posted
Gerbils are now considered of general interest, I have decided. Post here about your experience with gerbils, and possible any other small pets.
Cause I love 'em! AND we're going to have babies soon! YAY!
posted
Tip to raise healthy baby gerbils: leave mama and babies alone for a few days after birth. Wear rubber gloves when you feed them and change their water, and don't totally clean the cage--just throw extra cedar chips down every once in a while (again, while wearing rubber gloves). Mama gerbils are very, very protective of their babies. They consider human scent to be a threat to their newborns, so you want to eliminate it as much as possible. Otherwise you'll end up with dead babies. Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks for the tip, as I do anticipate becoming grandma to some type of rodent next year. I had hamsters as a kid. It seemed like all the normal kids had gerbils. So I have that "dislike of trendy" feeling toward them. Unless they are black, I guess.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I just like gerbils better because you can get two. I heard hammies need to be by themselves usually.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
My brother and I had gerbils for years when we were young. We had lots of litters of baby gerbils (which are really cute when they're about a week old). Do make sure to take the male out as soon as the babies are born (or he'll harrass the mom) and keep him separated for at least a week or so. Be sure to keep him in a secure location because he will try to escape. Be careful about the scent thing with new babies (like xnera said). After about the first week, our female was fine with us playing with the babies. We used to trade our baby gerbils to pet stores for supplies.
Our last litter was very sad. A couple of the babies died a few days after they were born. A week or two later all the rest of the babies and the mom died too. The dad was heartbroken (no, he didn't kill them). He ended up living for several years (outliving another female) and in the end committed gerbil suicide (squezed out of his cage and lept to his death off the desk his cage was on).
Our gerbils and my cat got along fine (but we did put the gerbils in either a glass aquarium with a mesh lid weighted down so the cat couldn't open it, or with their wire cage inside an aquarium so the cat wouldn't be tempted to reach between the bars).
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Tomorrow I will have to have a gerbil funeral. Harmony/Hominy died tonight after contracting an upper respiratory infection from me. At least she's not having trouble breathing anymore. She was a good gerbil. Now Peas/Peace is left all alone. Rain
posted
Gerbils are awesome! So are guinea pigs. My bro and I had many gerbils - we never tried to breed them though. THey're soooooo cute and playful. they're awesome We had this one gerbil, vanilla, that totally changed my life. He was the best and I still think about him a lot 13 years after he passed away.
Posts: 348 | Registered: Dec 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Aww, Rain, I am so sorry! That's terrible. I don't know what I'm going to do with Anne's mate when she dies, because she is so much older than he is, so I know he'll be left alone for a long time. If you can find a gerbil breeder near you, you can get a pup that is the same sex as Peace. Older gerbils do not do well when introduced to another adult, but they do pretty well with pups.
Oh, and are you treating Peace for a respiratory infection? That's very important, since it's so contagious.
posted
I think I was wrong about the respiratory infection. She was never clicking or wheezing. She was just hunched over on top of her wood block and rocking back and forth with her heartbeat and her eyes were really bulging out. When she died, it looked like a heart attack. They are kind of old for gerbils (3-1/2 years).
Peace is fine so far. I disinfected the tank and gave her new bedding and food and water.
Posts: 1379 | Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
HAHA!! I was wondering if R. Gere would find this. Don't know much about gerbils, but I ran over a dead skunk yesterday with the lawn mower. At least I think it was a skunk.
Posts: 8 | Registered: May 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Rain- I would give Peace ornacycline in the water bottle for at least a week...that way your bases are covered just in case it was something communicable. It couldn't hurt, anyway. But yeah, 3.5 years is pretty old. Poor guys. Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
![[No No]](graemlins/nono.gif)
Belle. Though I have to admit I was afraid to open this thread.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Cry]](graemlins/cry.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[Angst]](graemlins/angst.gif)
