New gerbils fighting

[Fiderer]

We got 2 new gerbils (ca. 10 weeks old) yesterday. Females, were in the same cage at the shop snuggled up. Now home and fighting, one is noticeably hiding from the other and has rough dried blood bites on her bum and tail.

Have seen similar with 4 gerbils we had before, a settling in behaviour I thought. It passed and all was well till 4 months later one had her tail bitten off and was so savaged we bought a new cage and moved 2 in there.

They died of some bacterial infection a couple of months ago and now the new 2 are in their cage. FidGirl (11) is upset as she's looked forward to getting new gerbils for a while and now they're fighting and biting.

Any reassurance please? She bought a book which briefly outlines settling in behaviour and we looked online. The vet at the shop who checked them over said separating them for 24 hrs may help if there were problems. FidGirl has v solemnly eyed me and said, "Mum, ask Mumsnet.".

Gerbils from different litters should not be put in the same tank/cage together right away. They are very territorial. this site has some good info and tips.
Please take the injured one to the vet, it may need antibiotics or its wounds stitching.
Good luck

Oh and if they were from pets at home and you had them checked at their in store vet I'd take very little notice of their advice, they're not exotics specialists and generally won't be able to help that much. Find a specialist and talk to enthusiast keepers online.

Thanks for answering. The 2 were from the same litter and the store (not in UK) has a v good reputation though the vet this time looked about 12.

That site looks good and I think I will take the bitten one to our vet. Poor thing sits on the top shelf waiting for her sister to appear, she doesn't even make herself a little nest though we put a little house thing and some paper there.

Aww, sounds like you're doing the right things, it's possibly that with a new cage one gerbil is now feeling like she can be bossy and territorial. I hope they settle down and start getting along soon.

Didn't get any better. I thought too that the biter was being bossy in their new home and it would settle down, we had that with the last lot.

But it just got worse overnight and went from a few small nips to a savage hunk bitten out. Poor thing could hardly walk. Vet gave her antibiotics and advised us to separate them permanently.

So I bought another cage and FidGirl assembled it mostly herself. That cheered her up at least. Both gerbils now settled but we now have 3 large cages on the top floor. And I pointed out we haven't got room for any more!

You can dab a spot of perfume on both on their back, low down towards the tail. This will mask their natural scent and fool them into believing that they are from the same litter. We used to do this with mine years and years ago. You don't need to do it more than a few days as I recall and they should accept each other.

However, if one has any open wound, I would hang off doing this until it's healed. Cage separately until then.

Hope you get them sorted!

Thanks onedogandababy The vet in the shop mentioned something similar which made me think that the gerbils aren't, as they claim, siblings. Though these 2 were as I said snuggled up on each other unlike the previous 4 where they were definitely 2 & 2.

We have separate cages now but it is better for them not to be alone so I may well try the perfume thing in a day or two.