Re: lonely gerbil

[Marty Huntzberry]

I had a pair of male gerbils, living together since they were a few weeks old. ( they are now 1 1/2 years old). They nested together, played and groomed each other.  One died today and the other one seems so lonely.  Is there anything i can do for him or is there any way i can get him a new companion? I had heard that they could only live with family members.   Thanks,   maddy   Not true.  Best thing is to get 1-2 male pups and put with him.  Males accept younger gerbils very easily.  I have two such pairs now, and the only hard part was convincing the pups that the older males weren't going to hurt them!  They are very paternal toward their little buddies, and only one of them has ever been a father.     Tana and The Little Rascals   Maddy, what I've found to work well when introducing new gerbils to each other is to separate them with a wire mesh for a couple of days.  Each day rotate the bedding or the gerbils so that they get the other's scent down and can see them while not getting physically harmed.  Once they both appear calm I would try to really introduce them to each other in neutral territory-maybe an empty tub (wear gloves so u can separate them if needed).  If they get along well, clean out the cage and rub the older one's bedding on the younger one to get his scent on the younger one.  Also place some empty boxes and TP tubes in the cage so their is a place to hide if needed-then put the Gerbs in the cage.  I did this (introducing Gerbs-a younger female to a little older female) and it worked-though, I could tell that the pup was real scared at first.   Marty   Visit my site: http://www.geocities.com/kingskid72