Gerbils fighting, need help!

silja

My gerbils had a big fight just now, and it's their first so I am a bit frightened and don't know what to do...

Sitting working at my laptop this morning when I hear a lot of noise coming from the gerbil enclosure. I see Gerry (my slightly bigger, silver gerbil) chase Winston (the smaller, black gerbil). There is some squeeking. I think nothing of it at fist but then they go into one of their little huts and tussle so much the hut falls over (this is a sturdy wooden gerbil house thing). So I go and take Gerry out. His furr is fluffed up and shaggy, as if he's a stray or something. He has a slight injury at the mouth. He sits placidly in my hand which isn't like him at all, when he's out of the enclosure he normally loves running up and down my shoulders and head. I placed Gerry in the travelling cage for now, where he seems ok, a bit dazed maybe, he is cleaning his wound. I then look at Winston, who has a a bleeding wound (well, not bleeding but I an see blood on the skin) and a good bit of furr missing on his right flank. He is cleaning himself and seems ok, not in pain.

I have had the gerbils for 10 months and they are about a year old. They are both male and came from the same enclosure in the pet shop, though considering their different colouring and built, they may not be siblings. There was some power grooming when they were juveniles, sometimes some squeeking, but ever any fighting. I am heavily pregnant and haven't had as much time to play with them as I used to, but they are well looked after. They have a large-ish enclosure with plenty of space to nest and a separate plastic "tunnelling system", linked with some of those cloured plastic tubes (I know they are not the best, but my gerbils don't seem to chew the plastic). They also get toilet rolls and wooden sticks regularly, as well as their sand bath, and never seem bored.

So... any idea what this morning's incident is all about? Is it likely they have de-clanned and can never be together again or is there something I can do to prevent a repeat? The enclosure doesn't lend itself to being divided so if neccessary, I'd need to either find a home for one of them or buy a second enclosure...

hadook

Male gerbils sometimes fight when they hit that age - it's a power struggle thing. If you haven't put them back in together yet the best place to reintroduce them is in the bath - there's plenty of space and you can separate them again quickly if needed.

In the meantime, clean out their cage & make sure they have at least 3 separate areas that can be used as beds/hideaways. Two foodbowls for now as well.

Do they have a wheel? My Mongolian gerbils have this one to burn off that extra energy but they still do occasionally box and fight (I also have a trio of 18 month old rescue pallid gerbils who amuse the cats nightly with their non-lethal fights).

I'd say it's just a spat. It does happen. If, when you reintroduce them, they seem to be getting on again then just keep an eye to make sure they're ok. In general two boys are a fairly stable pairing and you shouldn't have too many problems.

If they fight again at the reintroduction then you may need to consider a slightly longer/more careful intro.

silja

Thanks for that. I had my husband clean the enclosure thoroughly and put in all new bedding etc while I watched over the gerbils in the bathtub. We then put them back in their enclsure, now with two foodbowls. My husband pointed out that I hadn't filled up their sand bowl for a couple of weeks, so maybe the fact that they couldn't have their sandbath for a while made them "smelly" to eachother and agressive? All seems peaceful for now.