Will my children's Gerbils declan after an few hours?

[jamesf]

Hi,

We have two lovely gerbils Flamme and Eclaire (they're French  ) who are both boys.

One is my son's gerbil, and one is my daughters.

My daughter wants to take Flamme to school tommorow (in a small cage) as she's been invited to bring Flamme in to show the class. My son however, does not want Eclaire to go with him.

Would it be OK for my daughter to take Eclaire into school for the morning. Flamme will be out of the house for about 4 hours, no more than that. Is there a risk that the two gerbils won't get on after they've been separated for that time?

I'm concerned and feel that it would be better if she took both of them, but I don't think my son will allow that.

Please advise. Flamme and Eclaire get on really well and have done since we got them and really don't want to 'rock the boat' with them.

Thank you
James

[LilyandDaisy]

Hello,

Most of the time, a pair of gerbils will integrate together again just fine after a 4 hour separation. When you put them back together, there will be lots of excitement and sniffing and then they should settle down within a few minutes.

I don't think the risk here is zero, but probably quite low.

[jamesf]

Thank you for your reply. Would you think it's better if both Gerbils went together to school and that would almost be zero risk of declanning then?

[LilyandDaisy]

Nov 8, 2022 6:34:45 GMT -8 jamesf said:

Thank you for your reply. Would you think it's better if both Gerbils went together to school and that would almost be zero risk of declanning then?

That would be the safest option. Personally I try not to separate gerbils for more than an hour or so, partly to be absolutely safe with regard to declanning, and also because I think if they're going somewhere unfamiliar it might be nice for them to have a friend with them.

[jamesf]

Thank you for your advice. I agree with you. I've spoken to my son and he's not keen on Eclaire going to school (he's not at the same school) so we might just have to take the risk for a few hours as my daughter is insisting Flamme goes with her. It's only until midday so fingers crossed.

Have a nice evening.
Thanks
James

[LilyandDaisy]

I'd suggest taking Flamme with lots of bedding from their nest, so he still smells strongly of "home" when he returns. And perhaps reintroduce them by putting Eclaire in the carrier with Flamme, and then moving them to their enclosure once the initial excitement is over.

[jamesf]

LilyandDaisy,

I just want to say thank you for the 'Gerbil support'. My son ultimately let Eclaire go with Flamme to school this morning. I think they both had a nice little holiday together and were handled and cuddled by a lot of the children there. They were back home within 4 hours (only half days on Wednesday in France) and it gave us a chance to give their (big) cage a nice clean-out. They now have a fresh 40 cm of straw and hemp stalks to get busy making fresh tunnels now .. and a nice fresh bowl of sand to clean in... and a load of cardboard to munch on!

They're now back home, and happy as usual, no signs of any problems.

Best wishes
James (& Holly and Sam)

[Markpd]

Glad he relented and that all went well