Introducing 2 male groups of gerbils....

[Chris]

I have one group of two, and another group of three. The group of two are older and fairly placid. The younger group of three are very aggressive towards the other two.

Now I know from reading all the posts here that indroducing two groups of male gerbils is basically impossible and there is not much point in trying. Well, I only have a small room now so time to turn two seperate tanks into one!

This is what has happened so far, including a rather odd occurance....

I firstly split the large equarium into two using a square fine mesh. The cage was cleaned thoroughly and new sawdust, straw and shredding material added. I read somewhere that vicks was good for disguising scents. I had none of this so i used tee tree oil instead.

Once the gerbils were all in the tank, they scurried around checking out everything around, including the other gerbils on the other side of the mesh. At first, no reaction. But after about 20 mins the tee tree oil must have worn off and the aggressive three were not happy! Lots off furious biting and scratching of the mesh whenever the placid two gerbils got near the divide.

The placid two are siblings and have been cage-mates from the very start. They have never had any fights with each other and allways play and sleep together. To start with they sat in their side of the divide and watched the others going mental on the other half of the mesh. However, after about half an hour, the dominant one decided he didnt like the other. He sat in the entrance to their nesting box and guarded it, refusing the other one entry. If the other got too close, there would be boxing, and slow biting, sometimes followed by a small fight. There was nothing serious though.

Now, its been about three hours and they have calmed down a bit. The aggressive three are sort of trying to sleep and the placid two have just stoped their wierd behaviour. They are both in the nesting box, but havnt made any bedding to sleep under.

I think as everything has calmed down I will keep this arrangement until im confident they can mix on a trial basis, or that they will have to go back to their cages. Think I will keep the split cage for a few weeks though, swapping sides everycouple of days.

Any other advice? Comments?

Thanks!!!

[queenofthenile]

It doesn't sound good so far, and I don't recommend introducing groups of gerbils. Even if they eventually get along, the peaceful living can quickly turn to bloodshed at a later date. When the younger ones hit the 4-6 month mark, the older gerbs may then try to assert their dominance. I've had this happen with two female gerbs, when the younger gerb reach 5 months. If I hadn't been in the room to seperate the ball fight, they would have killed each other.

If you are really keen on joining them, I would only try the split-cage for a week. Your chances are slim anyways, so you shouldn't keep them split for several weeks. This will just make all the gerbs unhappy and insecure.

[Chris]

Yeah must say I do agree. Wouldnt be fair on them if it made them unhappy. I think I might give it a few days and then put it all back as it was if they dony hit it off in the split half tank.

Cheers!

[queenofthenile]

Well I hope everything works out for you! What I've done to conserve space is have 2 10 gallons in my bookshelf which are secured there by bits of styrofoam (otherwise the cats would knock them off the shelf).