Argh! Lost a gerbil in an odd way. Now what?

[SamIAm]

We exercise the 2 gerbils almost daily (take them out of the 20-gallon-long aquarium and let them run in a pet exercise pen with lots of toys). We were very busy on Friday and Saturday so only did quick checks for food/water/cardboard in the aquarium and assumed the gerbils were sleeping in the nest. Now I'm feeling negligent.

So, we went to exercise them on Sunday and couldn't find one of the gerbils. I removed the nest and poked around in the bedding and still couldn't find him. I finally lifted the clay pot and found him dead. Argh! I didn't realize it would be unsafe to have a pot in there and they enjoyed having a high spot to climb. I can only guess that he somehow managed to burrow under the pot and then the pot maybe collapsed his tunnel and he couldn't get back out?!? Lesson learned. We will not have anything in the tank that is not lightweight and chewable.

We don't want a lonely gerbil and thought about adding 2 new ones but now I've been reading that you should never add strange gerbils except for one-to-one. I've seen a few threads here about possibly adding 2 young pups to 1 older male.

I'm not sure about age of our lone gerbil because I couldn't find a breeder and bought him at a pet store, almost 7 weeks ago. The pet store said they get the gerbils as soon as they are weaned and that litter had been at the store for 1 week. So, he is maybe 13 weeks old?

I have several questions:

1. Was it a freak accident or should we have known better about having a clay pot in the tank? I'm feeling very badly about this, obviously.
2. Not having a breeder locally, is it feasible to try to find very young pups at Pet Smart? Should we forget adding 2 and just plan to introduce 1 new gerbil?

Thank you for any advice you may have.
Sam-I-Am

[piffthegerbl]

I keep a clay pot in my tank BUT, I have 2 holes in it so they can go in and out as they please. My friend forund 2 relatively young gerbils but at petco. they were probably 6-7 weeks old. Sorry about your gerby

[sweetie]

Hi Sam I AM,

I like the name BTW. What area are you in? It might give us a better idea where you could look. Also if you are a few hours away from a breeder, maybe they would be willing to drive half way to meet you.

I do believe that you could find young pups at PetSmart. I know PetSmart stores either only carry girls or only carry boys. THey do this so there are no unwanted pregnancies.

If I were you, I think if you have the room for 2 new pups, I would get 2. If you have a male, and get 2 more males, it should work. Males are more laid back than females. Yours is young enough that 2 would be okay. Of course, I would always be on the look out for declanning behavior.

I am sorry to hear about your little gerbil. Thank you for sharing your experience with us we can all learn from it.

[SamIAm]

Thank you very much for your sympathy and advice. I am in East Tennessee. When we were first looking for gerbils, I tried to contact the 2 breeders that were listed on the American Gerbil Society but neither were still in business. I did read several posts that rather praised PetSmart as a better pet store for small animals than most so that is where we bought. They just got a new batch of gerbil pups this week that they will start selling today or tomorrow. I think we will try 2 male pups.

I will let you know how it goes!
SamIAm

[RitzieAnn]

I got my Keebler at PETsMART in October, and I got 2 new boys from PetCo 2 weeks ago. I tossed Keebler and them into an clean tank and it was fine. (Read my thread, "daddy meets boys") Blitz and Gizmo were older. They had been at PetCo for a while. I'd say they are between 3 and 4 months old. Probably not older than 5 though.

As far as the clay pot goes, is your bedding really thick?? I have used a heavy object that's balenced enough so it won't tip, but I always set it on the bottom of the tank, and THEN put in bedding, so they can't dig under it, only around it. Sorry about your little guy though!

[gerbilsrgreat]

"I did read several posts that rather praised PetSmart as a better pet store for small animals than most so that is where we bought."

A pleasure to hear. I've worked at PetsMart for 6 months now and just couldn't resist getting a couple of gerbils. We do take great care of our small animals.