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Post by Thelodar on Sept 29, 2020 13:28:37 GMT -8
They're both around 4 months old, new male is about a week older than Scotty. They seemed great in the split. Scotty stopped scent marking after day 2 or 3. New male would still do it very briefly after swapping (like three swipes across the floor). They slept in each other's nests. They'd greet briefly through the mesh after waking up but then move on. The mesh is 1/4 inch so they can't touch through it other than nose tips. Maybe wider mesh would have given me more info? It's very disheartening to have another failed split, especially with bloodshed. I'm also super bummed that I'll have to give this guy back to the breeder. He's sooooo nice.
Aggression was all Scotty. Pinned new guy down immediately. It looked like it might go ok for a couple of seconds, like Scotty was just asserting dominance and new guy was letting him. But as soon as new guy tried to push Scotty off he started biting. I got it on video, I'll post it later. I was hoping to film a successful intro, since there is currently so little video of what a good intro looks like out there.
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Post by Markpd on Sept 29, 2020 22:28:25 GMT -8
Doesn't sound good , but I'll let LilyandDaisy, betty and catnut et al speak on this as I have no experience with it. How long had they been in the split cage before the intro btw?
Afraid I can't remember what Gerbils you have, but would you be able to pair up that new male with another you have?
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Pim
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Post by Pim on Sept 30, 2020 11:42:51 GMT -8
Would you try the new boy with scotty's dad?
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Post by Thelodar on Sept 30, 2020 13:30:16 GMT -8
You know I hadn't even considered that. I think I'd written Liam off, but maybe I'll give it a go. He's 3, but in good health and very active. It could work! I'm going to use my split for a pair of females right now (got a girl for Scotty's mom) and let the new guy's face heal but then perhaps I'll give it a go.
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Post by Thelodar on Sept 30, 2020 13:33:54 GMT -8
Doesn't sound good , but I'll let LilyandDaisy, betty and catnut et al speak on this as I have no experience with it. How long had they been in the split cage before the intro btw? Afraid I can't remember what Gerbils you have, but would you be able to pair up that new male with another you have?
Only 9 days but everything looked good so I thought it'd be fine. The breeder says he rarely even uses splits for his males. I would never introduce without a split, but did think it would be quick with the boys.
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Pim
Member
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Post by Pim on Oct 1, 2020 14:27:16 GMT -8
You might just have a aggressive guy. My clover is like that. he is a darling with me but with other gerbs just seems to be so defensive and aggressive. Unfortionaltly this might be due to the fact that he had no sibling to play with and learn normal gerb behaviors from. I found clover all alone in the shop and tried to split him to my lone male. Didn't work even after a 3 month split. Best thing to do might be a permeate split or just keep him alone with lots and lots of playtime!
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Post by betty on Oct 2, 2020 6:45:39 GMT -8
Yes, some gerbils are just not gerbil-friendly for whatever reasons - but it isn't very common at all in my experience. I have only had 2 female gerbils who just didn't seem to bond easily with other gerbils and had many failed attempts - but between me and another breeder who had a unique way of bonding gerbils - we paired them up and all seemed well for 6 months.
One pair stayed together until they died - but the one who ended up in a trio didn't work out, and they ganged up on her real bad. (That was my last ever unrelated trio split by the way - I won't ever do it again after that). She recovered thank goodness and we just kept her alone - she was so people friendly you wouldn't believe it.
However, the pair who beat her up so bad were absolutely so people-friendly too (and super intelligent (like the raptors in Jurassic Park!)) - and they stayed in their own pair right to the end - even though they were always tense as a clan.
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Post by Thelodar on Oct 2, 2020 12:11:11 GMT -8
I definitely don't want to quit on Scotty yet, mainly because he's so young. It would be a shame for him to be alone his whole life. The breeder is very happy to work with me and try different males until we find one he likes. I'm wondering if a baby might work better, but also worry he'd be more able to hurt it. He wasn't violent towards his Dad like this, but was...odd. The behavior did seem somewhat confrontational but also fearful. He was also much younger when he met his dad so maybe not capable of violence yet.
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