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Merry
Jul 25, 2021 13:48:26 GMT -8
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Post by gerbilord on Jul 25, 2021 13:48:26 GMT -8
Hi everyone, I’m very sorry to say that Merry has passed away earlier today. I don’t know what happened, she was absolutely fine only a couple of days ago but she curled herself up under her wheel for a rest, she looked peaceful and I don’t think she was in any pain. She was such a gentle girl, and she went way too soon. I will post a memorial thread tomorrow.
Sleep tight darling, I love you more than you could ever understand. x
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Merry
Jul 25, 2021 14:50:18 GMT -8
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Post by yeti218 on Jul 25, 2021 14:50:18 GMT -8
Oh poor merry. I'm so sorry
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Merry
Jul 25, 2021 15:43:44 GMT -8
Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 25, 2021 15:43:44 GMT -8
I'm so sorry gerbilord. I hope Pippin is doing ok.
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Thea
Member
Posts: 1,012
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Merry
Jul 26, 2021 7:25:11 GMT -8
Post by Thea on Jul 26, 2021 7:25:11 GMT -8
Oh I'm so sorry to hear that Rest in peace Merry.
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Merry
Jul 26, 2021 11:49:09 GMT -8
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Post by elsaandanna on Jul 26, 2021 11:49:09 GMT -8
Oh no I'm so sorry Hope you and pippin are alright gerbilord x Rest in peace Merry
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Merry
Jul 27, 2021 2:01:45 GMT -8
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Post by gerbilord on Jul 27, 2021 2:01:45 GMT -8
Thank you everyone, Pippin is ok, still eating, drinking etc and she does not look depressed as such, but she seems more scared than when she had Merry acting as her support, it’s like her confidence is wavering. I did a full cage clean yesterday to get rid of Merry’s scent so she might move on quicker, would any of you recommend bonding other gerbils with her or whether she is too old/fine on her own? I don’t want her to be lonely, and sleeping without Merry nested next to her seems to be quite strange and stressful for her, she doesn’t have any reassurances when she hears a noise from outside etc when she’s asleep so wakes up immediately to see what’s going on. Will this pass and she’ll get used to sleeping alone or is she going to be like this from now on? Yesterday she fell asleep on my hand which she would never normally do, so I wonder if she hasn’t been sleeping well in the cage alone so when she was with me, someone she knows, then she felt safe enough to sleep?
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Thea
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Posts: 1,012
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Merry
Jul 27, 2021 2:14:21 GMT -8
Post by Thea on Jul 27, 2021 2:14:21 GMT -8
Whatever your thoughts are I would say go with (because you can see her and we can't) - when I had Rolo alone she never seemed depressed at all but I do worry that she died younger than she should have because I didn't get her a friend after Storme. I would say I regret not getting Rolo a friend for sure, but only since her passing. There was a really special bond between me and her after Storme passed away and with Pippin sleeping on your hand it sounds very similar to what Rolo would do, which is the best bit They almost end up treating you as a clan mate, which is so lovely. But at the same time, we can never replace a gerbil, so if I were you I'd keep on the watch for any older gerbils to introduce but if she seems happy with you or you can't find any, she might be okay. So happy to hear that Pippin is getting on okay.
