She's MEAN!

[RitzieAnn]

OH - MY- HOLY-GERBILS!! I've never met such a mean gerbil! She' TERRIBLE! She's a pup from my 1st litter (born Jan 14, 05), and I gave her and a sister to my boyfriend's brother, Matt. He's 16, and would hold them every day. She was a little jumpy as a pup, but she was nice for all intesnive purposes. She'd randomly jump from your hand- all of a sudden, it's not like you could see her getting ready to do it- it was random. But other then that.... I mean, she'd never bit or scrached. But now- WOW! He gave her back! She tries to bit him every time he'd try to take her out, and she tried to bite me twice when I'd go see her. Plus, the day I took her back, she bit Stephanie (age 14, she's Matt's sister) and made Steph bleed! She' hard to pick up, and she's like a jumping bean! It's like she has ADD or ADHD! Can gerbils get that?

It makes me sad, she's probably the prettiest gerbil I have (and I have 10) and I really wanted to breed her, but NOT if she's mean like this! That would be bad! I believe she's a Pied Burmese, but as soon as I get my camera back, I'll get some picts of her up.

I tried to introduce her and her sister (the one she was with) to their little sisters (36 days younger then them) and they were doing alright, minor, typical scuffles, but then I had to take her away because she made her 3 little sisters bleed. (But the other older sister only made noises at the little girls, and wrestled with them, but she did NOT bite them).

This girl is 2 1/2 months old.... and I'm trying to stick my hand in the cage and snatch her up every chance I get so she knows that she can be NICE because nobody's going to hurt her, but do you think that she's even worth it? Will she "recover" and become nice? Spazzy is ok, but I won't take biting! That's NOT ok! Should I take her sister away because she' nice? Could I put the snotty little daughter back with her mom? This daughter is the one I wrote about in another thread (titled "Which daughter should I leave with mom," or something similar to that.) She would have scuffs with mom, and mom would grab her by the tail and drag her off into a corner! (it was funny to watch)

PLEASE HELP!! Really could use some advice!

[photolicious]

OK this is the second post of you that see, I will ban you right away! You can discuss hamsters in the Other Animal Species Board or another forum. I ban you because, you only post to bother us. Many gerbil lovers are also hamster lovers by the way! Including me, I have had many of both!

[RitzieAnn]

If you joined a GERBIL forum just to knock them- don't be surprised if you're kicked out! It's about GERBILS, NOT people who feel they need to act like morons and make completely pointless posts!

[queenie]

Please do not respond to these sort of posts, it only gives the troll what it wants.

[Doomgerbiluk]

Getbils.like people. are all different.
Whether its hormonal or personality its impossible to say but it does seem soem girls are worse.
she may calm down as she grows but she may not. I wouldn't liek tos econd guess her.
I doubt shes gonna intro easily and suspect leaving her with her sister is best. An intro to mum would be a new intro now as they will not remember each other. As she is nervous/aggresive its asking for trouble.
Do NOT grab her, leave her alone and try to build up her confidence (tame her) over time.
Do not breed from her, her pups may inherit her personality or learn bad habits from her.
Goood luck.

[RitzieAnn]

I split her from her sister because her sister was getting along well with the little girls. I put Little B into a small cage and left her there for a few days. I know it was mean, but I'd stick my hand in there and try to hold her every day. She was in there less than 5 days, and it got to the point where she'd squint her eyes, and curl her toes, but she stopped biting, and she delt with being held. She just got so despriate for attention. So I made a little wire area for her in the tank with her sister and her younger sisters. There are no signs of blood, and they all slept in a pile the first night I let Little B out of her wire area. I guess it was just one of those things where she wouldn't except it unitl she knew what she was missing out on! ;D And though it saddens me, I have no intentions on breeding her. SHe's a little itch, with a B! Hence her name, Little B..... I certianly wouldnt want another one! She has a little sister from the 2nd litter, named GG, and though she's NOT a spazz like Little B, GG does bite. She made my boufriend bleed, but that was a few weeks ago, and I don't think she's bit since. But NONE of the other siblings are mean.

[AndreaS15]

You mentioned she would just 'jump' off hands, did she ever hit the floor?
Because if so, well that's a bad experiance, and she could be associating hands with falling... or she now has a head injury and that is causing the bitting.

Also, Introducing an older female to a group of young females is a bad idea. females are very dominent and so they will fight and attck one another, that's how they are.
1 Female to 1 Female can be a hard intro, but 1 female to a group is a no no.

[doomgerbil]

It sounds like you've doen everything right
do keep an eye on her, in my experience gerbils liek her seldom calm down fully, you may well find when she goes on heat you ahve to watch her
As you have discovered temperament is important and I'm glad you ahve the sense not to breed from her
good luck with all your animals

[RitzieAnn]

She's spent the last 3 nights sleeping in a huge gerbil pile (5 total) with her litter mate Sister, her 2 little sisters, and little Kandice, who's a week older than the little sisters. I am keeping a close eye on her though. I know that things can change when she goes into heat, but I haven't seen anything so far. All is well for now.

And yes, Andrea, she has fallen. She always jumped from your hand when she was little, and one time my friend was holding her (about chest level, and he's just under 6ft I believe.) She was nice an quite, then all of a sudden she jumped! Splat on the floor! But to the best of my recelection, she was fine after that. But she did land on her feet, but it must have been nearly 5 feet. I never thought of a head injoury. hum.....

[sweetie]

Hey Ritzie,

I had a similar experience with one of my female gerbils. I put Momma Bears 2nd litter in the playpen with the 3rd litter and the SP Burmese female was running around power grooming all the little one's. She was getting a little too aggressive chasing and rolling the little one's so I took her out. The others all played and interacted well with each other. I had planned on integrating the litters when the youngest were old enough until I could place them but I will not now.

I am glad that you have decided not to breed her. Colors are great but if the gerbils is a nastly little biter then the color is irrelevant.

BTW what color is Little Biter?

[RitzieAnn]

;D Actually, the "B" in her name doesn't stand for "biter".... it's much worse than that! She's a dog! ;D So it's just much more polite to call her Little B instead of her whole name!

Um... I thought she was a pied burmese, but evidently she's spotted, because her collar isn't full. It's more like a triangle on her neck (I tried to get a pict from Photobucket, but they're checking something, so I'll get it later.) Sandy told me she was spotted. She's super pretty though. And she is nicer that I had her in a little thing for a few days.... she really did get despirate for attention! ;D

**got the pict...

[sweetie]

Hey Ritzie,

I was trying to be nice also by saying Biter . She is beautiful! I am glad to hear she is behaving finally! It is tough to have a nasty gerbil on your hands (no pun intended lol).

[doom gerbil]

me too
do watch har..as I said gerbils girls tempers are often hormonal and female gerbil colonies are less stable long term than boy colonies
good luck with them and I hope she and yoiu have a happy future together