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Post by thetrio on May 5, 2022 15:06:44 GMT -8
I had 2 female gerbils, One of my gerbils passed unfortunately so I decided to get 2 other female gerbils to bond with the one I previously had since she is only about a year and a half old. I’ve had them together for about a week now using the split cage intro method but I’m not really sure if they are actually bonding together. So far they didn’t seem to be really interested in each other or messing with each other between the wire. I’m wondering what I should be looking for exactly and how to introduce them or get them interested in each other? Usually I keep a wheel in the cage but take the wheels out for a few hours a day so they get bored and pay more attention to each other then later put the wheels back in to have during the night.
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Post by Markpd on May 6, 2022 2:30:03 GMT -8
Firstly, welcome to the forum  For how long they should be together depends on how old they are and how they're getting on. For signs on the latter, checkout the pinned thread called 'Signs to look for during an introduction', in this forum section. How old are the 2 females? Btw, it's normally recommended to remove the wheel completely during the period of the split intro, but difficult I know. |
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Post by thetrio on May 8, 2022 9:51:33 GMT -8
Firstly, welcome to the forum For how long they should be together depends on how old they are and how they're getting on. For signs on the latter, checkout the pinned thread called 'Signs to look for during an introduction', in this forum section. How old are the 2 females? Btw, it's normally recommended to remove the wheel completely during the period of the split intro, but difficult I know. Thankyou the 2 new females are around 2 months old I was told but I did get them from a pet store so their exact age I wouldn’t know. So during the 2 weeks have nothing in there but food and water and a place to sleep against the fence so they are sleeping together ? |
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Post by thetrio on May 8, 2022 10:08:59 GMT -8
I was also wondering how often I should switch sides I read in the thread something about 3 times a day and sleeping on the opposite side they work up in I read that if you are using a mesh divider you can switch them less since they can smell each other?
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Post by LilyandDaisy on May 8, 2022 15:58:59 GMT -8
I do 3 times a day. That seems to be the most commonly recommended frequency. An odd number is considered better so that they sleep on different sides each night, but I think 5 times a day would be too disruptive for the gerbils. 3 times a day is a happy medium and also fits well with many people's lives (you can do one swap when you get up, one when you get in from work/school and another just before you go to bed).
A mesh or wire divider is really the only option. Some will suggest a glass divider but that doesn't work as well because the gerbils need to be able to smell each other.
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Post by thetrio on May 9, 2022 19:41:35 GMT -8
Thank you for your response so far it seems to be going good they seem to be really interested in each other.
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Post by Markpd on May 10, 2022 22:26:35 GMT -8
Firstly, welcome to the forum  For how long they should be together depends on how old they are and how they're getting on. For signs on the latter, checkout the pinned thread called 'Signs to look for during an introduction', in this forum section. How old are the 2 females? Btw, it's normally recommended to remove the wheel completely during the period of the split intro, but difficult I know. Thankyou the 2 new females are around 2 months old I was told but I did get them from a pet store so their exact age I wouldn’t know. So during the 2 weeks have nothing in there but food and water and a place to sleep against the fence so they are sleeping together ? You can put some card in there for them to chew, a little boredom breaking is allowed  |
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