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Post by laurdd37 on Apr 5, 2021 17:11:42 GMT -8
At the pet store I work at we had a gerbil who was very aggressive and would attack your hand anytime you put it in the enclosure. He had been bought and returned once already so I decided I would take him home because I didn't want that to happen to him again. I bought a second gerbil with him and they're getting along fine. But he is still very aggressive towards me. I wear gloves if I have to reach into the tank for more than a few seconds because he will latch onto your hand and not let go. Any advice on how we can overcome this? Not sure what to do.
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Post by tanzanyte on Apr 6, 2021 7:31:34 GMT -8
Welcome to the forum laurdd37That's such a lovely thing to do rather than having him go to numerous homes. It's great that he is getting along with his new cagemate so well too. I know there are others more experienced in this, although I do have a couple of questions if that's ok? How long have you had him? Also does he behave the same if he is outside of his cage on more neutral territory? What have you already tried?
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Post by laurdd37 on Apr 6, 2021 19:42:25 GMT -8
It's only been about a week. He seemed calmer here at first than he was at the store. I'm trying to go slow with it, haven't tried handling him or anything. The only thing I've tried is to feed him from my hand with a glove on and he sniffed at first but then latched onto my finger pretty hard. Since then I can't really put my hand in the tank at all without him racing right over. So at this point I was just going to back off and only do things that are essential for a while.
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Post by tanzanyte on Apr 9, 2021 11:02:35 GMT -8
I think you're doing everything right and it will be a slow process. It may be worth rubbing your gloved hand through their bedding. Maybe take some of their bedding out and leave some in a box and put the gloves in with it so that the gloves smell more normal to them.
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Post by Markpd on Apr 11, 2021 8:47:44 GMT -8
Wow! Crazy gerbil! I have occasionally heard of gerbils like that, my friend's daughter's gerbil was like that apparently, but a lot calmer now I'm told. Good of you to take on a tricky gerbil . And like tanzanyte says, sounds like you're doing it right going easy with him. Hopefully in time he'll chill out. Keep us posted .
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