Introducing new Gerbil

[minnesota2121]

Hi,
One of my two gerbils has just died and the other one is all alone now. They were both female and about one year old. I want to get another female gerbil for her to be with because they are social animals. However, I am afraid that they will fight. I do not know anything about introducing a gerbil to another one. Is it a good idea to get another gerbil? Or should I just let her be by herself? Also, would it be better to get TWO more gerbils in hopes that the pair of siblings will help the older one feel more comfortable?

[j]

um..all your questions were answered in the other thread:
gerbilforum.proboards21.com/index.cgi?board=health&action=display&thread=1104463877&start=0

And getting 2 siblings won't help make the older female more or less comfortable. If you were to do that, you'd have to be certain that they were between 5-7 weeks old because two are harder to introduce to 1. Anyting older is bad because the siblings would already be bonded and have their dominance issues straightend out. They'd see the new female(your older one) as a threat and vice versa. If they were about 5 weeks old.. the territorial/bonding/sexual maturity problems wouldn't be an issue.

Leaving her alone is also a bad idea. They get depressed, sleep a lot, dig in corners, hide a lot, get skittish and thump a lot, bite, and other stupid problems.

Just check out the links and read up on how to introduce them.. It might take a day, a week or 2 weeks, but it's easy

[sweetie]

Hey Minni,

I think that getting a youjng female pup would be a good idea. You can split cage them before you put them together. I would advise against getting 2. Females tend too declan if there are more than 2.

Hope this has helped.

[minnesota2121]

thanks!