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Post by gerbilsrgreat on May 5, 2005 20:40:07 GMT -8
OK, so I got my 2 new gerbils, Butter and Cocoa (see earlier post in this section "My new gerbils...") Cocoa is the dominant one and lately I've been hearing some squeaking from Butter. Tonight after I changed their bedding, Cocoa is chasing Butter around and trying to mate with him. Butter is just hiding in a toilet paper tube and Cocoa is actually trying to mate with the tube. Butter seems really stressed out and afraid and so I seperated them tonight. I still have till Saturday to return one or both gerbils to my PetsMart. Both of these guys are from the same litter and been fine up until now. Is Cocoa just now reaching maturity? Will he outgrow this? I know this has come up before in this subject category but it's really reached a critical stage with my gerbies and I'm kind of worried. I love them both but should I return one of them? I don't want them to be lonely. Any advice will be appreciated.  Here's Butter hiding in the tube.  Here's Cocoa trying to mess with Butter.  -Jeremiah |
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Post by AndreaS15 on May 5, 2005 20:56:09 GMT -8
This is not fighting!
He is just showing some dominance by mounting the other gerbils to scent him. The gland is on their bellies. This is NORMAL gerbil behaviour, specially in males, there is no need to return them!
He is probably doing this because of the cleaned cage, he's just marking his buddy as "his", so not to get confused if someone else shows up. I have 5 males, and in each tank the dominent one mount and marks his tank mate.
Seperating them and then putting them back together will make the dominent male mark his buddy again, each time he is returned, or his scent has changed.
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Post by gerbilsrgreat on May 5, 2005 21:07:29 GMT -8
OK, they're back together and as soon as I put Butter back in Cocoa started chasing him around again. They're going so fast they are crashing into things in the cage. How come Butter isn't trying to mark Cocoa and why does he hide and squeak so much?
-Jeremiah
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Post by AndreaS15 on May 6, 2005 19:49:09 GMT -8
He's not diminent, he's submissive. A submissive and young gerbils will squeek, he's saying "your the boss, i'm just a baby don't hurt me". I'm pretty positive things will be ok  My two young boys have been doing teh same thing, but it now has turned into Power grooming lol... |
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Post by gerbilsrgreat on May 6, 2005 23:05:04 GMT -8
Well, they seem to be doing a lot better tonight. I guess Cocoa finally satisfactorily marked Butter as his!
-Jeremiah
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Post by Sunny&Sandy on May 8, 2005 1:21:49 GMT -8
I'm having the same sort of problem with my new gerbils...they are both girls, about 6 weeks old, and from the same litter. I bought them tonight, and they seem to get along OK (no serious fighting), but it's more like they coexist! One of the gerbils, Brooklyn, either won't let Jasmine sleep in the nesting box, or Jasmine won't. I have a 10 gallon aquarium with one of Super Pet tank toppers, and Brooklyn sleeps in the house while Jasmine sleeps on the platform...when Jasmine does try to go in the house, I hear a bunch of sqealing until it's just Brook in there. When Jasmine comes down form the platform, Brooklyn chases her around trying to sniff her, but then everything is OK again. What's going on? Is this normal too? Should I do anything?
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Post by AndreaS15 on May 8, 2005 10:10:29 GMT -8
I think you'll see them calm down in the next few days. Since you just got them they are trying to get used to the new enviroment, they could also be claiming Territory, so you 'may' want to take those few peices out that they are claiming untill they are back sleeping with one another.
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Post by Sunny&Sandy on May 9, 2005 12:24:37 GMT -8
Thanks. I took the house out, and they are sleeping together again and acting normally. Now the only thing I'm worried about is that I'm relying on what the petstore said about their sex! I have no clue what I'd do with babies lol.  |
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Post by lizzy on May 9, 2005 12:35:02 GMT -8
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Post by Sunny&Sandy on May 9, 2005 14:14:28 GMT -8
Thanks! Comparing them to that page, it appears that I do have 4 girls. My older two are also female. They were sexed by our vet.
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SuperGirlH
Member
Are you lookin' at me punk?
Posts: 299
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Post by SuperGirlH on May 22, 2005 15:07:01 GMT -8
My new gerbil is very dominant, I have decided it is best to keep her away from my other 2 females. I am thinking about getting a young male to pair her with. Do you think this will be okay? He will probably be about 6 weeks old. Has anyone had problems itroducing a young male to an older dominant female before? I'm just trying to plan for whatever might happen. thanks!
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