Gerbil size difference...?

[Thea]

That's a good point, if Blake hasn't been very active that could be causing him to look a bit chubby. I doubt Pippa would be staying a good weight/size if she didn't go on the wheel so much (she does love her food)!

Thank you tanzanyte, I hope so! Are your girls still gaining weight/growing or have they stopped now? Just interested as they aren't much older than my girls.

[Markpd]

I don't think so, but as I mentioned somewhere , since Avon has been doing more digging, Blake has done less, also Blake no longer tries to jump up to the glass ledge when the lid is off (it's how they get to the Rotastak and sandpen). Although Blake has learnt to use my hand as a stepping stone

[Markpd]

Another update, Avon is still dead on 99g again, lol, and Blake has dropped to 104g , so I'm going to stick to this regime for now.

Avon ... date .... Blake
81g ... 24/11/20 .. 84g
81g ... 14/12/20 .. 83g
93g ... 12/01/21 .. 93g
93g ... 03/02/21 .. 92g
94g ... 26/02/21 .. 91g
98g ... 15/03/21 .. 95g
107g .. 06/04/21 .. 102g
(cut treats from 3 to 2 per day)
108g .. 20/04/21 .. 101g
112g .. 04/05/21 .. 105g
(cut feed to 15g/day, may have only been a tiny cut)
106g .. 18/05/21 .. 108g
99g ... 01/06/21 .. 107g
(cut feed to 12g/day, increased Avon's treats to 4)
99g ... 16/06/21 .. 107g
99g ... 30/06/21 .. 104g

[Markpd]

Today's weight, Avon 93g and Blake 95g, quite a drop! (I thought Blake looked more trim now ). But maybe from the stress of declanning??
I thought they might put on weight as each of them only has access to the wheel every other day, I guess that could still happen....

How are your girls doing Thea?

[tanzanyte]

Do you know if Avon has been blocking the food? It'll be interesting to see what happens with Blakes weight now that they are in the split.

I think with Avon having access to his wheel and Blake with his sand pen that they will run/dig most of it off, so hopefully it will keep them fairly static. I think you could do with a break and have one less thing to worry about whilst all of this is going on.

Has Blake been any easier to handle with him using your hand as a step? I know neither were particularly great with contact but wondered if this had changed recently?

As of 10/7 Max is now at 103g - he's a little porker and the heaviest he's ever been, whereas Pepsi hasn't increased as much and is 95g. I have reduced the food so there isn't so much left in their cage these days. Although they still seem to eat less than the girls, but they are a lot lazier than the girls.

Sorry I'm so late responding Thea, I haven't been very well so everything has had to take a back seat. Mymble is 77g and Little My in 88g. Mymble seems to be fluctuating around the same sort of weight whereas Little My just keeps steadily increasing. However Mymblebimble is always bimbling around so I don't think she will struggle as much with her weight. Have you noticed any steady increase in Pippa and Mali's weights?

[Thea]

Sorry I've been so inactive lately!

That's good that they've lost a bit of weight, but hopefully not from stress

Pippa and Mali are healthy and feel good weights - I really ought to weigh them both again! But Mali is around 60g so on the lighter side for sure but seems healthy, and Pippa is closer to 70g. They're still fairly young of course so I'm sure they'll gain weight more over time, as my other girls did.

[Markpd]

Good to hear about your girls, and yea it;s a good idea to weigh them regularly.

Jul 14, 2021 14:12:54 GMT -8 tanzanyte said:

Do you know if Avon has been blocking the food? It'll be interesting to see what happens with Blakes weight now that they are in the split.

I think with Avon having access to his wheel and Blake with his sand pen that they will run/dig most of it off, so hopefully it will keep them fairly static. I think you could do with a break and have one less thing to worry about whilst all of this is going on.

Has Blake been any easier to handle with him using your hand as a step? I know neither were particularly great with contact but wondered if this had changed recently?

