Lone gerbil?

[g]

Hello,

This is my first post. Let me first say I am an adult and am looking to adopt gerbils for myself, not a child. I have never had gerbils but have done plenty of research about their care and know that the rule/recommendation is that they be kept in groups.

This is the situation: There is a lone female gerbil up for adoption at my local animal shelter. She was surrendered for behavioral issues that I assume is related to her behavior toward other gerbils. (I have emailed them to ask for clarification.) She is 7 months old.

My question is this: IF she has known gerbil-on-gerbil aggression, is it OK to adopt her and keep her as a lone gerbil? Or, were I to adopt her, should I attempt to find and introduce a second gerbil at some point?

My preference is to keep a pair of female gerbils or 3-4 males, but I also feel like this gerbil needs a home right at the time I happen to be looking. I prefer to adopt, but wouldn't be against buying a second gerbil if necessary. However, I rarely see gerbils for adoption or sale in my area, much less young ones. (I've read that it's best to introduce very young gerbils to older gerbils needing companionship.)

My concern is that I could end up with two gerbils who can't live with each other, and get into a perpetual cycle of getting a new gerbil for each lone gerbil, growing their numbers exponentially with no success in uniting any group.


Thanks!

[southeastus]

I was asking a similar question a short time ago; the threads with some good replies are still on this page, lower down. The general consensus seems to be to go ahead and do it if you can give the gerbil a lot of attention, and to give serious consideration to getting another one and trying to make them a pair.

I know exactly what you mean about picturing yourself getting more and more gerbils in a futile attempt to get them all paired. 

[teambenji543]

If the shelter replies that she was indeed aggressive towards other gerbils, then I think it’s ok to have a lone gerbil. I know of a lot of people with lone gerbils because of aggression reasons. You could potentially attempt to introduce her to another gerbil, but then you could end up with 2 lone gerbils. You could just adopt her and also adopt another pair of gerbils to have separate from her, if you really want more than 1 gerbil.

[g]

Sept 2, 2021 15:53:27 GMT -8 southeastus said:

I was asking a similar question a short time ago; the threads with some good replies are still on this page, lower down. The general consensus seems to be to go ahead and do it if you can give the gerbil a lot of attention, and to give serious consideration to getting another one and trying to make them a pair.

I know exactly what you mean about picturing yourself getting more and more gerbils in a futile attempt to get them all paired. 

Thank you for the input!

[g]

Sept 2, 2021 16:08:26 GMT -8 teambenji543 said:

If the shelter replies that she was indeed aggressive towards other gerbils, then I think it’s ok to have a lone gerbil. I know of a lot of people with lone gerbils because of aggression reasons. You could potentially attempt to introduce her to another gerbil, but then you could end up with 2 lone gerbils. You could just adopt her and also adopt another pair of gerbils to have separate from her, if you really want more than 1 gerbil.

Thank you! Appreciate the insight. The shelter said it was due to aggression toward cagemates. They think the fact that she’s albino might be a possible factor because of impaired eyesight.

[LilyandDaisy]

I would ask for a bit more information about exactly what happened. A gerbil that was involved in one declan, even as the instigator, doesn't necessarily have to be kept alone for the rest of its life. If she was living in a group of females, that's a combination almost guaranteed to result in a declan, so really no reflection on her temperament at all, just the natural process of gerbils trying to live how they want to live.