mysticalfairy212 Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 I'm wanting some gerbil advice and wondered if anyone could help? We got two male gerbils two months ago and one of them died last night. There's no signs he was sick. He just dropped suddenly. The other gerbil seems okay but a bit shaken. Where should I go from here? Will my remaining gerbil be okay on his own or should I get him new gerbils to integrate with. I know they're sociable creatures. Any advice would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted May 3, 2023 Share Posted May 3, 2023 On 5/2/2023 at 8:26 PM, mysticalfairy212 said: I'm wanting some gerbil advice and wondered if anyone could help? We got two male gerbils two months ago and one of them died last night. There's no signs he was sick. He just dropped suddenly. The other gerbil seems okay but a bit shaken. Where should I go from here? Will my remaining gerbil be okay on his own or should I get him new gerbils to integrate with. I know they're sociable creatures. Any advice would be appreciated. Gerbils are best kept in pairs or more. But integrating a new gerbil is tricky business and should be left up to experienced people. They can easily fight to the death if the coupling is not done right. So definitely don’t go out and just buy a new one. Best bet is to either contact a reputable breeder or a small rodent rescue. Both often offer coupling your remaining gerbil to a new one. No guarantees though. I had to break up a few fights yesterday when I was babysitting a new pair at the rescue I volunteer at. I too have a single gerbil remaining, but so far they’ve tried to couple him twice without success. Breeders are often slightly more successful as they have more gerbils so more options for coupling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted May 8, 2023 Share Posted May 8, 2023 Cat Tails is absolutley right - it is very tricky to integrate small furries. We had 2 Chinese hamsters at one point - should have been 3 (brothers so had been together since birth and were happy together) but one escaped at the sanctuary and, by the time he was recaptured and returned to the cage - just 4 hours, the other 2 turned on him and they had to be separated. Equally, we had 2 sister dwarf hammies, again been together since birth, and experienced hamstergeddon at 3am one morning as they decided they didn't like each other. May just be better to leave your gerbil as a solo. Although it may be a tad stressy it could be more stressy to bring another gerbil into his territory and for them not to get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
