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Post by zb on Aug 5, 2020 12:22:59 GMT -8
Newbie gerbil owner here. A bit of background: I’ve now had my gerbil brothers for just over 3 weeks. They are now 11 weeks old. I got them from a local breeder. I have a Skyline Falco cage filled with about 20 cm of aspen/paper bedding in the tank part. Wooden ladders up to a cage topper with water bottle, food bowl, 20cm silent spinner, wooden chew toy chained to bars (1st floor) and house and permanent sand bath (2nd floor).
I feel they’ve settled in pretty well. They don’t let me pick them up yet and at first they spent all their time in a burrow apart from at night, but now they seem to schedule being up and about with when we’re at the table eating our meals. Bruno, who seemed the more dominant gerbil from the getgo was braver and coming out the most, always scent marking and would always be willing to take a treat from my hand. Ziggy was more elusive and rarely came out.
On Sunday I did a full clean out for the first time whilst they were out in their play pen and I replaced the bedding In their cage. I put a few handfuls of the original bedding in with the new. When I put them back in they set up a completely different tunnel system with their burrow in a different place (they never sleep in the upstairs house).
However this clean out does really seem to have shaken things up. Ziggy the previously submissive gerbil now seems way more confident and is now out and about all the time! This is great, but now Bruno keeps hiding away. I wouldn’t be too concerned except Bruno has quite a big patch of fur missing around one ankle and a tiny bit missing on his nose. I don’t know what’s caused it. I suspect the most likely explanation is that it’s unrelated and he may have rubbed it away/got it caught in chain on chew toy so I’ve now removed that. Ive seen a bit more pushing each other about as now Bruno doesn’t always get to have the sand bath/house for eating in to himself but not fighting. I’m paranoid about declanning. Is it possible this is in the offing as they seem to have swapped personalities? Any thoughts on the leg? Thanks - have checked for mites, don’t thinks so.
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Post by Markpd on Aug 5, 2020 15:58:47 GMT -8
Afraid I can't help as I've only had my pups 3 days! But, I'm sure help will be here soon. I'm posting here because this has got me worried! lol (as well as interested). Although strangely with my pair, the nervous one has been displaying dominance (mounting) over the braver one!! Hope it's just a temporary wobble!
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Pim
Member
Posts: 346
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Post by Pim on Aug 6, 2020 8:51:49 GMT -8
Have you seen them fighting at all? Is there any way that the missing fur could have been Ziggy bullying him? that might not be the case but just trying to cover all the bases. Did you leave some old bedding in when you cleaned? how are they doing now?
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Post by zb on Aug 6, 2020 9:17:55 GMT -8
Thanks for the replies. I have seen a little squabbling over the use of the sand bowl which I had never witnessed before (if it happened) because Ziggy would always hide away. But no fighting or anything I would describe as bullying. Today they seem to have been out and about equally so hopefully all is well. I can’t get to the bottom of the missing fur though. Ziggy could have done it overnight but equally Bruno could have done it to himself or a cage injury? It looks sort of ‘stripped‘ of fur all the way round the back right foot/ankle in a perfect circular band. I have a photo now but trying to work our how to post it...is it still imgur I need to sign up for?
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Post by zb on Aug 6, 2020 9:18:56 GMT -8
Oh and I did put some of the old bedding in when I cleaned the cage but probably about a sixth of the total.
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Post by Markpd on Aug 6, 2020 13:58:31 GMT -8
Yea use imgur, then copy the 'direct link' from the various link options and paste to (I think) image link icon in 'reply', (which would be advanced reply in every other forum on the planet!) not 'post quick reply'.
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Post by zb on Aug 6, 2020 21:24:53 GMT -8
Thank you. If you zoom in on Bruno’s right foot here you can see the missing fur. It’s a bit camouflaged with the substrate. i.imgur.com/kfT6JbQ.jpgThen this one shows a small missing spot on his nose i.imgur.com/MSXdsGI.jpgThis one shows their setup - I wonder if it is possible he got caught in the sweet corn chain? I have moved this now. i.imgur.com/FjnICgF.jpgHere are Bruno and Ziggy happily together. i.imgur.com/GghSx4X.jpgIf Ziggy is not responsible for the missing fur is a moult possible? Or could it be the stress of first arriving here/first clean out?
