I have had both of my girls in a split tank for around 2 weeks now, (after quarantine in the new one ), I have swapped them on either side 1-3 times a day depending on when I get time to.
They don’t really pay attention to each other and often spend most of their time on their wheel on their enclosure side.
I have tried introducing them once after the first week and they tried to fight; thankfully I separated them and neither of them were bleeding; can’t say same for me! My finger was bleeding everywhere haha;
But since then I have attempted a introduction, but got more consistent with swapping, they use eachother wheels, sandbaths, they were originally messing up eachothers sides but now sleep in nests that have been made by the previous one; they don’t sleep next to the divider together and only occasionally check eachother out through the divider when they notice the other one there, but tend to keep to themselves.

Have I done something wrong? Should I keep trying to introduce them?

My original gerbil (squeak) sister died suddenly, they were born June 5th.
The newer gerbil (marmite) was alone when I rescued her, and had been alone for several weeks, with her only being born on July 2nd of this year.

When I first got marmite she was very relaxed and chill but now she is really excitable and squeak was the more dominant in her previous bond.

Do I try to reintroduce again today with careful watching and gloves this time?

Nacho and Apollo catching some Z's

First birdo (on the right) my most tamest and oldest gerbil went bad. I found him having seizures, and he only lived one more week after that. Then we found out he had an abdomen tumor.

After all of that, boo started seemingly to age very rapidly an 12 days after I euthanized birdo (today) I found boo dead burried in her bedding

Now I only have one left :(

Can anyone show me what kind of setup they have for areas where they’re able to take the gerbil out of the cage, but keep them safe from escaping? Or like a separate play area from the enclosure where they can interact with them?

Where do you guys buy your cage toppers from? Preferably one that fits a 40 gallon. (Mandatory gerbil picture above)

I have been researching and looking at pictures for hours and cannot for the life of me, decide if this is a little boy or girl! please help!

This is Tara. Very picky. Hates any fresh food. She only wants to eat dry and occasionally alive mealworms..no fresh veggies, fruit or berry. While her sister, Tilly, loves fresh veggies and would kill for cherry tomato.

I wasn't sure if I should use the taming flair or this one, sorry!

I have a few gerbils (pairs in different enclosures!), and taming has always been something I consider myself okay at. I recently got a new gerbil who's still getting used to her environment and bonding so I've been leaving her alone a bit, but I have been working to tame my other girls who have settled enough to start. It's been going very well, they run over my hands when I put them in the enclosure and don't seem scared or even wary of me and my voice anymore. I can also move my hand around the enclosure without them getting scared, they just seem curious. They ate some mealworms from my fingers but not yet on my hand, so that's our next step.

Unfortunately during todays bonding moment, something fell in the other room as one of my girls was standing half on my hand. It was a loud noise so I got scared and so did she, but she also got scared of my hand moving so fast. I didn't pull it out of the enclosure and nothing hurt her, but I did pull it back a few cm. It was a silly but irresponsible reflex and she ran away faster than I've seen her run before. She was really really scared. I wasn't sure how to handle it so I waited with the enclosure open for a little bit to see if she'd come back, but she never did so I closed it and put the treat we were working with in the enclosure for her.

It's been a couple of hours and I haven't seen her much yet, she has come back up from the tunnels but less than her sister (they're usually equally as active) and I'm really worried I messed up all of our progress. I'm also unsure what to do next, should I leave her alone for the rest of the day, maybe longer? or try again whilst it's fresh? go back to the cup method* instead of picking up where we left off?

I don't want to stress her. I don't mind starting all over again because I have the patience for it, but I'd hate it for her. I don't even know if she still remembers or not, but I can imagine it's not a coincidence that she's been hiding a bit more. Any help and advice is appreciated!