As of 10/7 Max is now at 103g - he's a little porker and the heaviest he's ever been, whereas Pepsi hasn't increased as much and is 95g. I have reduced the food so there isn't so much left in their cage these days. Although they still seem to eat less than the girls, but they are a lot lazier than the girls.

Sorry I'm so late responding Thea, I haven't been very well so everything has had to take a back seat. Mymble is 77g and Little My in 88g. Mymble seems to be fluctuating around the same sort of weight whereas Little My just keeps steadily increasing. However Mymblebimble is always bimbling around so I don't think she will struggle as much with her weight. Have you noticed any steady increase in Pippa and Mali's weights?

Short replies as I'm meant to be going out!

Food is mainly spread over the platform and hut, with some on the top ledges, it wouldn't be possible for Avon to block off most of the food.

I've been swapping them daily from each side, so they at least get wheel access every other day (sand pen and Rotastak access is only temporary when cage lid is off), interestingly (in a not positive way) Blake thumps each time I swap him to where Avon was....

Blake still won't stay in my hand long, although sometimes longer than Avon, Blake is now easy to catch though as all I have to do is offer my hand and he jumps on it

[tanzanyte]

I hope you had a good time whilst out.
Could it just be that Blake's worried by the act of switching, rather than it being to do with Avon having been on that side?
The girls will regularly thump the moment they go back into their cage when I've picked them up.

Thats more promising on the taming front with Blake. Half the battle is catching them! I'm sure you'll be able to build on it. We've always given them a treat once we put them down, then we were able to give them treats whilst they were being held and they'd put in in their mouth and wait until they were home. Now the boys eat and clean whilst being held. You might find that the time increases given that they aren't getting contact with each other.

[Markpd]

Good question, I don't know TBH, nor do I know how I could determine that, any ideas?
Blake doesn't thump when I put him back in 'his' side.

And a good point about giving them a treat when their in my hand, I'll have to try that, thanks

Didn't go out in the end, it fell threw

[tanzanyte]

It is odd. You'd think he would thump with the move to whichever side when swapping if it was connected to Avon having been in it. Is it the side that the ruckus happened in?
I think the only way you could probably determine it would be to do more swaps, but I'm not sure if that would be too stressful just for the sake of an experiment.

Ours probably get more treats than they should, but the milk thistles seeds are good because they are so teeny and they love them so much they will wait around for them. The girls are allowing us to hold them more and will now eat in our hands, although they prefer the berry drops. Sometimes things that they eat too fast aren't always so helpful as you need them to forget that they are worried and be more interested in what you are giving them. We did have to dial it back a bit with the girls as they started getting spooked by the boys and so we were picking them up in a hide and giving them a treat and putting them down again so if he handling isn't going so great some days you could try this way.

That's a shame about your night out. Although it's happening quite a bit with the numbers having gone up hugely and so many are having to isolate. Hopefully it can be rearranged.

[Markpd]

It is odd. You'd think he would thump with the move to whichever side when swapping if it was connected to Avon having been in it.

He does, I think, although last night he didn't thump when switched .
They regularly nose 'kiss' through the divider btw, I think it's a friendly thing?

I can only swap them once a day (unless I did it twice in the evening), as they are normally asleep when I'm up early in the morning for work.
Good to hear you can handle your girls more

Last Saturday's cancellation wasn't about Covid thankfully, my mate had been fishing all day and been in the sun too much! lol

[Markpd]

Hmm, Avon continues to slowy lose weight, whilst Blake has levelled out (ish).
Weights since last posting them.

Avon - date - Blake
97 ... 22/7 ... 94
97 ... 28/7 ... 95
92 ... 11/8 ... 96
90 ... 25/8 ... 97g

Avon is getting harder to feed treats, sunflower seeds he refuses completely now! Mealworms he only takes if I drop them virtually under his nose (I've run out of Pumpkin seeds), he still loves Goji's (also now run out) which he took with relish, as he does raisins, but I don't want to give him too many of them. He's not making it easy for me!
As from tonight I've upped their feed to 14g/day from 12, I hope Blake doesn't put on too much weight!

