Leg and hair problem

[newtom]

Dear All,

I am glad to have found this forum and I hope I can find the right answers here. I am newbie with mongolians, I only had a hamster before who grew old and died last summer. Now I have two young mongolians (11 weeks old). Until three days ago everything was alright. They slept and played together, they were very nice to each other and to me as well. Then suddenly (they started to get "real men" these days) I found them in a bad condition. One of them misses now a stripe of hair on the back

[question 1] will it grow back? how fast?

and the other had obviously hurt his left rear foot. I took him out and checked his leg. I found no bites nor blood, nor signs of broken bones. Nevertheless, even now (after 3 days) he refuses to use that leg. I suspect that he got cought somehow in the cage or hurt his head (fallen onto it in the cage??? it has 3 floors).

[question 2] if a leg is broken will it be better? can a doctor help?

Thanks alot: NewtoM

[doomgerbiluk]

Gerbils are great at healing themsleves
gerbil breaks cannot be set but must be allowed to set and mend naturally
they generally mend with no problem, although tail breaks tend to leave ugly scar tissue lumps
Falls can cause the breaks but the lost fur is a little odd

[NewtoM]

Thank you! Anyway, will the fur grow back? Is it like our hair?

[paws]

Yup, It will. My gerbie Paws broke his leg, pulled all the fur off and when it grew beack pulled it off again. He is now growing it back again. It will take about a week.

[sweetie]

Hey Newt,

I am sorry to hear about your gerbil !!

If the house has 3 floors, it may not be the best habitat for them. Mongolian gerbils are desert animals that like to burrow. A 10 gal tank with Aspen shavings, Carefresh, or corn cob bedding is reccomended housing for 2 gerbils. A 20 gal for 3 or more.

Do you think they got into a fight or do you think one gerbil fell, got hurt, and being in pain does not want the other gerbil around?

Are they still in the same cage? Are they fighting? If they are still being aggressive, you may want to separate them!!

The hair will grow back with in a week and gerbils do heal fast. It may however not be a bad idea to take them to the vet. The vet may be able to check for infection and perscibe medication for him.

I hope you have found this helpful!! Please keep us posted!!
Also you can become a member for free which will allow you to view and post under every heading.

If they have any open wounds, you can use neosporine on it 2 X's a day.

[newtom]

Hi again,

thanks for the replies! The leg is now better (but still not 100%), the fur is still missing (hope it will grow back fast). I would like to post images of them, but don't know how ... And btw. how can I change my profile to include a small pic?

Thanks: NewtoM