gerbil fight

[lizzy]

i was in the process of introducing my lone gerbil, sassy to katy, who was one of the three sisters i bought together.
they have been split caged for about a week. i have been swapping them over about 2-4 times a day, depending on when i'm at home or not [for instance yesterday i was out of the house by 8:45am and didn't get back until 9:30pm]
they were showing very few aggressive signs, unlike my other female pair who are now introduced successfully, they were very aggressive to begin with.
i put them on the floor together, and they seemed to be okay at first, sniffing each other, then they started chasing and quickly ended up in a ball fight. i split them up immediately and put them back into their split cage. sassy seems to be fine, katy has a small nick on her cheek though.
i've heard that it's very rare for gerbils to get along after they have shed blood - i mean, katy is hardly fatally bleeding but still :\ do i still have a chance?

i haven't tried the water intro method - do you think that would be a good plan?

[queenofthenile]

I think you still have a very good chance. I would just split them for two full weeks to make sure. I've had sucessful reintroductions with two pairs that declanned. In one, the male had a small bite on the check and in the other, both females had a large number of bite wounds.

I have had one scenario, however, where the pair refused to get along afterwards. Jasper used to mount one of his mates, Rowan, excessively until Rowan bit him. Now if I try and introduce them to each other, Rowan lunges at the cage split. I think that's a different scenario from yours, however.