How can I help my depressed gerbil?

Question

Our little gerbil died last night :(

His brother, Gerald, has known him for a good year and a half and already seems very sad about his brother's death.

Does he need time to mourn his friend before I clean the cage?

How long do I wait before we get him a new cagemate?

As for introducing, we have had no problems (knock on wood) introducing our male gerbils when the new one is young and they get at least an hour to play and get to know each other in their playpen before we put them in the tank.

So I am not too concerned about the introduction, but I am concerned with how hard Gerald seems to be taking his brother's death.

I don't want to rush him but I also don't want to wait too long so that his health suffers.

Answer 1

hes only upset coz he misses his bro and you should buy quite a few gerbils 2 aint really enuff i have 4 gerbils 3 mice 2 ferrets 1 hamster 2 rats and my female rat had babies 2 days ago x*x

Answer 2

Mine did the same thing when his brother died and i think i cleaned the cage pretty soon after because we found he died of a cold and we wanted to get the cage disinfected and start the other one on medicine. Then i wasn't sure if i wanted mor egerbils so i waited about 2 or 3 months then decided it would be best if he got another friend and i hated seeing him just sleep and sit there all the time. Then i got him his 2 current cage mates and they've been best friends for about 6 months now!

I would say whenever you are ready to get him a friend it would be ok but definitely wait atleast a little while so you don't overhwelm him. Also take a look at why Gerald's brother died and make sure Gerald isn't about to die of the same thing then you'd be going through the same thing with the new gerbil.

good luck!

Answer 3

Give him a couple days.  Don't clean his cage or anything, just let him be for the rest of the day and then try playing with him again.  It'll be hard on him to understand why his brother is suddenly gone, but I recommend, if you're getting another one, in the next week.  

If you give him too long before the next cage mate, he might not want to share his territory with anyone else.  But too soon and he might not be ready and might get a little too stressed out and start losing a little hair.

So within the next week (give him five to ten days and then go buy another), get another hammie and get to work introducing them.  It sounds like you have experience with this sort of thing (introducing, I mean), so good luck!