Juvenile not drinking

[motherofgerbils]

Hi everyone sadly we lost one of our older gerbils and have got a new little one that we are inteoding to our other youngster with a split cage method (which worked with our last pairing). This little one was super confident when we met her, all seemed ok. Fast forward a week and I found her cold and lethargic yesterday morning. I quickly heated her up with a blanket and warm water bottle and took her to the vets. They said that there wasn’t any obvious sign of infection, her heart and lungs are good but she was severely dehydrated. So I was advised to give her watermelon and cucumber- anything with high water content and try to syringe drip water into her mouth. After munching down a load of water melon and licking some drops of water she seemed tonnes better. I have continued to pop a hot water bottle under her gerbilarium where she likes to sleep. She’s brighter this morning but when I took a little plate of watermelon etc she almost seem to want to just lick the moisture of it. Her water bottle is definitely working but I’m wondering has anyone had a gerbil that just drank out of a bowl and couldn’t figure out the bottle?? Is that the problem?

[betty]

I would certainly offer a bowl for sure until you know for sure that she can drink properly from the bottle. Some bottles are one ball bearing and others are two and it takes a lot of effort to move with their tongues. To be sure they are drinking, you would want to see not only her poking at the nozzle and making a noise, but you also want to be seeing water bubbles passing up the bottle at the same time - and obvs none of the water on the outside of her face afterwards.

It certainly would be strange for her not to seek it out if she was really thirstly - but there could be nerves at play - especially if the bottle is against the divide itself (as she might feel vulnerable there with the vibes from your original gerbil).

Also, if you use a strong disinfectant, disolvable vitamins or you lvive in a hard water area - these could all negatively affect the taste of the water too. Lots to consider - so stick with the soft veggies or babyfood for now until you find out what is causing this.

[motherofgerbils]

Thanks the water bottle is on the opposite side of the cage to where the other gerbil (Autumn) is. I’ve popped a little bowl of water out as well. I’m really concerned about Minnie (the baby) in general today…although she is eating it seems to take her a long time to eat anything and then she just goes straight back to her little nest near the hot water bottle and sleeps. There’s no digging or chewing going on. She occasionally goes on her wheel.

However if we hold our hand in the cage She’s extremely friendly and will jump onto us and run all of over our hands and arms if we do get her out. So it’s all very confusing, I’ve never had a gerbil behave this way.

I wondered if there’s something going on with her mouth/teeth? But there’s no obvious swelling and I can’t keep her still enough to check up close. It even crossed my mind about something like Tyzzers disease but she’s not got an upset stomach. I called up the pet shop where we got her from to check on her litter mates and they’re all ok apparently. I’m in half a mins to go to get one of her litter mates because maybe she’s just really lonely? And then introduce her back to a sibling then our older gerbil in a few weeks?

[betty]

Sorry - I didn't get back in time: how old is she anyway - and did you go get a sibling for her?

Have you weighed her?