Gerbil Knowledge

[kyrilliondaemon]

I'm glad you've got him now I hope he behaves himself in his bin cage. A gerbil with bed-head makes perfect sense to me, chances are he'll tidy himself up sooner or later.

I'm glad you're a bit more relaxed about his care now.

For what its worth when your friends gerbil partially ate his brother it might be that his brother died naturally and then was eaten. I know it doesn't make it any less icky but as prey animals rodents do sometimes try and clean up after a deceased cagemate and that might be what happened in that case. That said, introductions are never guaranteed to be straightforward so I get why you're reluctant to consider one and I'd never suggest someone start keeping gerbils by getting a lone gerbil and introducing him to another. I wouldn't go by your gut instinct when you've only just met the gerbil though, when we first got Mystery there were signs he'd been fighting in his previous home (where we were told his cagemate had died) yet he's been much happier since his introduction to Fixit. I hope your gerbil is happy as a single gerbil, but it might be best to see how he goes for a few weeks before making a final decision about if you consider an introduction in the future or not.

[racinghamster]

So pleased that you decided to give him a nice home, I`m sure he will settle now and be entertaining! Gerbils are fun. My advice would be chill out and enjoy him. He doesn`t know any better and as far as aggression goes, I`m not sure that could be down to fearfulness or being handled by too many different people in the store or whatever his past has been. His life will be better now, more settled and I would bet money that this will make all the difference to him. x

[greysome]

Thank you everyone! He's a very active boy--currently, he's in a two level bin cage that I kinda tossed together but I'm hoping once I get my hammies into their permanent homes (there's (been and continues to be) a bit of reshuffling going on based on their habits/ages) then I'll also be able to set him up in his permanent home. He's utterly demolished a couple of his hides (made of seagrass/grass and another of willow) and who knows how many cardboard tubes already. I'm trying to figure out where exactly he's been pottying--I thought it would be in the sand bath as that's where he went originally but after I cleaned out the dirty sand, he basically went in, cleaned out most of the sand and created a little nest.

[racinghamster]

Aw, he`s obviously enjoying his new freedom! Gerbils tend to pee here there and everywhere so don`t always soil one spot. Gerbils can be little destructors of cardboard and hay accessories, but it`s all part of what they enjoy. x

[greysome]

Oh dear--this peeing everywhere is going to take getting used to! *sigh* I haven't started trying to tame him yet but he hasn't shown any signs of aggression towards me at all--curiosity, yes and while he doesn't run to avoid my hand, he also doesn't run up to it either.

kyrilliondaemon- Sorry, I meant to respond to you before but forgot to: He is indeed looking better, having groomed his bed-head so to speak. As for the gerbil eating his brother--I did do research immediately afterwards and learned that it may have been done as a protection instinct which I think was the case. I assumed if there had been a fight, there would have been some sign of it (either noise, blood, etc....) so I think the brother may have died of natural causes. Had I been exposed to gerbils before that incident, it probably wouldn't have stuck with me as much as it has.

Still, this lil fella (who I'm thinking of naming Cruz or Crux due to a pattern on his head--it's either a cross or an X--depending on the angle his head is when I grab a look) is making me think about looking into keeping gerbils some years down the road. I was hoping to get some pics this weekend of my brood but it doesn't look likely. Hopefully sometimes soon after Turkey day I'll get a chance (and hopefully by then, he'll officially have a name)