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Merry
Jul 28, 2021 1:48:13 GMT -8
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Post by gerbilord on Jul 28, 2021 1:48:13 GMT -8
Thanks for your help, I think I’m going to wait and see with Pippin, she’s already seeming so much better than a couple of days ago so I think she might be ok, but I don’t want her to be lonely, and although I love her, I don’t speak her language, and I can’t be with her 24/7. The bond you had with Rolo sounds really special, I do think Pippin is starting to consider me as her friend or companion, she keeps sleeping on me which is really sweet. Would an older gerbil bond well with her? I don’t have any experience with bonding but I thought two old gerbils might clash as they are both territorial? We were thinking two very young gerbils (almost babies) might bond best because she might accept them as her children, although this could obviously be wrong, I wonder if the two might gang up against Pippin, or it would be a situation like two against one…? Thanks again
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Thea
Member
Posts: 1,012
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Merry
Jul 28, 2021 3:32:37 GMT -8
Post by Thea on Jul 28, 2021 3:32:37 GMT -8
That's no problem That is so sweet about Pippin. I'm honestly not too sure on these things as I never have bonded gerbils (yet), I did get advised on them a few times but I just can't remember. Some told me that getting younger gerbils will annoy and tire the older gerbil but you can introduce younger gerbils to males (I'm not sure why, I think it was something about males being easier to bond generally), but others told me that it was better to introduce younger gerbils than older as you said. This advice wasn't all from this forum though, it was also just general things I saw online and on other pet forums, but I would trust the word of people who have introduced gerbils many times, perhaps someone like betty ? In my situation I actually had an opportunity to introduce another older gerbil to Rolo and I didn't take it. But other times I was going to get younger gerbils - my main worry was that it wouldn't work out and you generally can't get younger gerbils from a rescue, and I probably wouldn't be able to return them to the breeder (and to be honest I'd get to attached!) whereas if I got an older gerbil from a rescue, or at least the one near me, they would happily take them back if there were any issues. I have no idea which is actually better for females though, so I'm really sorry but I'll have to pass that on to someone else.
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Post by betty on Jul 28, 2021 7:37:18 GMT -8
Glad that she is settling down better now.
I think you need to go with your gut on this one perhaps moreso than other people's experiences - because it is very dependant on the female and a bit about her. I can't remember exactly how old she is either, sorry?
So adding a very young pup is always considered the easiest of course because the pup doesn't understand gerbil rules and so accepts the older one (Pippin) as a mother figure and will hopefully always stay that way.
Two pups like you say always starts off well for most older females - but can go wrong in a number of cases within the 6-12 month time frame where the girls mature and decide they don't need a mother figure anymore.
In both cases - the younger the pups the easier the bonding will be - but not sure it really affects the end result as I had 2 very young pups turn at 6 months.
An older female could be good too and has worked well for me before - but I always gave them much longer in the split. I started by assuming it would be 3 weeks minimum and so allowed them a slightly larger split at first with some of their own enrichment, then a few weeks in, I notched it up by reducing the size and taking out all the usual stuff and going hard at it for the last week. The only ones that didn't really work were gerbils who were previously mums.
However, if you have a REALLY old female who has slowed down - often they don't even care about the new one being the boss and so settle much quicker.
I was always lucky as I had so many enclosures and so many gerbils to choose from that perhaps chosing just the one version that HAS to work isn't such an exact science?
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Merry
Jul 29, 2021 12:08:58 GMT -8
Post by Markpd on Jul 29, 2021 12:08:58 GMT -8
Sorry to hear about Merry , at least she passed away peacefully. Good to hear Pippin's picked up now though. (betty, she's 2.5 yrs old)
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Post by gerbilord on Aug 3, 2021 3:05:12 GMT -8
Thank you Thea and Betty for your help, we've made the decision not to introduce any other gerbils to Pippin. She's getting on a bit and showing signs of age, her fur is getting a bit thinner, we don't think she'll live longer than a few more months sadly. I of course want her to live as long and as happily as she can but I don't want her last months to be filled with the stress of having to get used to other gerbils, especially if they decide they want to be the boss. Pippin's always been the bossy little madam and I don't know how she'd feel with other gerbils around, she's got the cage to herself now and I think she likes it like that. She's also getting on really well now, doesn't look lonely, she's got plenty of things to keep her busy in her cage and I have her out with me for a few hours every day to keep her entertained. On a more practical note, I don't have any spare cages that are suitable in case it didn't work out in the bonding (only a tiny little "carrier cage" as I call it - about the size of a pet shop cage, with no space for burrowing either.) so I don't know what I'd do in that situation.
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