Diary: Temujin and Ogedei

[suy]

Sept 13, 2020 23:35:35 GMT -8 LilyandDaisy said:

Ogedei could have an allergy to the bedding or nesting material. You said you were using hay so that might be the first thing to exclude as others have had issues with it.

It might help to remove all but one of the houses and hides, so they only have one place they can nest. I had a similar issue with Rocket and Storm, when they started sleeping separately so I left them just one large house and they started nesting together again.

What kind of sand bath do you have? If it's a jar with a narrower entrance you could see if an open dish or one of the chinchilla bath houses with two entrances helps.

Thanks! They seem to be chilling now in the big house, now I’ve removed the coconut hide. I’ve removed as much of the hay as I could.

The hay answer makes sense, as I had lined their nest with it, and they must have removed all of it as it was gone when I opened it up after a week.

Thankfully Ogedei is looking more inquisitive as the morning has progressed. I’ll see how he goes without the hay.

[suy]

Ogedei’s nose hasn’t fully cleared up. Got some new bedding arriving, recommended by Lily & Daisy.

One issue I’ve noticed is dominance issues. I’m pretty certain that Ogedei was the dominant one. He appears to have lost some weight, and on occasion “loses” the playfight, ends up on his back. He clearly doesn’t like it, and jerks until he’s free. After which, Temujin tries to mount him, and Ogedei runs away.

Just keeping an eye on the situation. I’ll need to prepare a split just in case.

I can’t hear any clicking breathing from Ogedei yet. But thankfully he doesn’t seem lethargic, so hope it isn’t a serious infection.

[betty]

It's been another week - how are they doing now suy - is Ogedei still losing weight?

[suy]

Thanks for following up.

Ogedei’s weight is still stable and chubby. I’ve had to make a lot of changes, because of the allergies/bedding issue and I wasn’t happy with the layout. So I’ve been feeding them their normal amount most days, as food definitely calms them down.

Thankfully Ogedei’s nose is mostly fine, although one day it flared up ever so slightly, but cleared quickly.

The Small Pet Select bedding is going well. Also did my first shop from Rodipet.

Firstly, I think it was Lily and Daisy who mentioned Rodipet’s main gerbil feed. It looks really high quality with lots more variety than the Gerry Gerbil stuff. Also, def took a lot longer fussing over their food. I think we have a keeper!

Also, tried their Miscanthus bedding, which they recommend for small rodents with allergies. It looks similar to hemp, but I didn’t see any dust whatsoever. when I shake it up. Also, my air filter’s allergen sensor doesn’t kick off for as long when I used it. Although, I really liked it, Temujin immediately started putting paper bedding over it in the corner where I placed some to try out. Definitely going with a mix of the two for the future.

Also, got some natural wood and bedding topping I want to try out too. The topping has lavender, which studies suggest decreases anxiety in gerbils.

I also got some Rodipet stilts for their house, so it props up 6 inches higher and thankfully fits the GetZoo house. Their house didn’t have a bottom, so when it was on the glass floor before, they began using it as their toilet and abandoned it as their hide. This should hopefully fix the problem.

About a month in, and I think we’re more or less happy with the setup. It has been a very expensive process(!), trying out 4 types of bedding, 3 types of food and different toys and layouts. I’ve made some expensive mistakes which I’ll def write about soon.

One thing is happening, in that Ogedei rams his head into the bedding touching a wall or the glass. It’s like he’s looking for a place to dig, but isn’t digging in the 8 inches of bedding I’m providing in another part of the tank. Could be anxiety because of the recent changes as I haven’t seen him do it today, but worried it could be boredom. Hopefully some more bedding, new bedding topping and more cardboard to chew will help.

[LilyandDaisy]

Thanks for the update. It's so good to hear Ogedei is doing better. My gerbils love the Rodipet food too.

Lavender is generally safe but as it has strong oils there's a possibility it might aggravate Ogedei's nose. I would introduce when nothing else is new so you know if it causes problems.

In terms of the head ramming, all gerbils do that when burrowing and it seems like it has a purpose, perhaps to compact the bedding to help tunnels stay up. Some gerbils seem to do it slightly excessively and repetitively. If it's some kind of anxiety behaviour in Ogedei's case, distractions like cardboard should help.

[suy]

Thanks LilyandDaisy.

I’m glad that the head ramming thing is generally normal, but will keep an eye on it in case it’s still happening a lot.

And def will try the lavender carefully to see how they respond. Going much slower introducing new things. I’ve learned my lesson!

[Markpd]

Good to hear the updates

I've noticed Blake 'bull dozing' to ram/shove loose substrate out of the way.

Btw re Rodipet Gerbil food, is this the one you guys mean?

[LilyandDaisy]

Sept 25, 2020 11:39:35 GMT -8 Markpd said:

Btw re Rodipet Gerbil food, is this the one you guys mean?

Yes, that's the one. The Junior and Senior versions are actually exactly the same.

[Markpd]

No way! Seriously? That's not what they're making out in the ad! Lol, something about more fibre for the seniors and more protein for the juniors......

[LilyandDaisy]

Actually looking at it again I think the gerbil foods are different (marginally). I was thinking of one of the other foods where the Junior and Senior are the same (which they say in the listing).

[Markpd]

Ah ok, fair enough.