Advice of the Gerbil kind!

Psykicpup

as long as she has lots of attention from you she will be ok on her own, she is too old I guess now to introduce a companion for her - see here http://www.petwebsite.com/Gerbil_suitable.htm

eyelinerprincess

I have two gerbils, and one of them is in a bad way. She's nursing her front paw all the time, not sleeping, and falling to the side all the time. She won't let me near her at all. I'm scared I may have to put her out her misery, but I'm worried about the other, healthy gerbil. They've been together for about four years, bar the three nights that the healthy one took a holiday under the cooker, and I'm worried about how she'll react to her sister going away. Anyone been there and can give me some help?

cheepskate_2

Hi

Sorry to hear about the gerbil.
I wouldn't worry the other one will be fine, abeit a bit more skittish as there is no other gerbil to lookout while the other one eats.
Our gerbils were together about 5 years, long time in gerbil life and the other one lived about 4 months once the first one went .
The 4 months i know is not long , but they were already really old when they were together.

Hope everything goes ok

junior_j

depends on how much they are attached , we had 3 rats,

they had spent 2.5 years together , so when 2 got very very ill , they had to ALL be put to sleep because the vet was fearful the other one would die from pinning.
Jess x

eyelinerprincess

Thanks. She seems a little better now she's eaten, and has slept but will be watching her tonight and tomorrow.

Paparika

junior_j wrote: »

depends on how much they are attached , we had 3 rats,

they had spent 2.5 years together , so when 2 got very very ill , they had to ALL be put to sleep because the vet was fearful the other one would die from pinning.
Jess x

I'm glad i'm not the only one here with that.

I had 2 males and they were getting on a bit, one had arthritis quite bad and the other was just starting to get it, when taking them to the vets he agreed that the poorly one should be put down and by looking at his companion going mental in his box, because we had his friend, he said it would be kinder to let them both go together, got quite upset but did it as it was better to be cruel to be kind

eyelinerprincess

She seems to be doing better now, her paw doesn't seem to bother her when there's food on the go, but you know what they're like. They're sleeping in the same house now, and she seems to have brightened up and improved overnight, so I'm keeping an eye on her.

savemoney

Hope she recovers

girleight@

One of my gerbils died unexpectedly at 6 months and I have managed to introduce his brother to a new tank mate. It seems like the best way to do this is to get as young a gerbils as possible and use the split tank or cage in a cage method. I got a small mouse cage and put it in the gerbil tank and swtiched both new and old gerbil between them for a week so they got used to each other's smell. Then put them in together with gardening gloves at the ready (in case of a fight) but they got on great. I hope your gerbil survives though!

MrsB2004

i hope your gerbil is ok?? is it awful when they are left on their own. i used to have two, one passed away after 18 months, the other lived on for a year after but i don't think she was ever the same after losing her sister. this time round we bought four so if one passed away then the others would have company. i hope your gerbil gets better sounds like she is improving