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Post by RitzieAnn on Mar 30, 2006 22:13:55 GMT -8
So, my gerbil Jason (had a litter with Pheonix in January) seems to be INCREDIBLY sensitive to temps. He was perfectly fine, in fact, Eric spent the night, and jason had to sleep in the livingroom because he was jumping and bounching off the tank walls.... smacking his waterbottle around, and hanging from the lid (by his feet, not his mouth) and just being NUTS... now, today he's cold and not moving. He did this before, in December... I put him on baggies of hot tap water... then he was fine. he was in a split cage, and the only one of my gerbils who was this way.
Now, he's in a split again, and has been for nearly a month, but he's lifeless again. I put my heating pad under part of his half of the tank, and ran it against one wall of it. I came home this evening, and he's sitting on his honches kind of standing up crammed in the corner of the tank... warming his butt, and his belly I guess! Now he's flip over in his famous "I'm dead" position on his back.... It's not cold in my room... he has food and water. I could still see food in his bedding! None of my other gerbies are like this.
I'm just beginning to worry about Jason! Last time he was like this... he pulled out with several toes chewed off. He did that himself! I haven't noticed him chewing his toes this time.... but I'm worried still!
Any thoughts?
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Post by RitzieAnn on Apr 1, 2006 4:06:25 GMT -8
Thank you everybody, for not replying, but Jason died. I kept him warm, and he was less than one year old. (I only know that because when i adopted him from a coworker, he was still molting.) Oh well... but if SOMEBODY could please give thoughts, maybe we can prevent a possible futrure gerbil from having such extreme sensitivity to temps. I don't even know if that was his problem or not.
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Post by whitmoregirl on Apr 1, 2006 4:48:03 GMT -8
Oh my gosh I'm so sorry Ritzie!!  I've never heard of a gerbil dying because of the temperature ... could he have caught something? Was the waterbottle working? It's such a shame he went; he was so young  I suspect maybe he had something wrong with him if he's done it before - keep a close eye on his children in case it is genetic  |
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Post by doomgerbiluk on Apr 1, 2006 5:10:41 GMT -8
It doesn't sound temperature related at all.
In fact for a gerbil to remove his own toes he would have to be in extreme pain.
I would suspect that your gerbil had a mental condition/brain deformation which led to his episodes of unusual behaviour and eventual death.
As for people not answering,. I suspect no one had an answer to this query.
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Post by RyanF on Apr 1, 2006 7:04:31 GMT -8
It doesn't sound temperature related at all. In fact for a gerbil to remove his own toes he would have to be in extreme pain. I would suspect that your gerbil had a mental condition/brain deformation which led to his episodes of unusual behaviour and eventual death. As for people not answering,. I suspect no one had an answer to this query. Indeed. Sorry that you had to lose him so early in life. (((hugs))) |
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caz
Member
Posts: 6,237
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Post by caz on Apr 1, 2006 8:23:44 GMT -8
As for people not answering,. I suspect no one had an answer to this query. To true sadly So sorry RitzieAnne, I had NO idea what the problem could have been I'm sure if someone had any idea of what the problem could have been, they would have posted some help... *hugs* Caroline |
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Post by meganb52 on Apr 1, 2006 8:48:35 GMT -8
There's really only one medical condition where the hormones in the body are out of whack to cause heat or cold sensitivities, and that is disorders of the thyroid. In hypothyroidism, the body can become sensitive to cold temperatures, because body metabolism is slowed way down by the malfunctioning thyroid. However, this is usually a disease of older animals, and I suspect, as others do, that there was something else going on making him sick. Maybe not necesarily a mental illness as Doom suggested, but some sort of systemic bacterial infection that wrecked havoc on his whole system (kind of like when you get the chills if you're really ill) and that's why he was preferring to seek out heat. Not all bacterial infections are transmitted from animal to animal, so I doubt it was something he 'caught' from a cagemate. He may have just been born with a weak immune system or something like that. I'm very sorry he died, and I hope I've been of some help to try and explain why he died.
-Megan
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Post by Ritzie being lazy on Apr 1, 2006 18:59:40 GMT -8
Well, I know that the frst time was temp related. I was December and We didn't turn on the heat until after that... then he got better, and every time we warmed him up, he got better... and then this time, I warmed him up, and he got better and was jumping around in his 'warming' cage, and was chewing on the bars and munching on food, then that night, he was cold again... and looked sad. I left him in the warming area, and that evening he was stiff. No, he didn't over heat... I was very careful to monitor the temp before I left him there...
Also, sorry, I didn't mean to be mad at you guys, but I've never had NOBODY reply to a health topic before. I was upset because he died, and I had hoped that somebody here would have insite so i could have saved him.... again.
His kids seem fine, and he never was sick with Pheonix... he had somebody to snuggle with... then I seporated them, and split him again and he got 'cold' and the same symptoms happened again. The heat is NOT on in our house, but even my 2 other single gerbils have never acted like this.
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Post by doomgerbiluk on Apr 2, 2006 2:00:08 GMT -8
Gerbils can cope with quite cool temperatures so agreed this is unusual.
With sick gerbils raising the body temperature by keeping them warm is always a good move, it does not mean they are ill through cold though.
One thing is certain, something else was going on. Sadly I do not think we can ever know what.
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Post by pepandmax on Apr 5, 2006 4:42:07 GMT -8
Also, sorry, I didn't mean to be mad at you guys, but I've never had NOBODY reply to a health topic before. I was upset because he died, and I had hoped that somebody here would have insite so i could have saved him.... again. To make you feel better, it was six hours between your first post and your second, and (at least where I live) it was six hours in the middle of the night. Anyway, what a shock. I've been there... especially when they're young... hang in there. Your other gerbs need you now. I agree with doom. Because Jason improved with the warmth doesn't necessarily mean that he was sick due to lack of warmth. From what I understand, warmth is necessary for sick gerbils so they don't waste energy keeping themselves warm. Maybe when Jason was warmed up, he could spend some of the extra energy on being crazy and silly. Maybe we'll never know. |
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