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The gerbils fell out on Christmas day - any advice?

Zoobec

Moderator
Staff member
About a month ago, Cookie, one of our 3 gerbils (brothers) died. Since then the other 2 didn't seem to be getting on as well, and yesterday they decided to have a big fight. We had no choice but to split them up :cry: Badger was bullying Milk and Milk had surface wounds on his tail, and was very withdrawn. Luckily my OH is pretty handy so after a brief spell with one in the carrier and the other in the bath he split the tank using playpen panels. Both gerbils are fine today, they seem happy enough, they can see and smell each other and even sniff each other.

I suspect they'll have to be kept apart permanently. In all the years of having gerbils I've never had any that have fought before, does anyone have any experience of being able to reintroduce them to each other?
 
I'm afraid that in my experience, they will continue to fight and should be kept apart for their own safety now. It may be possible to pair up the bullied one with a new partner in future. The bully usually continues to bully and can inflict some really nasty injuries. I've no idea why it happens, but we've had it happen twice in recent years with same sex siblings. It's not ideal, but the remaining singletons were OK on their own.
 
I'm afraid that in my experience, they will continue to fight and should be kept apart for their own safety now. It may be possible to pair up the bullied one with a new partner in future. The bully usually continues to bully and can inflict some really nasty injuries. I've no idea why it happens, but we've had it happen twice in recent years with same sex siblings. It's not ideal, but the remaining singletons were OK on their own.
Thankyou :thumb: they seem very happy now, so maybe it's best that they stay as they are in the split tank. I've just ordered an extra wheel so they can have one each :thumb:
 
That's the safest option. Once they have had a serious fight, they can be ok for a while and then one will randomly and suddenly turn on the other. We managed to save one partner in time and he recovered from his injuries after a couple of weeks. Another was not so fortunate (from a different sibling trio). There was no warning either time, just a previous squabble some weeks before, with minor injuries. There did not seem to be any reason for it eg health issues with either bully or bullied.
 
That's the safest option. Once they have had a serious fight, they can be ok for a while and then one will randomly and suddenly turn on the other. We managed to save one partner in time and he recovered from his injuries after a couple of weeks. Another was not so fortunate (from a different sibling trio). There was no warning either time, just a previous squabble some weeks before, with minor injuries. There did not seem to be any reason for it eg health issues with either bully or bullied.

Yes, you are right, things can change very quickly without any warning. Sorry about the gerbil you lost in a fight :cry: I now wonder if Cookie was killed by Badger :cry: he had injuries but we thought they were inflicted after death. Cookie was such a friendly little chap :love: at least we've saved Milk, his injuries were just superficial and he's fine now :thumb:
 
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