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Post by sweetie on Aug 17, 2004 11:46:02 GMT -8
Hello all, What are obvious and less sublte signs of dominance in gerbils? I took a picture of Blackie and Sweetie in what I believe to be a submissive display. Queenie, this is what I was talking about in a previous post. In the picture, Sweetie is licking/grooming Blackies mouth area. In dogs, this is a submissive behavior. Is it the same in gerbils? Also think I saw Bubba chasing Cowboy in a tunnel. I only caught the tail end of it (no pun intended). How can you tell if it is subtle aggression? They still sleep together, and groom. At what point do you separate. I have heard no squeaking and have experienced no ball fights or even slap fights between the boys.
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Post by floppy on Aug 17, 2004 16:03:29 GMT -8
You have absolutely nothing to worry about then! You would only need to seperate them usually when they make a 'gerbil ball'. Your gerbils don't seem at all aggressive toward each other! The behaviour you have described is perfectly normal
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Post by queenofthenile on Aug 17, 2004 16:08:00 GMT -8
Other aggressive signals are lots of squeaking, aggressive chasing, and excessive marking/mounting. These can all be precursors to a gerbil ball fight. I have observed at least one of these signals before my pairings declanned.
Gerbils greet and recognize each other through their saliva. So what you seeing is essentially a "hello". Very cute pic!
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Post by sweetie on Aug 18, 2004 4:06:05 GMT -8
Thanks for the input. I was getting nervous. I really did not want to split cage or get another one.
Queenie, what is marking? Is that like scenting? Rubbing the bellies on surfaces?
I am glad that I have not seen a "ball fight". I hope I never have to deal with one!!
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Post by floppy on Aug 18, 2004 4:09:44 GMT -8
That's exactly what it is sweetie! All gerbils do it, especially when their tank has just been cleaned out or when you let them out to play. Everything is new and they have to re-claim it as their own! My gerbils even mark me! lol
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Post by queenofthenile on Aug 18, 2004 4:10:58 GMT -8
A couple days before my group of 4 males broke up, I saw some unusual behaviour. Jasper was spending the entire day marking one of the younger boys, Rowan. It kind of looked like he was mounting Rowan, but of course they are both boys. He was actually going through all the motions of mating, just Rowan wasn't cooperating . It got to the point that Rowan couldn't even sleep because Jasper was so obsessive about this marking/mounting. One morning I looked in and there was a bit of blood on one of their houses. Rowan had finally gotten tired of the whole charade, and bit Jasper on the nose. So I seperated them into 2 pairs. I knew in my heart this was going to happen, because the marking/mounting seemed really aggressive.
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Post by sweetie on Aug 18, 2004 4:16:57 GMT -8
Poor Fellow. Is he doing alright now? I hope I don't see that either!! I guess Jasper left him alone after the bite on the nose. Maybe Rowan consulted Mike Tyson for pointers on fighting.
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Post by floppy on Aug 18, 2004 4:17:59 GMT -8
My boys do that too, but it's never as aggressive as yours Queen. At present I have paired 3 young boys (brothers) with and older male (6 months) and there has been a lot of squabbling going on. They have been together for a couple of weeks now and they groom each other and sleep together, but at some point every day they chase each other like mad and thump their feet. None of them has bitten any of the others. Does this sound like what happened to you Queen? As I said, most of the time they are fine together, I have not seen any fighting as such, just chasing and squeaking...
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Post by queenofthenile on Aug 18, 2004 4:19:11 GMT -8
I'd just watch them. Mine declanned when the oldest was 9 months and the second oldest was 5 months. I think that is about the time when you will see dissention.
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Post by floppy on Aug 18, 2004 4:25:18 GMT -8
I always keep a close eye on them anyway bacause of the squeaking...I rush over to see if they are fighting and they stop because they more interested in my hand and escaping! I'll keep watching them anyway and hopefully it's just them deciding who's boss since they not together that long!
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