Weird Sister Behavior

[southcore]

I've had my two sisters for about 2 weeks now and they have been very close, but today they were both acting very strangely. My DEH(Baby) was just sitting there by herself in the sand all day. My nutmeg(Chewie) who i thought was the dominant one acted normally till this evening. They have a box they've chewed up and turned into a nesting place they were both sleeping together in it earlier today...but tonight they don't seem to be wanting to get along. I got chwie out the handle her some (i'm in the process of hand taming them since i got them from petco) When i put Chewie back in, Baby mounted her like they were mating, but i sure she was just rubbing her scent on her...Baby then continued to chase Chewie for several minutes around the tank.

Chewie doesn't seem to like this, though she did the same thing to baby a little later. But now Baby won't let Chewie sleep in the box. She runs her out everytime she tries and comes in. They haven't gotten violent but i'm worried about what might be wrong...i could be over reacting buti don't want to take any chances hopefully they'll be back to being nest buddies by morning.

[queenofthenile]

Hopefully this behaviour doesn't escalate. Sometimes gerbils have spats like this. The best thing to do is to remove the object they are fighting over (the nest box). If behaviours do escalate and you see excessive chasing, excessive mounting or hear lots of squeaking, I would split cage them for a few days until things calm down.

[southcore]

Thanks for the advice....i hope they don't start fighting again today. They are both happily asleep in the box today Again thanks!