Post by Markpd on Jan 14, 2023 7:41:48 GMT -8
Ok, so firstly, when you said you had the 2 pups (baby girls) in a split cage, did you mean those 2 on one side and Phoebe (the adult female) on the other side of the divider? If so, great 
. And then were you swapping them over each side (say 1-4 times, upper number is better) each day?
*As for how long, that depends on the gerbils, seeing as 2 of yours are pups (although older than 8 weeks), it might have been ok after a few days (if they had never fought). Adults could take 4 weeks or longer!
and then Violet and Phoebe stopped moving and were looking at each other necks and then they fought
I'm guessing you mean they were facing side to side to each other? (if you check out the stickied thread 'Signs to look for during an introduction', here in this forum section), you'll see that's one of the bad signs. Check out that thread, it's a very useful list.
As I said, someone more experienced may come along and for example suggest a longer time for total separation (if so, then listen to them instead
), but for now this will put them in a better and safer situation
Btw I'm literally about to start a split intro guide, but in the meantime if you read similar threads and in particular take note of replies by betty and LilyandDaisy (to name just 2) you'll get a much better idea about it all.
. And then were you swapping them over each side (say 1-4 times, upper number is better) each day?You then mentioned you intro'd the pups to Phoebe in a traveller cage, so if I understand correctly you removed them from the split cage to that traveller cage? If so then that made things much less likely to succeed. The idea of having them in a split cage and swapping them end to end is so that they get used to each others scent, and get used to all 3 of their scents being in all of the cage so no one gerbil (hopefully!) doesn't stake out one side as theirs.
Moving them to another cage removes them from the jointly scented cage, whilst neutral territory introductions are recommended by some (mostly outside of this forum), it is generally considered (by the experts here, not me!) to have a lower success rate.
Once the gerbils have been in the split cage for a while* and being swapped over, and they're getting on ok (see my answer below for the signs), then remove the meshed divider from the split cage and monitor them all day to make sure they carry on getting on well.*As for how long, that depends on the gerbils, seeing as 2 of yours are pups (although older than 8 weeks), it might have been ok after a few days (if they had never fought). Adults could take 4 weeks or longer!
and then Violet and Phoebe stopped moving and were looking at each other necks and then they fought
I'm guessing you mean they were facing side to side to each other? (if you check out the stickied thread 'Signs to look for during an introduction', here in this forum section), you'll see that's one of the bad signs. Check out that thread, it's a very useful list
.Until/if one of the more experienced people post here to do otherwise, I suggest you do the following.
Put the pups in 1 cage and Phoebe in a separate cage, at least opposite sides of the room, and for at least 1 week (2 weeks might be better), hopefully they will calm down in this time and forget the fight.
Then put the 2 cages next to each other, if none of them go nuts about the gerbil(s) next door , then put them in a split cage (as in pups one side of the divider, adult the other), otherwise wait until they calm down.
, then put them in a split cage (as in pups one side of the divider, adult the other), otherwise wait until they calm down.Once in the split cage, swap them end to end 1-4 times a day, 4 is better if you have the time to do that. Keep doing that until them seem to be getting on well (ref. the signs), if they don't seem to be getting on well and it's not improving they will probably need longer apart in their separate cages.
As I said, someone more experienced may come along and for example suggest a longer time for total separation (if so, then listen to them instead
), but for now this will put them in a better and safer situation Btw I'm literally about to start a split intro guide, but in the meantime if you read similar threads and in particular take note of replies by betty and LilyandDaisy (to name just 2) you'll get a much better idea about it all
.
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