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Post by jimbo on Jul 14, 2004 14:56:32 GMT -8
hi in january one of my gerbils died at when she was about 10 weeks old at the time i was thinking about putting another gerbil in with the remaining one to keep her company but i was advised not to by the pet shop. but now after discovering this site and reading some of the posts i am thinking about giving it a try but i have a few questions. 1) have i left the remaining gerbil too long on its own (its been about 6 months) 2) should i get two females just incase i cant introduce one and then i will be left with two gerbils on their own. (i have a large cage so space wont be a problem) thanks in advanced
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Post by j on Jul 16, 2004 1:50:12 GMT -8
1. 6 months is kind of long, but it's not impossible. Also a lot depends on the gerbil's personality. I think the longest I had a female alone before I could find any females was 2 months.
Best way to go about it is getting really young gerbils. As young as you can find, like 4-7 weeks old. If you can find a breeder, you'll be able to get some that young.
With that age, you don't even need a split cage method. Just clean out the tank really well to get rid of the scents, and put them in it together. ;D
2. If you find 2 gerbils under 7 weeks old.. you could put them both with the lone one.. But getting 2 older ones incase it doesn't work out isn't going to work. For one, if it DOES Workout, one of the new ones would be alone..
If you take 1 female away from another female. PUt her with a strange female. Try putting her back with the first female she was withe = fight because she will have a strange scent on her and they most likely won't recognize eachother anymore. They can forget eachother after a couple of days.
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Jul 16, 2004 3:03:09 GMT -8
Nothing to add! ;D
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Post by j on Jul 16, 2004 3:43:25 GMT -8
lol
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Post by jimbo on Jul 16, 2004 10:11:20 GMT -8
ok thanks for the reply
is it not possible to get two new females and then introduce them both to the lone gerbil or will this not work.
also how old are gerbils when they are sold in pet shops and does any one know of any breeders in the south west of england??
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Post by J2 on Jul 16, 2004 11:17:41 GMT -8
ok thanks for the reply is it not possible to get two new females and then introduce them both to the lone gerbil or will this not work. also how old are gerbils when they are sold in pet shops and does any one know of any breeders in the south west of england?? If they're about or under 7 weeks old, then it can easily be done. I've put two 5week olds in with an adult female with no problems. If they're adults, then it's most likely NOT possible because the 2 adult females that already know eachother, will gang up on the one you have now. All petshops are different. The big chain petshops are usually older like 7+ weeks. Some smaller ones raise their own or get them from local wannabe breeders and start selling them around 5-6 weeks. But you could find a gerbil that they got at 5 weeks old but has been there for a month and she'll be too old.
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Post by queenofthenile on Jul 17, 2004 7:17:38 GMT -8
I just wanted to add that I haven't had success with groups of gerbils larger than 2. Even my pair of female gerbils wound up fighting and had to be split-caged again. In my opinion, I would only introduce one young female gerb. Females are more territorial than males and so pairings of more than 2 can result in fighting and potentially death.
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