Feel absolutely devastated. Gerbil died, my fault.

[AutumnSunday]

Had two rescue boys for over a year. Had to seperate them a few months ago due to sudden fighting, both looked to be doing well by themselves. Would have them out for a run at night and they'd still try to groom each others noses through the bars. Big male gerbils.

I always put cardboard in the cages. Toilet rolls, big tubes you get from Pets at Home. I decided to put the tube middle in from a bacofoil roll, cut in half so each gerbil had half each. Much smaller diameter to a toilet roll but far too small to get a head stuck? Not the case it seems.

I found one of my boys dead in his cage yesterday with his head firmly stuck and I feel absolutely devastated. Cried buckets yesterday and can't shake it. I would never, ever have put this in the cage if I thought this would happen. The other gerbil has demolished his with no problem. I just can't figure out how one of them got so firmly stuck.

We were out and about quite a lot yesterday and so I've no idea when this happened. The tube had been in the cage for almost two weeks. If only I'd just got it out.

He was the gerbil with the most personality. Always on the go. Extremely friendly and I'm going to miss him so much.

I keep reliving it and can't imagine a worse death, I really can't. I keep having thoughts of him stuck, struggling for ages. Bloody awful. We didn't tell ds how he died

RIP my funny little critter

When our GPs were babies I put in a cardboard tube but thought they were too big to get through. When trying to catch them one ran into it to hide and got stuck. Another story that if we hadn't been there it could have had the same ending.

I give mine the inside of the tin foil too. They love it as it's quite tough to get through.
Thank you so much for posting. I won't give mine it anymore.
So sad. Thinking of you x

Bear, that's exactly what I thought, they certainly love to chew and these tubes are much thicker. The other gerbil has destroyed his, if only his brother had done the same

Yes, I'm glad you've seen this thread, I'd hate anyone else to go through this.

I'm thankful those of you who have posted stories of similar incidents ended happily.

This almost happened to one of mine, I was just lucky to notice she had got herself stuck as I looked into her cage at the right time. Stuck with the larger toilet rolls from then onwards. You were just unlucky.

Orange, I think I've relived every moment of Saturday wondering when it happened. Thinking if only we'd hadn't been so busy, I may would have seen or heard something. I'm only hoping he didn't suffer too long.

Glad you had a happier ending.

Years ago, I got two gerbils. I made them a gerbilarium, just like the ones in the books, and gave them lots of digging material, tubes, hay etc. I also put in a clay flower pot, like the books suggested. They had a really nice time.

Unfortunately, one vanished but she was always an indoors sort of girl. We realised we hadn't seen her for a day, so after tea, we took the other one out and started digging. Unfortunately, she had dug under the flower pot, which had turned upside down, and as it was on the bottom of the tank, became trapped under it.

She had tried to get out we were gutted and felt terribly guilty about the way she had died. Still, she had a good life the rest of the time. We stuck to cardboard after that.

I think you were really unlucky with the foil tube as they can usually get their heads back out of things they get them into. It is really difficult to find them something that lasts more than half an hour.

Oh no, poor you and poor AutumnGerbil.

It was an accident. You didn't do it on purpose. Please don't be too hard on yourself. It sounds like he was very well loved and cared for during his life which is probably much more than a lot of gerbils get.

I'm so sorry, OP. The fact that he got his head stuck while his brother was fine suggests to me that maybe he was maybe pretty weak and unwell already, as I don't think this would be enough to kill a healthy animal. It seems likely that he wasn't quite 100% anyway - these little critters can deteriorate quickly with little warning. I'm sorry.

Cherylene, it's awful isn't it. Poor you having to find your poor gerbil in such circumstances.

Floppy, I do have to try and remember that he did have a great life, was happy to be handled, was let out of his cage for a run about etc he was certainly loved.

Mackerel, he seemed bright and alert but yes, there may have been something underlying which I didn't know about.

The other gerbil is now wondering why we're constantly checking in on him. He's the less adventurous of the two and doesn't hop onto our hands like his brother did. He will be pampered doubly so now.

It is awful. Poor DH even cried because he felt so bad about it.

I have had other gerbils since and tried to give them a really good life, but their ends were not necessarily as good as I would have liked them to have, IYSWIM. There was little I could do about it.

The important thing is that you give them as good a gerbilly time whilst you have them. You could keep them very safe for a long time, but they would not necessarily enjoy it. They are busy, inquisitive little things and need lots of stimulation.

I watched a wildlife programme about the Mongolian desert a while ago. There were red-tailed gerbils nicking dropped grapes from a grape store. Lovely to watch.

Cherylene, dp was equally devastated and he's not normally one to get upset.

They are great little creatures. I pondered for quite some time which pet to go for before we bought them. We've always had dogs but due to work commitments atm we couldn't have another.

They are such little characters and my two were completely different. Great that they're awake throughout the daytime, always come to the bars of the cage to sniff my nose Lovely little things.

I can imagine the end, even naturally, for some isn't great. I suppose it's the knowing when to intervene or to let nature take its course. Never an easy decision.

I'd love to watch that wildlife documentary. I'm curious how they act in the wild compared to their gerbilarium. Will have to look it up.
I've never given mine grapes, I did read on one site that they were poisonous to gerbils but other sites say grapes are ok, so I've never bothered with them.

My remaining boy will be lavished with a piece of broccoli this evening and maybe a peanut as an extra treat.

You poor thing. It's not your fault.

RIP, dear little gerbil.

Thanks Koala.