Gerbil died leaving lone gerbil

[MissAnnThropeofYorkshire]

One of our pair of gerbils died this week. The other one seems to be well but I know they are social animals and so she will get lonely if we don't do something. They are/were only around 1, so the one that's left is likely to have a good bit of life ahead of her.

All the gerbils I have seen advertised are in pairs. Our tank is not big enough for 3 and I don't think it's so easy adding a pair to a single.

I am aware of the split cage method and would be up for doing that, but I have no idea where to get a single female gerbil from.

Any ideas anyone?

Don't do it, if they don't get on which is likely you'll need two enclosures. Considering a suitable enclosure is 150cmx 50cm minimum, 2 enclosures will takes up a substantial spaces and a shit load of substrate so they can dig properly

Thanks. So you think I should just leave her on her own? I'm worried she'll be lonely.

I would leave her alone, we had three sisters, who all fought and ended up with three fuck-off huge enclosures as they couldn't be put back together. They can kill each other if they don't get on.

If you can afford, and have the space for two properly proportioned enclosures if things dont go well then go for it, but then you have two on their own being lonely instead of one.

I would give the current lone gerbil lots of TLC and extra attention, possibly attach some sort of mirror on to the enclosure if you can do so safely but from my experience I wouldn't try and match-make them.

Thanks. That's really helpful. One massive enclose is enough for me!!

It's cruel to leave a 1yo gerbil alone, she will become lonely and depressed. You will need to split cage bond her or give her to someone else to split cage bond. The best place for finding lone gerbils is rescues, rspca, blue Cross are obviously nationwide, or places like pets4homes, gumtree adverts. Roughly where are you in the country?

There are plenty of Facebook groups that can help split cage bond and people will often advertise lone gerbils for adoption.

If you aren't prepared to split cage bond her then there are plenty of people with lone female gerbils that will. There are also rescues that will do it for you. Female gerbils can be tricky to bond but 1 is too young to leave alone for their whole life

I am prepared to split cage bond her. I literally said in my OP that I was up for doing that but I didn't know where to get a single gerbil from.

I'm in Yorkshire. I spoke to Pets at Home and they only have pairs. And I have looked at rescues locally but there are none that have a single female. And I'm not on Facebook. Hence posting on here for advice.

I know you did but the above advise was terrible. Your best bet then is just to keep in touch with local rescues until a single female becomes available or keep looking on pets4homes, gumtree, free ads. Unless you have any family friends that could join Facebook groups

OK, thanks. I will just keep looking until something comes along. Hopefully it won't be too long.

My advise wasn't terrible, the reality is if the pair don't bond which is a possibility and is common with gerbils then the OP ends up with two lone gerbils. The size of enclosure a gerbil should have is huge compared to what the likes of Pets at Home recommend and alot of people don't have the space for more than one, it's a factor that needs to be taken into consideration even if it isn't ideal.

It is terrible. Its cruel to leave gerbils alone. If the gerbil was much older then it would be reasonable but a 1yr old gerbil will be depressed and no human can give them the interaction another gerbil can

Plenty of rescues will bond in house or take the gerbil back if they don't bond.