Consently thumping !!!

[ferbils]

Recently my 2 out of my 3 gerbils is thumping uncontrolablely. Gerbil wise I have 2 males in a 40 gallon critter cage an 1 female in a ten gallon with a tank topper (tank toppers double the size of a reguler 10 gallen). The funny thing is that ,well i tried sand in the 40 galon for the first time . but now with the sand in the cage almost every time i hold up a large object (book, pole, etc.) one of my males pokes his head out of a tunnel,looks at me for a secand wile my other male dashes for cover,and then...you guessed it ...THUMPS of a storm!!!!!! is this cause when i put in the sand they thing that there in the wild an is just pure instint cause this is the first time i used sand an befor they diden't do this in aspen PLUS my friend breeds gerbils an his doen't do this (not to mention i got my to males from him an his family line of gerbs )


WHat do you all think ??

Peter, i'm stumped on this one ,do you know whats causeing this odd behaveior???


I mean where i put in the sand there more timied . they used to be tame an diden't try to byte .

Now when i hold the males esspecily the one thats doing the thumping.

what do you think?? at this point i'm all ears......

[imnotagerbil]

Hey Ferbils,
I also don't seem to know what is going on. In my opinion, it could be they are getting used to the sand. How long have they been in the sand? Are they tamed/ Do they really know you and are not timid towards you? The other thing I didn't understand is when you pick up an objct... Is that object outside of the cage in the room or in the cage?
They should stop thumping after a while. Tell us if they still havent' stopped
Good Luck, Theo

[umm]

It's because its new. Not because they think they're wild. I go through something similiar every 2-3 months because that's how often I clean my biggest tank.

First, you need to start taming them again. Get them used to your voice. You need to get them used to your voice so whenever they start thumping you can talk to them and they'll realize its you and stop. It maeks them feel safer. You can do this by offering them a sunflower seed a couple times a day and talking to them or just saying their names. Using one or 2 words in the same tone of voice will work faster. I have a few boys in my tank and I just call them "boys" and they know that word+tone.

Second,, how much stuff do you have in it? If there is a ton of stuff, then you have to take everything out so they can't hide for a couple days. Give them a piece of carboard to chew, but nothing they can hide in. Let them get used to the area and realize that the tank is still in the same room. Then once they settle you can put everything back and they'll be back to normal without the thumping.

With nothing in the tank, they'll also get tamer faster. You only have to do this for a week at the most.

The single female should have a tankmate.

[doomgerbiluk]

I did wonder also whether you are hearing it more!!! Sand is dense and would produce a much deeper sounds (though it amazes me how loud a thump they can produce on soft substrate )