Licking up urine & other sudden anomalies in behaviour

[smudgeandsparrow]

I have had my two gerbils, both males approximately 3 months old, for almost four weeks now. They haven't been weighed yet because I'm still slowly warming them up to being handled, but they have had a vet checkup just to be certain they're in good health and we're both deemed perfectly healthy (roughly 3 weeks ago now).

Smudge seems to have grown much faster than his brother, being noticeably bigger than Sparrow already, and he seems to be the dominant gerbil between the pair of them based on behavioural cues I've read up on. He isn't aggressively against handling but he is always harder to catch when I have to in order to change the cage, and doesn't allow me to pet his head etc with him still in the cage.

Last night was a full cage change night, so the pair were out in a playpen with lots of different stimulating toys for about two hours. Smudge was so tired after playing for so long that he was easier to handle to put back in his cage than usual, but otherwise, I noticed nothing new or different before/after putting him away.

I woke up at roughly 7am to find Smudge licking a puddle of liquid that I confirmed by scent to be urine on one of the glass shelves in the habitat, which I found extremely odd. Their water bottle always has fresh water in, and I've seen Smudge drink from it plenty of times, though not ten minutes after the urine puddle incident he sort of mouthed at the water bottle spout without pushing on the nib to release water?

(This is their water bottle www.ferplast.co.uk/products/sippy-4672-small?refSrc=6069960671403&nosto=productpage-nosto-4 but I'm going to install one with a traditional angled spout just so they have options)

Concerned, I moved to pet Smudge's head, fully expecting to manage a .5 second brush of my finger against him before he darted out of the way, but he let me stroke his head properly for about 20 seconds without even twitching, like he wasn't aware I was there. When he did realise and pulled his head away, he wagged his tail at me for the first time. I know it's a sign of aggression and I don't know what relevance it might have but I'd rather mention everything to be safe.

I can't comment on his energy levels very well since it's daytime and they're always fairly sedate whenever they're awake during the day, but from what I'm seeing of him tunnelling and digging, he's behaving as usual for daytime behaviour.

I suppose I'm wondering what the urine licking is about, whether all the behaviour is connected, and if it warrants a trip to the vets.

[LilyandDaisy]

Hello,

Licking urine isn't a symptom I've come across but it does sound unusual and in combination with the possible slight lethargy would make me slightly concerned. A vet visit wouldn't be a bad idea but the problem with these kinds of vague symptoms is that they're usually very difficult to diagnose without sedating the gerbils for x-rays etc and a lot of vets (especially non-exotic ones) will prefer to watch and wait while the gerbil still seems fairly well otherwise.

A few things you could do for the time being:
- Try to find out if there's anything different about Smudge's urine compared to his brother's. You could put him in an empty plastic carrier or cage until he pees and see if it looks or smells unusual or if the volume is unusual.

- Urine contains various salts so it's possible this could be some kind of electrolyte or mineral craving. To investigate this possibility you could have a look at his diet and consider whether it might be deficient in something. You could also get him a mineral stone and see if he seems eager to use that (you don't necessarily have to leave it in the cage all the time).

- I would also recommend weighing Smudge now and every day or two for a while to keep track of any changes. You can put him in a container such as a bowl or small carrier and weigh him in that, then subtract the weight of the container.

I think it's a good idea to get them a different type of water bottle as those Ferplast Sippy ones are a fairly unusual design which is awkward for gerbils to drink from. They have to bend their heads to push the nozzle. You could also give them a dish of water in case they prefer that.