Gerbil died :(

[Theas18]

The smaller shyer of my gerbils died when we were away. There had always been a bit of cross chasing behaviour etc that occaisionaly had me worried they were declanning but never any blood bites or what I thought were real fights.

DS says she had a bit of a scratch on her side but No blood/ bites so I hope I'm not now living with a gerbil murderer and she just died....

So we have one fat gerbil who looks bereaved If you were to anthropomorphise. She is just sitting a lot without even her judgy look. She chomps her tubes and am scattered food etc ( loads in bowls barely touched) but isn't that interested even on walking on your hand for seeds. She really isn't wanting to be picked up either ( before she was pretty easy to handle) and half jumped back into the cage off my arm the ore day.

I guess we just wait it out, offering her seeds etc . Can't see that trying to get her 2 pups would help. She was definitely dominAnt so split caging et maybe a disaster.

Any advice? I feel sad for her !

No advice I'm afraid (never had gerbils) but when a SuperFurry crosses The Bridge.

Hopefully there will be some Gerbil Advice soon.

Oh dear.
My gerbil died a month ago, but she was the last of three, and the middle one went the month before. We had the odd power struggle go on, but they seemed brief and no one got hurt.
How old is the remaining one? I don't think gerbils are happy on their own, but I'm not sure how successful it would be to introduce a new one.
When I had one left I made sure that she was out every day for a bit of socialising with me, but I'm well aware that I just couldn't cut it as a gerbil substitute.

I'd think about introducing her to a pup and going down the split cage route. We've done it twice and both times got a pup from a hobby breeder. We were able to take our gerbil to 'meet' prospective new cage mates and chose one that showed behaviour together like they were going to get on. In both cases they were only in the split cage for a matter of days before going on to be great friends.

That said, if the remaining gerbil is fat and potentially aggressive, she might be poorly. Especially if she's not particularly lively now. Could that be an option? How old were they and where did you get them from?

They are/were 18-19 months. Bought from a small independent pet shop.

Poor G seems very " depressed" ( I know, less of the anthromorphism!) lovely coat, bright eyes not obviously I'll. Still not interested much in her seedy treats but eating plenty scattered on the bedding. Definitely not interested in human company. You can pick her up if you need to but she doesn't come to you as much.

Interestingly she seems rubbish at " housekeeping" or is asserting that she can do what she wants in a teenage way! The gerbil who died was funny and sweet - the moment we changed the cage she nibbled the hay into short lengths and arranged it in a nice nest. G has a heap of hay and that's it, no faffing!