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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jun 10, 2022 13:20:35 GMT -8
I think I just saw Tilly trying to groom her neighbour through the mesh. She's definitely turned over a new leaf! She's also in heat tonight which helps (it makes her more motivated to seek out interaction).
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jun 14, 2022 12:11:40 GMT -8
I did the first side swap last night. I felt they had made as much progress as they were going during the first stage of the "slow split". It went ok. There was no aggression and they were both fairly calm. I was slightly worried that Tilly would see the other gerbil on "her side" and be aggressive again, but she remained civil when they met at the mesh, which was reassuring. The new gerbil settled down straight away in Tilly's nest. The new gerbil had made 3 different nests on her side for some reason. Tilly did a lot of rearranging, before deciding she didn't want to sleep in any of them and made a new nest.
This afternoon I did the second swap (I've decided afternoon is a better time for it than evening because they're more inclined to settle down to sleep soon afterwards). Tilly eventually went to sleep in her original nest that the new gerbil had slept in, but not without a lot of fussing around. I'm not too worried though, it's very early days. She's completely non-aggressive these days, and I don't think there was any scent-marking after either swap.
Their sand baths are side-by-side next to the divider, and Tilly has developed a habit of scrabbling at the dish when she wants to get the other gerbil's attention!
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Post by Markpd on Jun 14, 2022 22:26:47 GMT -8
Good to hear it's going well so far And, lol at Tilly scrabbling at the dish!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jun 17, 2022 17:55:22 GMT -8
I'm very happy with the gerbils tonight. The new gerbil is so eager to be with Tilly she climbs up the mesh and pokes her head over the top when I open the tank, and Tilly doesn't seem very bothered by this. For comparison, when she was in the split with Astra, and also early on the introduction to this gerbil, it enraged her when they climbed up the mesh. I think she must have found it threatening, but now she doesn't care. I'm not sure what she would do if the gerbil made it over onto her side. I wouldn't like to test it out!I
Tilly isn't as eager as the other gerbil but she does seek out interaction with her and is always perfectly polite and friendly with her these days.
Tilly does still fuss around quite a lot when I swap sides, but I don't think that's necessarily hostility. With the larger, enriched split tank, there's a lot more to explore and "set right", and the sides are slightly different so there's some novelty every time she finds herself on the other side. It isn't like a normal split tank where there really isn't that much to do or see on either side!
I've started gradually removing things from the tank in order to transition towards a proper split tank introduction. I'm going to make a solid wood divider so that I can further partition the tank down to a smaller size.
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Post by Markpd on Jun 23, 2022 11:48:55 GMT -8
All sounds good
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jun 24, 2022 14:17:04 GMT -8
I've reduced the tank to just bedding and things to chew now. The bedding is still relatively deep (5-6 inches) but I will reduce it further at some point.
One thing that the reduced enrichment has brought to light is that Tilly is actually not as comfortable around the other gerbil as I thought she was. There were just so many distractions before. They had their sand and their food by the mesh so if they met, they were often in the middle of eating or grooming etc. She's still calm, but she "asks a lot of questions" when they meet at the divider (i.e prolonged sniffing) which is not quite what I want to see. Ideally they would just be touching noses and walking away. So she's not quite ready, which is fine, because it's only been 2.5 weeks in the split and I set out expecting a long introduction. Hopefully when I start reducing their space that will help as she won't be able to avoid the other gerbil so much.
I don't think territorial issues or dominance are going to be a problem. Neither gerbil scent marks or is at all interested in the other's scent. Tilly no longer rearranges everything after each swap but just settles down in the other gerbil's nest and goes back to sleep. The new gerbil is young and naturally submissive. Tilly had a growth spurt around the time I tried to introduce her to Astra and is now very big and muscular. I think it's just a case of Tilly learning to relax around the new gerbil. She's already come a long way, in that she no longer threatens to murder the new gerbil when she looks at her the wrong way!
I have to keep reminding myself to be patient...
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Post by Markpd on Jun 25, 2022 1:28:19 GMT -8
She's already come a long way, in that she no longer threatens to murder the new gerbil when she looks at her the wrong way!Lol, well that's good!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jun 27, 2022 6:15:32 GMT -8
Tilly can be so funny sometimes. This afternoon she is in heat and desperately wanting some gerbil attention, so she's going to sit and wait on this carrot until she gets it...
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jun 27, 2022 7:24:02 GMT -8
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Post by Markpd on Jun 27, 2022 11:20:32 GMT -8
Hehehe, bless!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jun 29, 2022 12:57:24 GMT -8
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Post by Markpd on Jun 30, 2022 11:59:42 GMT -8
Lol! She's a cheeky monkey! Blake tried to push my hand out the way when I blocked him from trying to steal Avon's Dandelion leaf! lol (through the mesh).
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jun 30, 2022 13:32:52 GMT -8
I'm probably going to try an introduction in another week or so, or whenever I work up the nerve. I'm terrified! This is an angry and defensive Tilly right at the beginning, before they were even in the split tank (it's blurry because it was filmed by my motion-activated camera): www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQtYSVTKnBI
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Post by Markpd on Jul 2, 2022 9:05:15 GMT -8
She was quite hyper then!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 6, 2022 10:03:25 GMT -8
Twiglet broke a top tooth on Sunday. On Friday I think her teeth were fine, because I saw her chomping her way into a monkey nut. On Saturday evening I wanted to weigh them. I managed to weigh Astra but Twiglet was being a bit reclusive. It didn't seem like a huge deal, she can be more aloof, and she poked her head out of her house and took a treat from me, so I left it and went to bed. On Sunday morning she was still being reclusive and skittish, so I thought I'd better dig her out and check she was ok. I weighed her and found she had lost weight, from 50g to 45g. I also noticed her rubbing her mouth, so I checked her teeth and found one was loose and hanging out. As I was looking at it, it fell out. It's about 5mm long.
On Sunday she didn't want to eat any food that required chewing, not even soft food, but she was able to lick up some Vet-Cal Progel (a high calorie syrup for sick animals). On Monday she was starting to eat things again, with difficulty. She is eating seeds and other hard foods now, and gathering bedding in her mouth.
I hope the tooth will grow back. I haven't seen it coming in yet. I hope it will also grow back straight so she doesn't need trimming for the rest of her life. She's only 12 weeks old. I can't think how she could have broken it, except maybe on the peanut shells? I also think the weight loss must have been mostly dehydration because she seemed to be chewing things fine on Friday afternoon/evening. The way the tooth was hanging out, it might have prevented her even from using the water bottle. I'm glad I spotted it when I did.
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