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Post by malabui on Dec 22, 2005 3:22:51 GMT -8
I'm finding it vertially impossible to work out the ranking of my 4 boys in their group.
They all groom each other, they all help out with the mouse work, they erm... how do I tell the rankings?!
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Post by mice on Dec 22, 2005 3:43:05 GMT -8
I can't honestly say I can work out who's dominant in my pair either, they both groom each other, they both pinch each others food, they both play fight in the sand bowl and they both mount each other, so I'm wondering if there really is always a definite hierarchy?  I know they'd be lost without each other; there's never been any scuffles, just play. So I think my boys are similar to yours ;D. |
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Post by ashgerbil on Dec 22, 2005 7:11:20 GMT -8
well, my Ash used to be dominant. he always got to the food first, always nicked Leo's food, he used to push Leo around, Ash was the fattest gerbil (he thought he could throw his weight around) and doing the dominance mounting, but now Leo is dominant! he gets the food first (ash has to wait his turn!), he's put on quite a bit of weight (he used to be quite thin!) and now he does the dominance mounting! i feel a bit sorry for Ash because it's so different for him now, he even has to be Leo's matress now!  but i guess its just Leo's payback time  |
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Post by malabui on Dec 22, 2005 14:02:31 GMT -8
Mine use eachother as Mattresses and duvets! Sometimes they are at the bottom other times they are ontop. Amuseingly poor Thunder suddenly had his duvets move away and the poor thing was STILL asleep on his back at the bottom of the bed pit. He woke up quite a bit later, looked sheepish and went off to the nest!
Thinking about sleeping gerbils, have you ever found that your gerbils sleepwalked? I once caught Ruby sleepwalking.
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Post by ashgerbil on Dec 23, 2005 9:29:53 GMT -8
well, i caught Ash sleep-chewing! he had his eyes closed and he was chewing this piece of paper, he was probably awake though, and just resting his eyes |
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Post by malabui on Dec 26, 2005 2:11:47 GMT -8
hmm.... Ruby was definatly sleep walking. She cam out of her nest, scrabbled at the chewy stick so the seeds fell off, ignored the seeds, missplaced her paws and rolled down a hill she hed created and kida woke up in a heap at the bottom of the hill. She looked VERY embarrised when she woke up and went off back to bed. Nothing she did when sleep walking she had ever done before or since
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Post by doomgerbiluk on Dec 26, 2005 4:55:05 GMT -8
I've had gerbils sleep digging, fallign asleep while chewing the bars at the top of the cage (they actually 'hang' but I wake them for fear of injury), and doing various ather gerbilly things while asleep.
And yes they do look sheepish when they wake up lol
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RW
Member
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. Puppy 6/6/07
Posts: 530
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Post by RW on Dec 26, 2005 6:31:17 GMT -8
It's weird you should ask that question because I'm sure one of my boys had a sleepwalking episode about two weeks ago.
Ozzie is one of the boys I got from a rescue and he snores. The first time I heard him, I thought he was getting sick, but he's never shown any sign of illness in the almost four months I've had him, so he just snores. I'm sure he has little gerbil nightmares, too, because occasionally he starts whimpering and thumping in his sleep...doesn't even wake up. So, yeah, he's strange.
One night I was up really late and Ozzie was asleep and started snoring. Then he started whimpering. I had just turned off the light, when he started crying really loudly. I'd never heard a gerbil cry before. It was awful, just the most pathetic and creepy sound, exactly like a baby animal crying for its mother. I turned on the light and went over to his tank, where he was just wandering around with his eyes closed, crying. It went on for about 10 or 15 seconds more and I was sure he was dying. Then he sat down, still crying. I spoke to him and gently stroked his head and as soon as I touched him, he stopped. He sat there for a few seconds, sort of shook his head, and went to get a drink, then a snack out of his foodbowl. I watched him for about 15 minutes longer, but he seemed OK and has been fine ever since. I'm 99% sure he had a bad dream and was sleepwalking. It was probably the oddest thing I've ever had happen as long as I've owned gerbils.
RW
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Post by malabui on Dec 27, 2005 13:17:07 GMT -8
Aww poor gerbil. I hope that you held him tight so he knew that he was ok. I've never heard a crying or wimpering gerbil
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I know they'd be lost without each other; there's never been any scuffles, just play. So I think my boys are similar to yours ;D. 
but i guess its just Leo's payback time 
