How I got my gerbil Prince.

[mygerbilprince]

So I was going to get a gerbil but it was the day after Christmas, so most of the pet stores were sold out! I wound up driving 1 hour to a Petsmart for the only gerbil left to be loner. I felt bad and drove all the way there so I took him and named him Prince. When I got home my father came over to help me get Prince settled in, so we were just putting in some treats in the tank when my elbow accidently hit the carrier Prince was in off the table an don to the floor! The lid popped right off and Prince started running around my room! My dad was like "I've heard some people pick their gerbils up my their tails." I was like "NOOOOOO DON'T YOU DARE DO THAT!!!" So finally my dad caught Prince in the sleeve of his sweater but then Prince leaped out, ricocheted of my leg and landed safely on the ground again. My dad caught Prince and this time Prince climbed up my dads sleeve into his shirt! From there my dad rushed over to the tank pulled up his shirt and Prince plopped into the tank. It was a very stressful day, but luckily Prince is ok other than being slightly traumatized! He refuses to go in the carrier I had him in when he got loose! Prince isn't depressed anymore though so I am glad I adopted him, it makes me sad that someone bought his partner and not both of them and it makes me angry that a Petsmart employee sold someone one gerbil but not the other! Yes I know I am a bad gerbil owner for knocking him off the shelf but I promise he is ok. 

[Markpd]

Well it was only a mistake, and he's alright so that's good, and he's in a happy home .

Made me lol when I read he climbed into your dads sleeve!

Is he still by himself? (apologies if you've discussed this before, my memory sucks!)/

Btw, Gerbils can be picked up by the tail despite what some websites say, but it absolutely must be picked up by the base of the tail only or their is a risk of de-gloving , and put on to your hand (or something) ASAP so they don't try and twist around and possibly hurt their back.
I think it's normally advised against because of the risk of a mistake by grabbing it in the wrong place, and it's not a very trusting/friendly way to handle them.
But in an emergency it's worth knowing that you can, e.g to stop them from say running outside? Or straight towards a cat? (the latter is unlikely though!).
It used to be common place to pick them like that in the 80s at least, no harm done. I used to do it regularly then without problems, but I don't now.

Did it once with Blake more recently (had them 5 mths) when he was panicking in the holding cage (Rotastak) when I was cleaning out their main cage for the 1st time. His brother had gone down to lower levels, but he didn't follow and was panicking even more , so I briefly grabbed him by the base of the tail to lift him and popped his head in the tube, then he went down and joined his brother (and he realised what the tubes were for, lol), he was somewhat better then . Although both of them were rather freaked out by the new cage (even though it had some of their old bedding in it). After that I let them access the holding cage whenever I took the lid off the main tank so they could get used to it, now Blake loves it and will 'ask' (peers at me from the top ledge, head tilted ) to come out to go there, and then bolts over to it! And recently Avon has been visiting it much more too.

Technically you could argue that wasn't really an emergency, but I didn't like to see my little baby (he was a little under 4 mths old) so stressed out , he was trying to force himself between the tube and the outer part of the cage!

[mygerbilprince]

Yes Prince still lives alone, he is about 3 years old so we didn't want to stress him out with a new tank mate. Yes I know that the base of the the won't detach but to be safe I just avoid picking them up by the tail in general. We hade my door shut and I don't have any animals that aren't in tanks/cages. That's so cute how he "asks" to go into his other tank! I have a separate tank for my gerbils but they aren't thrilled about it! Prince still hasn't been tamed (which is not good!!!) so he will bite me if I stick my hand in his cage, so for transport I usually just trap him in his powder bath then I put him in his other tank. Yes I agree that you made the right choice by picking up Blake by the tail. I hate seeing my gerbils upset, especially Honeynut because he is the runt of the litter and is often, stepped on, tackled (which is normal because Hershey is the dominant one), rolled over on his tummy (also normal), and has sunflower seeds stolen (I make sure he gets them back!) by his brother and he makes the cutest little squeaks!

[Markpd]

Yea their squeaks are very cute and endearing , both Avon and Blake make little squeaks when the other is grooming them a bit too hard! lol (I guess).
Fair enough re tails.

Re your separate tank, if that's just a holding cage for when you clean their main one, perhaps you could make it a play area for them so they would get used to it? Especially if they can access it of their own will? That's why I put the Rotastak next to the main cage, it wasn't intended to be play ear for them, I just put it next to the main tank in the hope they'd explore it and get used to it, now it's Blake's favourite hide away and I have a job to stop him going there when I take the lid off!

Ah yea 3yrs is quite old, he's done well , too old for intro'ing really.

[mygerbilprince]

I would try to put Prince with another gerbil but if it doesn't work out I would feel bad bringing it back and I don't have space for another gerbil. They like their other tanks as long as I change up the tubes, otherwise they get bored. Only problem is gerbils are so curious it's hard to change the tubes fast enough! LOL

[Markpd]

Lol

It's generally advised not to try to intro 3yrs and older Gerbils as it can be too much stress for them.