Introducing a new gerbil?

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We have a young adult male gerbil who is a bit lonely. I'm thinking of getting him a young male friend. We've made a rudimentary split cage in a Really Useful Box as our main cage is a Perfecto which is hard to split due to the shelves. Just wondering if anyone has any advice about attempting to bond gerbils?

Hi. I have successfully bonded two sets of gerbils, and failed with one. I used the same method each time so I think gerbil personality has a big role. I've only bonded females so not sure if males are the same, but a young gerbil seemed to bond better with an older one. I would advise putting them in individual cages for a week near each other, then swap them between the cages daily. I then moved mine into a split playpen that was all on one level and kept swapping them daily. When they sleep in each others nests introduce them, but ensure you can separate them if the form a ball together. Good luck

Thanks for the reply! The difficulty I'm having at the moment is trying to find a single young male gerbil...

Have you looked into breeders? Pets4homes often has breeders. If there is a litter with a single male then he would need to be bonded so you may have some luck there.

I've failed with a m/m split before - had a textbook set up of glass tank and mesh divider and swapped them over multiple times a day for about 2 months but they just hated each other. I ended up getting 2 male pups and they bonded with my lone boy after a few days and are a happy clan of 3 still 18 months later. Unless you're happy to return the single male if it didn't work or have space for 2 tanks I'd get a pup or a pair of pups because that combination with an older male is so much easier. I luckily found a local gerbil owner with an unexpected litter, by the time they get to pet shop age they're often too old, 6-8 weeks is best.

Ah thanks - yes I was hoping to find a local breeder/owner but it's much harder than I thought! Interesting that you have 3 getting on with each other - I was kind of wary in case that caused them to split again somehow.