Unusual behaviour towards sick gerbil

[ps25]

Hi

One of my male gerbils is very ill with an ear infection.  He's on antibiotics but he's still very poorly (hoping the drugs start working soon).  

However, his cage mate is acting a little strange.  He is trying to mate with his sick companion.  Its not the usual dominance thing.  He is excitedly trying to mate with his companion.  He is stomping his feet, grabbing on and mating.  Again and again and again.  

Has anyone come across this?  I've temporarily separated them cos he's starting to annoy my poor boy who is trying to rest.  I dont want to keep them apart too long but I'm also reluctant to put them back together cos it was the sick one looked to be getting stressed by the unwanted attention.  Poor little guy...

[LilyandDaisy]

This is quite odd and I haven't heard of anything like this before. I would assume either the illness or the drugs are perhaps making him smell different and confusing his companion?

If you have a split tank available you could put them in there so they can still have some contact without the sick one being constantly harassed.

I hope he's much better soon and everything goes back to normal!

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

I haven't heard of anything like this before, as LillyandDaisy said, this is very odd... 
My main concern would be keeping them apart too long, since you wouldn't want them to fight. 
You could possibly put them in a divider, if you're able, so that they would still be together, and give the little guy a chance to recover. This may keep them friendly to each other when you can put them together again. But my question would be if the one mounting would continue this behavior even after he recovers. 

[ps25]

Update - I kept my two boys separated (split tank) overnight and put them back together again in the morning. Things were much calmer between them until later in the evening when he started trying to mate again, although it was much less frantic. I separated them again for another night and reintroduced them in the morning and he's been behaving normally since then.

I am assuming that either the illness or the drugs caused the confusion although I've never seen this before. But its seems to have passed now.

Also, the antibiotics seem to have kicked in at last. The older boy has started eating solid food again and is much perkier. Phew!

[betty]

Bless him - good to hear he is no longer as poorly (or as attractive!).

[Markpd]

Lol, yea good to hear he's well again, and that they're getting on normally now
Very odd, but good to know!