Introducing my Gerbil ? ?

Question

I have an Adult male, golden gerbil who recently lost his brother, so we had my male checked at the vets and he's Okay :) .. but i have decided he looks lonely now (my opinion) and i would like him to share his large Cage so i'm thinking of buying two young (under 10 week old) gerbil's and split cage them.

However does anyone know how long i should Split-Cage for, if you have any tips to help me out on anything, or do you think I'm doing something wrong :S ... just as a note i have a tank set up with the wire mesh, so that's sorted. Thank you

Answer 1

You can never tell until you try.  I had a male gerbil that I could not put with anyone, and another that was as sweet as can be.  Just put them together very gradually in a neutral environment and watch very closely, being ready to separate them if any fighting takes place.  I've had gerbils draw blood from each other so be careful.

Answer 2

ok that same thing happened to me my gerbil is lonley to so the only way to fix this is either get another gerbil that is the same age as him or he will kill them to regain dominance over the cage so what i suggest that you just play with him more than you used to  

Answer 3

I say anywhere from a week to two weeks. Gerbils really really need to learn scent before they can trust any other living being (including people). I would know...I have 5 gerbils.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

What I do to introduce my animals, whether its rats, mice or gerbils, is go to neutral ground like a bath tub(make sure the stopper is in there...) put them in there and watch carefully, separate them if any fighting occurs... oh and totally clean the cage with soap and water, this will descent the cage for the most part and keep a separator in.

Answer 5

Yeah he may be a bit lonely - gerbils are community animals and like to have buddies.

I would buy a separate cage (they may chew through what you divide them with. You will only need a small cage since they are so young.) and have the two cages next to each other. Let the get used to each others look, smells, existence. After a few days or so of this see how they interact if you get them out to play with each other. After a few days of this without error I would see what they do in the cage together. I would do this on a day where you have time to keep an eye on them to be sure their is no fighting.

http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/gerbils/h...

http://www.gerbils.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/...

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?...

http://www.gerbilrehomingofdenver.com/bo...

Best of luck!

Answer 6

I would wait about a week, or if you see them getting along next to each other.

That's how long I waited.