it and will work it out that the motivational toy or so is available only during the day, evening. Othervise there is not much difference between fat and thin tale. Both can be well trained to know their names if you give them treat while calling them. Both active friendly, handling helps with getting used to a person. They may be less active now as they changed the house and when they are little stressed they tend to sleep a bit. Give them some treats, talk to them and don't allow them to sleep when you come home. Let them running in your place or get a running ball. :-) Maya

[cat]

Hi Maya,

Thanks so much for the reply. Delighted to hear you've had experience of these little guys and they're not too different - phew! Sorry to hear about your sick gerbil though, hope he's getting better.

I've decided to leave mine in peace for a few more days, they had a fight tonight - very worrying! They don't interact much, never groom each other etc, tho they do sleep together - really hoping the fight was a once off, maybe they're still stressed with move or me!

They're such cute little guys, Tumble always comes out first and is pretty happy to munch food off me. lol he loves the wheel but is awful at it, flips over and falls out within a few secs, dives back in straight away tho. The other guy's bigger but a lot more skittish.

Thanks again for the reply, big relief

Cat

[maya]

Hi cat.
I'm glad you do tend to keep them. It's good to give them time to get used to a new place. Don't worry if they have little fight. They are probably just trying to establish the boss issue in the cage. My gerbils fight even after two years and sometimes the dominant gerbil looses for a day or two. Even now when Matya is unwell, Misha little bullies her, I don't interact much. It's their social thing, perhaps they enjoy quarreling occasionaly. They may also just play like any other mammals would, pulling each others ears and trying to trip another on back. But I remember I used to be worried about this too.
Anyway I hope they'll settle soon and you will have lots of fun with them.
Thanks for asking about my poor Matya. i think she is doing a bit better today and hope I'll sort what troubles her soon.
Maya

[ohmylokix]

Wait. I feel like I should call shenanigans(not on the OP).

Duprasi and Mongolian gerbils do not get along. You wouldn't have gotten one fat-tailed and one Mongolian.

[maya]

To Ohmylokix.
Well, then maybe you should advice cat if you know better..

[maya]

To cat. Sorry cat, i missed that you got duprasi, my fault. Anyway I used to have hamsters and have gerbils not the same litter. It all depends how much time you give your pets. I didn't have problem with either of them and have had lots of fun with my pets...
If you let it to them and leave them without attention in the cage, then they'll arrange their time and activities how they like. My gerbils would too dig all night because they felt safer as it was quiet at that time. I had to make efforts and come with ideas on my own to make them sleep overnight and do staff during the day, the same with hamsters. I have my pets in the room where I sleep because I rent place too. So if I didn't want to feel every morning like after a night shift then I had to take the biting staff out of cage for the night and put it back in the morning when I went to work. Slowly they got used to it and I managed to change their pattern. I also took them out when I came from work, woke them up if they slept by calling their names. My pets know name for food because I tought them. It helps to use something simple like here or come or yam yam. If they are not completely brainless rodents they'll pick it up. All the other advice maybe get from the people that have duprasi rather then gerbils...
But if you want some more ideas I'm happy to share...

[maya]

this is from website - hhgerbilry.com/gerbilcare.html
Gerbils also enjoy playing with each other. Common games include chasing each other around the cage and wrestling. Wrestling will sometimes look like the gerbils are fighting, but they usually aren't. The gerbils may stand on their hind legs, go nose-to-nose, and push each other around. They also will roll around the cage with each other. They may squeak when they are playing. The only time to be concerned about this is if you see blood or bite marks on any of the gerbils, or if two gerbils become rolled up in a tight ball (not to be confused with sleeping curled up next to each other) and are going for each others necks. Then they are fighting and should be separated immediately.

[cat]

Hi,

Thanks everyone for the responses. I rang the petstore to see if they had any advice and it turns out they made a mistake selling them as 'gerbils' & also at that price - I paid 10euro each, they should have been 35/40! They didn't know much about fat tails except that they do sleep a lot but were keen to get them back and swap me some Mongolian gerbils instead - I only had the option of doing this until Saturday I was attached to Tumble & Tubs by this stage esp Tumble but worried that Tubs was either bored/unhappy or pregnant! Finally I did swap them - I couldn't find information on anyone who had changed a Duprasi's sleeping patterns so I suspected either I'd never see them or I'd be half asleep in work.

As of yesterday afternoon I now have 2 Mongolian gerbils, massive difference to the Duprasi's, as soon as they got home they started chewing everything in sight. The second there's movement in the room they're awake too. Lol, they've also nipped a fair few times - ouch!

If I could possibly have kept the fat tails as well I would have, still wondering if I should have returned them. They were so sweet & gentle, never bit but the only thing that woke them outside their normal late nighttime hours was hovering alongside their tank and generally as soon as the hover stopped they were asleep again!! The fighting did also appear to be serious tho it only happened a couple of times.

Hopefully they find a good home, they'd be ideal for anyone who works later shifts. They're so gentle and sit happily on your hand and munch, super cute too - much smaller than the Mongolian gerbils & run together on a wheel!

Thanks again to everyone who responded

Cat

[maya]

Hi Cat. Sorry to hear that you swapped them. I hope they'll find the happy home. Sorry I couldn't gove you proper advice. Hope you'll like your new gerbils :-).