Btw, so far the boys still seem to be getting on well again .

I forgot to say Thea, good to hear your gerbils are healthy 

[Thea]

Just thought I'd give an update on Mali if that's okay.

I'm always worrying about my gerbils, but especially Mali!
I weighed her the other day, and she was 58g. Basically hasn't gained anything for months (she's 11 months old now for reference) - although hasn't lost anything either, which is what I would mainly worry about anyway.

I know she's extremely light for her age, but is always bright and very active (more even than Pippa recently!). I'm just wondering if this could be a similar situation to the one you spoke about a few months ago, betty ?

May 14, 2021 16:14:55 GMT -8 betty said:

2: Small female gerbil - 100% healthy. I acquired a female gerbil off another breeder who had stayed quite small - even though not being a runt as a pup. She was always small and always under 60g. She never had any health issues and lived a nice long life - always small (and fiesty none-the-less). I find that slim small females tend to stay that way for at least the whole first year, maybe a bit longer. Bigger females are already big by 6-8 months.

Unlike before when she was not skinny but just a lot smaller than Pippa, she does seem to have grown a bit in length but is fairly slim. She's not 'bony' though - her spine isn't prominent or anything, and when I run my finger down her spine it doesn't feel bony at all like Storme's did when she had the internal mass - in fact, it feels much the same as Pippa's. She does look quite pup-like though, Pippa definitely looks more like an adult gerbil than her.

Just wondering what people's views are? She eats well for sure, I doubt Pippa isn't letting her eat because each time I feed them she's straight out, often before Pippa!

Something that *could* be making an impact on her weight is how often she uses the wheel. Up until August she had never used the wheel in her life, and now she uses it for what seems like hours every day/night. I know without it she'd probably still be slim, but I do wonder if that's something that could be keeping her weight stable instead of it going up.

----

Also, have you weighed your gerbils recently Markpd ? I know they aren't together anymore ( ) but wondering if anything more happened with their weights?

[Markpd]

Yea of course, it's your thread

Seeing as Mali seems active and healthy, maybe like you said, she is just small , doesn't sound worrying to me, but I'll let more experienced owners speak up on that.

And yea I'm still weighing my boys on a fortnightly basis, they seem to be stabilising around the mid 90s?
I'll compile the whole table from the thread here, with the latest data (UK date format).

Avon ... date .... Blake
81g ... 24/11/20 .. 84g
81g ... 14/12/20 .. 83g
93g ... 12/01/21 .. 93g
93g ... 03/02/21 .. 92g
94g ... 26/02/21 .. 91g
98g ... 15/03/21 .. 95g
107g .. 06/04/21 .. 102g
(cut treats from 3 to 2 per day)
108g .. 20/04/21 .. 101g
112g .. 04/05/21 .. 105g
(cut feed to 15g/day, may have only been a tiny cut)
106g .. 18/05/21 .. 108g
99g ... 01/06/21 .. 107g
(cut feed to 12g/day, increased Avon's treats to 4)
99g ... 16/06/21 .. 107g
99g ... 30/06/21 .. 104g (declanned this date!)
97 .... 22/7 ... 94
97 .... 28/7 ... 95
92 .... 11/8 ... 96
90 .... 25/8 ... 97
(increased feed to 14g/day, been unable to feed Avon 4 treats/day, he ignored them!)
92 .... 16/9 ... 99
93 .... 30/9 ... 99
95 .... 15/10 .. 96 (declanned again 3/10)
95 .... 27/10 .. 95
91 .... 10/11 .. 93

Mostly been able to feed Avon treats again, but only if I drop them in front of him, he won't take them from my fingers! lol

Curious the recent (slight) drop.

[catnut]

My Sophie was always small and slimmer, never skinny but i did worry about her and she wasn't much of a wheeler, she lived until she was just over 2 1/2 years old of a heart/lung issue and was with her sister Saphie her whole life(she was the one that bulked up later on). Some gerbils just are petite while others' bulk up more.