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Post by yuzukii23 on Jul 28, 2023 10:22:54 GMT -8
Hi all,
So 5 days ago my old lady lost her sister and we got her a new sister (8months) 3 days ago. They have been in a splitcage for 3 days now kind of ignoring eachothers existance and we just swapped sides for the first time today. The moment they noticed the smells they were now desperate to reach eachother via the sides of the wooden frame of the mesh! They are permanently biting and scratching the wood. At first we toucht they wanted their own sides again so we switched them back after 3 hours... but now they still go at it to be with eachother again! Is this in a friendly way... or do they wanna fight? My wooden frame will not last another day like this so I wonder what's going on.. they don't seem to be puffy in a mad way.. but.. love at first swap isnt possible I think haha. Wish I could upload a photo so you know what I mean..
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Post by yuzukii23 on Jul 28, 2023 10:28:51 GMT -8
Found a way to show you! So this is how they are cosntantly trying to reachout... ibb.co/ZmRJWds |
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Post by TJ's Rodent Ranch on Jul 28, 2023 23:09:34 GMT -8
Yes, I would definitely build a stronger barrier right away.
This is probably aggression, due to the fact of how they behave when it's with a friendly purpose.
They will usually dig, and sniff, and act more curious and slow with each other than less frantic. My guess would be that they were doing alright, wondering what strange creature was on the other side of the divide, and then when they switched they probably felt overwhelmed, or possibly more engaged with the other gerbil and decided enough was enough.
I would definitely build a stronger barrier right away and try to keep them apart for a bit longer before swapping them, since gerbils will not often be so frantic to get to each other, and if they really want to be together they'll simply sleep against the wire for company, while with fighting it will be an immediate urge to dominate the gerbil on the other side, and they will be frantic to get at each other. Even if it is somehow friendly, the first introduction should always be supervised and not allowed to be together unsupervised, at least at first. It could have a very bad outcome if one gerbil manages to get through while you're not watching, or possibly at night and most likely fight.
I would recommend, like I said to build a stronger barrier and give them more time before you switch sides again. I generally try to give them a week or so to settle in and take things slow before I start swapping them. At first I'll do this gradually, once every two or three days, and then after they don't become alarmed when swapping, I'll bring it down to every morning. After they become accustomed to that, I'll swap them every few hours for several days. Usually after a month or so of this has gone by, then I can start thinking about an introduction. This introduction however, is entirely based on how they behave.
Good signs:
Sleeping next to each other
Eating next to the barrier
Acting as if the other gerbil is "old" news
Not running frantically on their wheel all the time (this of course always depends on the personality too, some gerbs just run more often)
Bad signs:
Scrabbling to get to each other
Sleeping as far apart as possible, or sometimes underground
Getting tense and braced when they meet at the barrier
Always expressing stress (wheel, chewing, etc)
God forbid raising their hair or trying to fight through the wire
None of these are the deciding factor if your gerbil is or isn't ready to have an introduction, but sometimes you have to be very patient and it can take months in some cases. You have to take it slow and careful.
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Post by yuzukii23 on Jul 29, 2023 4:44:29 GMT -8
Update.
We made some adjustments to the barrier and switched them from sides again after they slepped a whole night in their own nest again. At first they were frantic again and the newby kind of destroyed the nest of the older one.. but after an hour they both went to sleep again but in eachothers nests! Or... what was left of it anyways on 1 side.. they are much calmer now and just eat/sleep and gnaw some cardboard.. I think you were right with them being overwhelmed and then having "a way" to get to eachother underneath the barrier..
Once that way was blocked they calmed down very fast.. the older one shows more intrest and eats her food next to the barrier, but Nova is still a bit jumpy around the entire cage (might be the age?)
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 29, 2023 6:14:52 GMT -8
This behaviour could be aggression, or it just be general stress/anxiety. Either way, they're definitely not safe to meet right now so make sure the barrier is fully escape proof. Introducing females can take several weeks so 5 days is really early and this behaviour is totally normal at this stage. Don't believe the online sources that say to introduce after 2 weeks. With one female who seems either aggressive or agitated, I would anticipate 4 weeks minimum in the split. As TJ's Rodent Ranch says, you don't necessarily need to be swapping them multiple times a day at the moment, or even at all. When one gerbil is quite agitated it can sometimes be better to hold off on the swaps, or just do one per day, to give them time to settle down. |
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