Speaking of fighting females...

[birchmoon]

I'm sort of new to gerbils. Only had them a couple months. When we got our girls, they were sold to us as all babies, 5 to a clan. Hmmmmm. Even after all the reading I did on them, I never came across the fact that chicks like to rumble with each other. SO....naturally, we had a big fight yesterday in the bottom tank. NOBODY was getting along. The one in the flower pot didn't want anyone else in it, the one eating would push other hungry girls out of the dish, the one in the wheel was violent, and the other two were bloodied around their necks from trying to kill each other over night. Poor sweeties.

So, off to the store I went....quickly! I have one of the injured girls in the new tank with one of her noninjured sisters. The other three are still together. My questions are:

1. Not exactly sure who the instigator was...so now that they are apart, will the bully calm down a bit being with less roomies?

2. I've read about declaning on here. Is that where a single gerbil is ostrasized from the group, or where the WHOLE group starts to hate each other?

3. Will the others be aggressive toward the injured ones because they know they now have an advantage over the hurt gerbies?

They are separated 3 in one tank, 2 in the other now. So hopefully this will be better for all of them. Thanks for any advice on this.

heather

[lydia]

Hi,

I've never kept more than 2 gerbils to a tank/cage,so I'm not the best person to advise you.I would keep an eye on them,I would expect if the 2 together are getting along o.k.,they should settle down better,hopefully the three will.As regards the food dish,if the one whom was guarding the food,starts this again.I would put 2 or 3 food dishes in the cage.Then,if she is eating and doesn't want to share,the other 1 or 2 can at least go to another dish to feed.
hope things settle down for them and you.

Lyd

[birchmoon]

The two we put together from the group are doing well together. No fighting or anything. The 3 we left in the larger tank however.....things were not good. SO, what we did was take one of them out and put her in a split tank with the girl who was by herself. Right now there's a whole heck of a lot of jumping at the screen going on.

heather

[sweetie]

Hey Birch,

Sorry to hear about your dilema. I agree that several food dishes would be a good idea. Also have you checked to make sure they are all female? Perhaps they are getting to sexual maturity and are fighting for dominance. I have had 3 boys in a tank and no fighting going on but they were males not females.

You did a great job splitting them. Have you applied neosporine on the bite marks? How is it going on now? Have you swapped cages or bedding with the split caged females?

[birchmoon]

The ones in the split cage get swapped a few times a day. They are still jumping at the screen, so I think it's gonna take a while.

I was TOLD they were all females....however, I was also told that 5 girls to a tank would be just fine since they were litter mates. So, now I don't know. I haven't seen any "bulges" though.

heather

[lizzy]

the thing about pet store employees is that most of them aren't experienced specifically with gerbils and believe that it will always work.
it sounds like you're doing okay so far after splitting up your girls into 2 pairs and the other introducing to your lonely one.
i hope all goes well.

[sweetie]

Hey Birch,

How goes the intros?

[birchmoon]

Well, everything has been rearranged. The two big 40 gallon wide tanks we had are now split into two tanks. We have no more than 2 girls together in any tank. Gerbster and Dot are still in a split tank, may be that way for a while. They are both still aggressive toward each other.

So, there's no more sand area in the tanks. Had to turn the large ones into two tanks, so all the same came out. When I get the money I'm going to get them all one of those chinchilla bath containers so they have some sand.

heather

[sweetie]

Birch,

I would not spend any more money to get them sand baths. I use little glass pudding cups or dessert cups. You can use shallow glass bowls or metal bowls. I was silly enough to think that I needed to buy Gerbil everything and they usually did not work out anyways . Seriously, look around your house and see what you already have that will work out. How about an old ceramic bowl that you never use? I will post a picture of mine tomorrow for you so you can get a better idea of what I am talking about. I also found a great way to set up create a food dish so I don't waste so much food .

I am glad that they are now safe and not able to harm the other.
40 gallons is a very big tank and it's great the you can split it into 2.