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Post by Markpd on Aug 6, 2020 22:08:49 GMT -8
If you put the links in using the 'insert image' icon in 'reply' then we can see the photos here, let's see if I can do it with your links.....
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Post by Markpd on Aug 6, 2020 22:13:13 GMT -8
Cute Gerbils btw I can't see how that chain would've caused it.... Nice cage btw , though they could benefit from deeper bedding for (bigger) burrows (looks like less than 20cm on the right 1/2?)
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Post by zb on Aug 6, 2020 22:19:10 GMT -8
Oh thanks so much, I’m doing it on my phone and am also quite useless so couldn’t find the right way of posting 😂
I saw from one of your other posts that your two came from Claire in Ash Vale, mine did too we are in Guildford 😀
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Post by Markpd on Aug 6, 2020 22:23:48 GMT -8
You're next door! , I live in Ash, my father lives in Guildford and I was in Guildford from 1984-2002. The 'reply' button (for advanced options) is on the right hand side of the blue bar in the 'quick reply' button. Just thought, our Gerbils might be closely related!
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Post by betty on Aug 7, 2020 5:08:14 GMT -8
Sometimes a moulting gerbil will look like they are wearing tiny spats on their feet throughout - is it defo hair LOSS of is it just different coloured hair can you tell?
The patch on the nose looks more like a rubbing incident - probably from chewing a wooden house or similar?
Also, young gerbils always seem to play silly beggers in a fresh sandbath - it must trigger something in them to do a bit of face-slapping. Not sure why - it must just feel good on their feet?
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Post by zb on Aug 7, 2020 13:33:59 GMT -8
Thanks. Yes the hair on his foot is definitely missing rather than a different colour so probably not moulting? I agree the spot on his nose may have rubbed away somehow with overzealous play. Hopefully it’s the same with his foot and it will grow back.
Yes maybe they are related then Mark?! And that photo of the bedding is from the day I got them - it’s deeper all over now. Although weirdly they like to make one corner shallow with a bit of cardboard over the top and sleep right on the bottom of the tank. Out of interest...I am currently buying aspen and paper bedding from small pet select online which is nice but super expensive. Which substrate are you using? Hope yours are settling well.
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Post by Markpd on Aug 7, 2020 17:01:16 GMT -8
I'm going to ask Clare my Gerbils parents name, if you do the same maybe we could find out . Re sleeping on the bottom of the tank, not doing that only on hot day/nights are they? I bought a 15kg bale of 'Hempbed', err hemp bedding for £20 from ebay, although I see it's slightly cheaper now! It's made by a firm in Canada. Smells quite pleasant, but not strongly so, it did have some dust come out from it when I poured it in, but bear in mind I poured in about 3/4 of the bale in one go! So with that in mind I don't think it was too dusty, and I've not seen any bad reactions from the Gerbils to it yet. And they seem to enjoy digging in it! Oh, and it holds burrows without any extra substrate (I did pack it a bit), though it is better with extra material. I am thinking of buying Aubiose from Rokers in Worplesdon next time, local, so no delivery charge, much cheaper at ~£10 for 20kg! , although I'm not certain what it's like, it is a well known brand. Oh, I also put in some hay, and of course plenty of cardboard, although, except for the tubes they haven't buried, they've hardly chewed any of it! I was getting worried they weren't chewing enough, so I out more tubes in and another box, this time they trashed them pretty quickly after using them as toys/hideouts for a few hours . They seem to be getting on well, Blake worked out the ramps Wednesday night, yay!, not sure about Avon and the ramps yet.
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Post by Markpd on Aug 9, 2020 4:35:26 GMT -8
zb My pups parents names are Fudge and Judi Dench! lol
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