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Newest Additions

Minimallow

Minimallow

Wise Old Thumper
Here are the newest additions to our gerbil family.

Squirrel and Angelo came from Sheffield Gerbil Rescue. Squirrel is to be paired up with my lone female, Raven as her friend died recently. Angelo is to be paired with Damien (this is the gerbil from Watford who a few of you did the gerbil run for) the dangerous :lol: Damien is overlooked due to his love of sinking his teeth into human flesh :roll::lol: So when they two are hopefully paired up they will be rehomed (if that ever does happen) as a twosome :D

Squirrel - she has only a small part of her tail due to amputation.

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Angelo

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Awww lovely :)

Have you had much success bonding single gerbils? We've managed to bond one successfully, but other attempts have met with an immediate battle.
 
Awwwww, they are gorgeous. I hope the bondings go well. :) How is Damien coming along?
 
Lspacehopper said:
Awww lovely :)

Have you had much success bonding single gerbils? We've managed to bond one successfully, but other attempts have met with an immediate battle.
Click to expand...

HI yes practically all the gerbils i have were loners at some point and apart from one trio declanning all have gone really well. Odd numbers are always more dodgy. Which way do you intro them? If you could tell me the method you use i could give you some tips? Gerbils need to be done using a split cage. If they are just introduced 9 times out of 10 will result in fighting.
 
KarenM said:
Awwwww, they are gorgeous. I hope the bondings go well. :) How is Damien coming along?
Click to expand...

HI Karen. Hes a much happier gerbil all round than when we first got him. Hes much more relaxed and there is a lot of licking and grooming through the mesh between him and Angelo. I expected fireworks due to Damiens temperament but he was so calm with Angelo. Just humans he dislikes :lol:
He is fine with me in the tank and picking him up and surprisingly good at being held with gloves on. The second the gloves are off hes quite unpredicatable and will lunge! I think for him its just going to be a case of gloves and hes really fun to watch. :D
 
Minimallow said:
HI yes practically all the gerbils i have were loners at some point and apart from one trio declanning all have gone really well. Odd numbers are always more dodgy. Which way do you intro them? If you could tell me the method you use i could give you some tips? Gerbils need to be done using a split cage. If they are just introduced 9 times out of 10 will result in fighting.
Click to expand...

Well...we had success with introducing on neutral territory, but then had battle royale when we tried it a second time. We have tried the split cage method a couple of times over a period of a week and a half but when they did finally get together they just fought.
 
The neutral territory doesnt really work with gerbils. With the split cage did you swap them over a few times a day or just leave them either side of the split? Splits can take anything from a couple of days to a coupld of weeks or more
 
Here is a step by step guide i did to help people out. If this is followed the chance of success is much higher :)

http://gerbilsociety.com/indysrascals/gerbil-bonding/

Its really important to use a cage that neither has been in and for there to be no toys etc that can be scent marked. Only substrate, hay, paper, toilet roll tubes etc that can be easily destroyed should be in the tank for a split.
 
I think with splits the more you do the easier they get as you know what signs etc to look for. The split shouldnt be removed unless the gerbils are sleeping in each others beds and grooming each other through the mesh. These are normally good signs that all is going well
 
Minimallow said:
HI Karen. Hes a much happier gerbil all round than when we first got him. Hes much more relaxed and there is a lot of licking and grooming through the mesh between him and Angelo. I expected fireworks due to Damiens temperament but he was so calm with Angelo. Just humans he dislikes :lol:
He is fine with me in the tank and picking him up and surprisingly good at being held with gloves on. The second the gloves are off hes quite unpredicatable and will lunge! I think for him its just going to be a case of gloves and hes really fun to watch. :D
Click to expand...

Awww, that's great to hear and is amazing progress considering how he was. :D
 
I think the fact he was given deep substrate to burrow helped a lot. When he was in the wire cage he had no where to hide so his only way to deal with things was to bite as he had no other option! I tried taking away the split just then and they got on ok. I did notice that they started to have a little niggle so ive put it right back on again. Prob too soon for them but does look sooo promising :D
 
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