OK I don't know what on earth is going on in my household.
Yesterday my husband and I moved the four tanks of male
pairs into the back bedroom. The female pairs and a couple
of female singles are in the living room. There is a line
of singles tanks down the hall, with the males toward the
bedroom and the females toward the living room. I hoped
this would solve the problems with my male pair Rascal and
Pookie, and prevent others from happening in the future.
The theory was that nearby females going into heat was
setting them off.
A couple of hours ago I noticed Pookie chasing Rascal a bit,
not like around the tank or anything, it was very mild.
Actually chasing might not be the right term for it. He
seemed overly interested in Rascal's hind end, and Rascal
didn't particularly care for that so hid under his wooden
half-log. I thought this was a bit strange as they are
COMPLETELY away from any females. Grasping at straws, I
moved them into our bedroom where they will be all by
themselves. Maybe they can't deal with other gerbils so
close, the tanks were pretty crammed together. As I type
this they are curled up together sleeping and looking very
innocent. We'll see.
Half an hour ago I noticed a wheel in the back bedroom
squeaking, so I grabbed the Vaseline and headed back there
to de-squeak it. The Vaseline hit the floor when I spotted
Gabriel and Prince rolled in a ball fighting. I have NEVER
seen any sort of hint of problems with these two so I am
really puzzled. My husband and I managed to get them
separated using a water bottle and guided Prince into a
travel carrier. They both have bites on them, there is
blood but not enough for me to think they are seriously
injured. This is so weird. We are headed to Wal-Mart
tomorrow to pick up another tank as I know I can't put them
back together, not when they have drawn blood.
I now have NINE tanks of single gerbils, all due to either
fighting or failed introductions that were heading for a
fight. What the heck?!? That's almost half my tanks!! I
am so bewildered. Especially when perfectly happy pairs
suddenly start turning on each other. The only thing I can
think of is that in each case of fighting, one or both of
the gerbils has just turned two years old or is about to.
Lily is two this month, and was bullying Elita unmercifully,
although Elita didn't seem the least bit interested in
trying to take dominance. Pookie is two next month, and
Rascal is I think about two and four months or so. Gabriel
and Prince, however, are littermates. I thought the two
year thing was when the gerbils were different ages?!? Do I
have this to look forward to any time one of my gerbils hits
two?? I've never had a large population heading toward old
age like this, so I've no experience with it. Most of my
gerbils in the past came from pet shops, and I had no real
idea how old they were, nor did I keep track of how long I
had them.
I think after they have been alone awhile I might try to
introduce either Gabriel or Prince to little Snowy,
whichever of them seems to need the company more. He is
only four months old this month so perhaps it will work
well? He does need company so if I don't do that I will be
looking for a young male to pair with him. I don't know.
I'm almost scared to try any more introductions!! :(:( As
for Rascal and Pookie, if this keeps up I'll probably wind
up separating them too. :(
This is very discouraging. :( Anybody have any other ideas
what might be triggering all this??
--
Tana and The Little Rascals
http://thesanctuary.tripod.com
http://gerbils.freehosting.net
http://www.geocities.com/tinypaws68/
