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Question

Gerbil Fighting


Sent to Pet Experts July 09, 2006 11:38 a.m.

My boyfriend bought a gerbil about a week ago, and I bought myself one just yesterday. We tried our best to introduce them in a neutral territory then we placed them in one of the cages we purchased for them. They did fine for about 5 hours, but they started fighting. The fighting was worse than play fighting but had not yet progressed to drawing of blood. Neither of us want to get rid of our gerbils. Is there anyone we can reintroduce these females in a way so that they will no longer fight, or should we just keep them seperate permanently?

Thank You.

Optional Information:
Age: <1; Female; Breed: Gerbil

Already Tried:
Intially we tried a neutral introduction. After the fight they have remained seperate.
Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Status: Closed   Value: $8   
Answer
July 09, 2006 11:58 a.m. (20 minutes and 5 seconds later)
ACCEPTED Check Mark

Hello and thanks for researching this important question!

Gerbils, like other rodents, bond with their family members at a young age. They then set up territories that they guard wth their lives. It is easiest to adapt an older gerbil to a very young juvenile, and very difficult to adapt two older animals...even a male and female would fight.

Since gerbils are very sociable (unlike hamsters), "strangers" can be taught to get along together...this is most easily done with a split-cage method that exposes them to each others scents and behaviors without allowing them physical contact.

Here is a link to a very comprehensive gerbil site that gives details about this method and other ways of helping two unrelated animals bond. It is possible, though, that these two girls may need separate quarters for their lifetimes if they just do not take to each other (like people!):

http://members.nanc.com/~mhaines/gerbil.html#section2.2



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