Oh fuck...another gerbil thread

[BuggarMeGently]

I posted,a thread a few weeks ago about mt "male" gerbil giving birth to three babies. We have since bonded, and decided to keep them.

So here's the issue: while handling the babies tonight, one shot out of my hand, and my DD may or may not have stepped on him. Since then, he has had a rattly chest, and is just lying in his house.
My questions

How do I take care of him

And the biggie,

DD went to bed upset after accidentally stepping on him. If he does die, how to diminish the guilt? I'm tempted to tell her that he was in Gerbil Hospital, and someone "adopted" him so that he would have space to get better. What do you think?

If the gerbil does (sadly) pass away, and you are worried your DD will feel guilty for the rest of her days over it, the best thing you can do is to explain purposefully, without letting her believe otherwise, that it was an accident plain and simple.
Accidents happen, it wasn't her fault, no-one will blame her, etc etc in as many ways you can think of, then you can all move on with no long-term damage...

Sorry for the poor little thing but also sorry for your DD! I remember accidentally tipping a fish out of the fishbowl, that was a traumatic time for a while...

XLinguini I have already prepared her for the possibility that he may not make it. I said that it was unlikely that an animal so small could survive such a high fall, so removing the focus off the treading IYSWIM.

Hmm, I seem to recall that there was some terrible writhing about before the laying still and rattling began. Oh it's awful when things like this happen.

At the risk of sounding like a total knacker, (but to assuage the worry of your daughter feeling guilty forever) Alan was a replacement for 'Gucci' (it came with that name) the hamster, who was unfortunately snatched from ds's open hand by the trashcat of the time and cold bloodedly murdered in front of poor (stupid) ds. He'd been warned not to get the hamster out when I was not there, but had done so anyway, and then sat watching telly with the (ridiculously docile) hamster in his open hand.... easy money for a slick hunter..... ds howled and sobbed and felt terrible. He is not psychologically scarred though. In fact I don't think he can even remember. He was six at the time, and is 17 now.

I honestly think the gerbil will be fine if it's made it through the night - and if not, kids are incredibly resilient in my experience. Good grief I'm a hard hearted Hannah aren't I?

Oh and the vet gave an injection of anti-inflammatories - that was it. You can always give the vet a ring, and be upfront about finances. They can give you some reassurance over the phone for free!

No cat will ever get me...I'm the flying gerbil!

? ?

I'm a flying superman! My superpower is...the ability to bounce!!

He's bouncing around like a ball!

Awesome! hopefully just a concussion then.

Good way to house gerbils is in an aquarium. Not full of water

Oops posted too soon. We had an old aquarium and the gerbils loved it. Made an extra level and they dug and made tunnels like they were auditioning for the great escape. Hope yours gets better op.

Glad to see that he's okay! My cousin stepped on a dwarf or Russian hamster when he was younger. My cousin was a very heavy child and it was a hard step. Unfortunately it didn't make it :(

I never knew about the heart stick, that's good to know as DP and I have four rats and, god forbid, if we need to postern of be devastated if they were in pain as it happened :(