Lethargic gerbil :(

[LauraMarie]

On this past Wednesday, I bought a gerbil and my husband bought two dwarf hamsters. (We are housing them in separate cages but in the same room.) My husband's dwarf hamsters have adjusted really well, but my gerbil seems pretty lethargic. She will play for maybe 20 minutes and then go back to sleep, whereas the hamsters are awake for hours at a time. My gerbil is also not using her wheel at all and doesn't seem to be drinking water (I know they are desert creatures though, so maybe this is ok?). She is eating and seems healthy - bright eyes, shiny coat, etc - just very lethargic. Also, when she does play, it's with much more jerky, scared movements than the hamsters, and she'll run back to her "home" frequently.

My first thought is that I should have bought one of her sisters when I bought my gerbil - I've read a lot since then that seems to say they should be kept in pairs. (There were three of them at the pet store, though, so unless I buy all three, at least one of them will be alone!) At this point (five days after I bought her), is it too late to introduce one of her sisters to my new gerbil's cage? I went back to the pet store today intending to buy one of her sisters, but one of the clerks said that the cage has already been marked as my gerbil's territory and if I bring in a new gerbil, my gerbil will kill her. Is this true?

What should I do at this point? Buy a sister? Buy both sisters? Give my gerbil more time to adjust to being on her own? I have a cage that could pretty easily be split, maybe even into threes (I've seen suggestions of doing "split cage" techniques to introduce gerbils to each other...). I don't want my gerbil to kill another gerbil (or be killed!), but I don't want her to have a miserably lonely life as my pet, either!

[johanne]

The very best thing you can do for your gerbil is to thoroughly clean out her tank, put in a divider and fresh bedding, and bring home one of her sisters. You'll need to follow the instructions you've seen for split cage introductions for at least a few days. Before long you will have a very happy pair of gerbils

[esztershine]

Also if she does not seem to drink, have you checked if her water bottle is not blocked?
I did this mistake years ago before I realised and 2 days gone without them being able to have a drink good job I spotted it!
She will be skittish as she is on her own. no reassurance. A little friend introduced to her as Johanne suggested would be a great move.

[LauraMarie]

Thanks for the advice! As an update, I DID finally see her drink water (and the water level in the bottle is lower, too, finally!), so I think that part is better. Yay!

I'm going to go ahead and get of her sisters and split the cage. Let me just review how to do the split cage to make sure I understand everything correctly: after thoroughly cleaning the cage and adding fresh bedding, I'm going to (1) put in a divider. (2) Make sure there is food and water, chew toys, places to burrow/hide, etc on both sides of the divider. (3) Switch the gerbils between sides every few hours or so. (4) After a few days, remove the divider at a time that I can be nearby for a few hours to mKe sure they don't fight. If all seems good after a few hours, I can safely leave them alone?

Also, how hard will they try to get through the divider? My gerbil, despite having a plethora of chew toys, is already chewing on the plastic things in the cage (not very often, but if it was acting as a barrier and there was an animal on the other side she was trying to kill I imagine she could chew a lot harder...). What do you suggest using? Will a plastic divider work?

Thanks again!!!

[esztershine]

I would only put toilet rolls in or small cardboard boxes. Anything else, like a plastic tube or toy will get scent marked, and there will be 'It's mine! Let's sort it out!' attitude which you dont want.
Switching them a few times a day is good, make sure they sleep in the other side from the night before.
Use a wire mesh for the devider, you can buy it in home and garden outlets. for making the mesh there are lots of threads to read and do research on this forum, under introduction.
If the other lady you bring home is indeed a sister, they may remember each other's smell, as I read on this forum, which will make things easier.
They probably will try to get through the mesh, but if it is done properly they cant. Mainly there should be positive interactions through the mesh, kissing, calm behaviour for great results.

[LauraMarie]

Thank you again! I can see this will be a bit of a project (I am not great at construction type things), so I have my next few days' work cut out for me!

One final question - I've also been reading stuff about declanning, or other processes where gerbils who lived together suddenly start attacking each other. Assuming my split cage reintro goes well, is there ever a point when I can stop worrying about them attacking each other? Or will it be that every time I hear squeaking for their whole lives I should check them to be sure they aren't attacking each other? I ask because my job has really erratic hours and there are days I'm gone for 15 hours - will I have to worry they might kill eaxh other in my absense? Or does declanning usually not happen overnight?

[esztershine]

I would not worry about declanning yet. Concentrate on the split, how to do it, what to look out for and the behaviour, how it goes. Then when you intro them you will see how they get on. just read and learn about split/intros from this forum and find that sister

[johanne]

If they have enough bedding (about 6 inches is good) in the split tank, they won't need toys or anything to hide in that may be marked and slow down the introduction process, as Eszter mentioned.

The vast majority of gerbils live together very happily with their cagemates for their whole lives. Declanning isn't that common. It's most likely to happen if they're short on something... water bottle jammed, lacking food, tank too small, etc. And even then you'd see signs of tension growing between them as they get increasingly frustrated. You'd probably hear aggressive chasing and squeaking for some period before they actually fought. You'd have lots of time to separate them if it came to it.

But it's really not something you need to worry about. Gerbils normally love their cagemates and get along extremely well.

[banana3685]

I've just gotten into trying split cages and for me they've worked. Unfortunately, the little guy I was going to have live with another gerbil died before I could complete the split-cage process, but his surviving cage mate was ready for the divider to be up (trying to sniff, not fighting when divider was removed, etc). He died from being paralyzed (??). It was something genetic since I got him and two previous gerbils (that both died after 1 day and another after 1 week); now I am trying again with the surviving cage mate and a healthy gerbil.
Anyway, I have used an old cage lid bent to fit diagonally across and duct taped the mesh so they couldn't climb over it on both sides. Now I am using a fish tank divider and they have made no effort to get over it or chew it. Providing alternate chewing options has worked for me.
Back when I was young and had guinea pigs, I remember reading that coating their cages with lemon juice helps them stop chewing on the bars. (Those little stinkers love to beg). I don't know if it'd work for gerbils though or if it would be safe.

[LauraMarie]

Thank you all so much for your help and advice! It's been really helpful and I'm definitely going to keep reading and learning things on this forum!

Sigh...I wish the pet store had given us even 1/10 of this information. I made so many mistakes in the cage type, what kinds of things to put in the cage, even what to buy (buying 2 gerbils originally and only one hamster would have been WAY smarter than the other way around!!!) Clearly this is our fault for not reading more before we bought them...but we did have hamsters and gerbils when we were kids and I don't remember this being nearly so complicated!

The good news is that my gerbil is definitely more active and alert than she was the first few days - I know she'll get even better once she has a sister, but I'm really glad she got over the rough adjustement period and doesn't seem so sad and scared!!