Failed Introductions for young females

[hender021]

Hello! I am fairly new to this community, but I am looking for help on introducing my gerbils.

About two weeks ago my oldest gerbil passed away and I wanted to get another for my remaining gerbil, Ash. (When I introduced the older gerbil and Ash, they immediately got along and I only needed the cage divider for a few days.) Ash is somewhere between 6 months and a year, and the new one, Raven, is about 4 months. I have them in a divided cage right now, and I’ve been swapping which side they are on about three times a day. After the first week of the divided cage, I saw some signs that they might be ready to meet each other, so I took out the divider. They got into a fight after about 5 minutes, thankfully neither of them were harmed and I put them back in the split cage.
For the second week I saw signs more often that they are getting more comfortable with each other but it was pretty spotty, some days where better than others I guess. I made a post on Reddit asking for suggestings about making the introductions go more smoothly. One comment suggested putting oil on them so they smelled the same, so I put coconut oil on them before I took the divider away. They got along for about 30 minutes before Raven started squeaking at Ash anytime Ash was next to her but was pretty comfortable when she was alone. I kept them together for maybe an hour, breaking them up anytime I felt like a fight would break out and rewarding them with treats when they got along. I had to leave for an hour or so and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving them together while I wasnt there so I put the divider back in. When I came home I took the divider out again and watched them. This time they were really good together, but only for about 15 minutes. They were just chilling next to each other and all of a sudden they got into a fight. I just decided to put the divider back in and keep doing the split cage for another week or so.

So I guess I have a few questions:
They are relatively young I guess, and I read that sometimes females take longer to get along. Is it possible that their age is causing the process to take longer? I guess I’m not sure how long I should be expecting them to be ready.
Part of me worries that they just may never get along. Am I giving up too soon? I hate to keep them in this divided tank with hardly anything to do for so long.
Should I get a differnt cage divider? Currently I’m using an aquarium tank divider. It’s got pretty smalls holes that maybe they just can’t smell each other through it very well, or even see each other very well. I see a lot online about the wire mesh dividers and how to make them, but I dont have the supplies or the skills to make one myself.
Is there anything else I can do to make them more comfortable and make any further introductions easier for them?

Anything and everything helps! Thanks!

[betty]

Hello hender021 - and welcome to the forum.

So yes, there are a few things that could be improved here to hopefully allow them more time to settle - and the first is the divide - it needs to be fully wire. A split between adult gerbils most likely won't work with any solid barrier. People have managed to do successful splits with a cage top inside another enclosure - but it is harder and unless you have the cage already, this might not be much cheaper than making a wire divide - but I suppose you could always reuse the cage or resell it afterwards (something you can't usually do with teh wire frame).

And as for giving up too soon - yes, sometimes female introductions can seem to go on so long - but the more times you keep trying them together, the longer it will go on, as every time they have a fight - you have to reset the split.

Sometimes to get females together I have done what I call a slow split - where I assume that it will take longer and so I stagger my processes over that new time frame. So for example - most tanks are the same depth, so I use my divide in a larger tank and allow them 'normal' things - basically like a permanent split and take it in stages. I think the expectation of time, allows me not to get frustrated and rush them (female gerbils can be a right pain!). So they spend the first week or so totally on their own side, but knowing the other one is there - and they will meet of course. Next step is to leave all the stuff in, but swap sides for a further week or so. Then gradually over the next few weeks, keep the separate sides, but gradually start to reduce the accoutrements and 'fun', and then the size (but keeping the bedding virtually the same with only 10/20% substrate changes and the same amount of top up).

Then when you think things are going well, switch mode into the intense split (no playtime, no treats, no toys, no nothing (except for a bit of nesting material) - and the three swaps a day.

Then choose a day where you are going to be home ALL day as the final day of the full split, and do a morning swap followed by about half an hour or so before removing the divide and destroy/ruffle up their beds and substrate. Be on hand with a pot or tub and some yummy treats and a fresh dust bath and around 10 minutes or so in, add some treats and normal food, then same again at another 10 minutes (something even more yummy), then if all is still well for half an hour add in the dust bath and watch for another 10. If all seems well they should be tired by now, so take out the dust bath and drop in some hay or straw for them the chew, and all being well, they will create a nest together from it and go to sleep in a big hug!!!

Obviously if at any stage of the intro they have a decent fight, put the divide back in and intense split for another week and try again.

There isn't a short cut unfortunately - and if only you had planned to be home all day before you tried the oil intro - it may well have worked early on, but now they have fought a few times, it might not be so easy.

Anyway - hope that helped, but you defo need bars not plastic for this to work with these two.