It's possible the fighting was caused by the close proximity of males and
females. Before my pregnant rescue female had her litter, I never would
have believed it, but I had a tank of 3 sisters from the litter next to a
tank of 4 boys from the litter. The sisters, who had always gotten along
fine, began to get really nasty with each other. I wanted to avoid
splitting the 3 up if possible so, on a whim, I moved the boy tank and
replaced it with a tank of females. I have not seen them fight since!
The mixing of the food bowls, assuming they were not washed in between,
could also cause problems. The mixing of a foreign group's scent could have
confused them, causing them to turn on each other.
I would try pairing up the lone boy with a young male when he's recovered.
My gut reaction to the nipping is that, if the previous owners did not even
split up the group when one was killed by fighting, then he was probably
never socialized properly or maybe not handled correctly.
Are there any breaks in the skin on the arm that is swollen? (good luck
seeing that through fur, right?) If the skin has been broken, I would bet
the swelling is from a wound that is infected. It should be treated with a
course of oral antibiotics to stop the infection from getting into the
bloodstream, which would be fatal. If there is definitely no wound, then it
is probably broken, in which case it should heal on its own within a couple
weeks. She should gradually start trying to use it again.
These little fuzzballs are sure lucky to have ended up in your care!
Jill
----------
> From: ABCgerbils <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Gerbil rescue update
> Date: Sunday, April 08, 2001 4:00 PM
>
> On Thursday evening a woman at work who's daughter has
> gerbils was having trouble with them. She had four
> tanks stacked together on book shelves and was having
> problems with a girl tank of 3 and a boy tank of 3.
> The girls had started squabbling and the boys were
> seriously fighting and one had been killed. (They did
> not seperate any of them)
>
> I said I'd take them home and nurse/split cage them.
> By Friday afternoon when they brought them to me a
> second boy was dead and the third pretty beaten up.
> So now he's alone. The three girls are doing well and
> getting along great.
>
> Thank you for all the advice, everyone, on patching
> these guys up!! They are all doing very well now.
> The only injury I'm still worried about is that a
> female is not putting much weight on her front paw and
> the upper "arm" is swollen.
>
> Any advice on what I should do for the lone boy? Can
> I trust him with a new partner? I could put him with
> a male pup or an older male. I'd wait a few weeks
> until he's completely healed up.
>
> Also, he nips (not hard, yet!) when I put neosporin on
> him. And he nipped my daughter when she picked him
> up.
>
> Also, and ideas why this would have happened? They
> thought that it might be having boys/girls in close
> proximity (with mating interests), they'd been
> thumping alot prior to this. They also said that they
> accidently switched the ceramic bowls between these
> two tanks -- could that get them going??
>
> Thanks,
> Donna
> ABC Gerbils
> www.abcgerbils.com
>
>
>
>
>
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