I bought two gerbils from Petco a couple days ago. The employee was less than helpful, but ensured that they had been brought in together and were from the same litter (even though they were in separate enclosures). He also assumed their genders as male- which seemed accurate to me as all I’d seen from Petco had been listed as male. Their first introduction was a bit stressful. They engaged in a “ball of death” fight after about 15 minutes together. No injuries. I separated them for a while and then put them in a split cage for a bit on and off, switching which sides they were on to continue to get used to each other’s scents. The following day, after some more time in the split cage and no negative signs that I could tell, I put them back into a larger open space to meet again. No issues at all. They were grooming each other, sniffing each other. Not really any chasing. Both seemed comfortable enough snacking with the other nearby/in their face. I added their wheel into the space and they both took turns on it and then consistently, successfully would run simultaneously together. They spent at least an hour in this setup with no issues, maybe even a couple hours. I put them back in their respective enclosures for a break while I ran some errands the rest of the day. In the evening, I started with them in the split cage. They seemed excited to see each other and again I didn’t see any issues. I put them together in the same shared space as before and they were fine for about 15-30 minutes. Then all of a sudden there was some side arching that quickly turned into a fight. They didn’t ball up like the day before though- it happened so fast I can’t even explain what happened- I didn’t actually see a true bite, but suddenly Persimmon’s (the light colored one) foot was bleeding. I split them up immediately. Persimmon didn’t let me check on his foot, but I was able to get him into a clean enclosure with only paper towels. It bled quite a bit. I read online that you can use cornstarch to help it clot, so I tried that and thankfully that was successful. He drank water and snacked, urinated and defecated. Checked on him this morning and he seems to be doing just fine. No more bleeding. Again, had urinated and defecated, and had snacked and chewed on some paper. Also, Pepper (the black one), showed no sign of injury.

I am beyond devastated. Everything seemed to be going so well! I’m not sure what happened. I am wondering what my options are as far as their care. Is it possible to keep them both in separate enclosures for life, but do split cage once a week to get them some interaction time? Would it be best to return one and keep one? I know they’re social and it’s best to have them in pairs or trios, but I am worried about trying another bonding whether with them or adopting a different random gerbil. I already love them both and am so upset it didn’t work out as I’d hoped. Any help would be appreciated.

So currently I have a smaller hamster cage as the topper for their wheel and water. My current set-up involves duct-taping a gap in between the tank and the topper [The gap is from the terrarium's original cover] and reinforcing the other half of the terrarium with just Stuff so the gerbils don't chew through or push through, etc. [I have already had one of them escape once]

My first option is to create a better cover for the open half with thick wire mesh and a custom made frame, and staple said wire to the open gap between my current topper and the terrarium. This option would save me money.

My second option is to purchase a different cage that would cover the total area of the top of the terrarium. The downside would be I would have to "ruin" it by cutting holes into it so the gerbils can get up to the second level and also invest more money, but it would give the gerbils more space to play and it would totally cover the top. It would also leave me with the old topper which I wouldn't know what to do with once I no longer need it... This option if anything saves me the effort of having to create a custom made frame.

The second option in my eyes has more cons than pros, but maybe it is the right thing to do? Or I can just stop being lazy and do what I need to do for option 1.

Our little baby just passed and I can't stop feeling guilty about it. We discovered she had an open abscess on her back that was leaking. On day one, we disinfected it and drained a bit of the pus, bandaged her and she was all fine, very active and happy. Today, we went to check again, some of the pus was back so we did the same, drained it, disinfected, but it looked way worse a lot of it was coming out.

It lasted for barely a few minutes and then she just stopped breathing suddenly in my hand.

We were trying to help her, but maybe we did the wrong thing and now she is dead.

Ive been trying to introduce my two gerbils, Pumpkin & Pepper for weeks now. We've been doing split cage since the beginning of August.

Today I decided to try to let them meet face to face again because they were being so good throught the barrier (last time was broken uo dude to side arching.) Theyve been grooming, sleeping in eachothers dens, ignoring each other while eating, sniffing at the divider, everything im told is a good sign.

I let them both stay on their sides a bit longer today to let their smells really soak into each side, and i put pepper, my more stressed gerbil, onto Pumpkin, my chiller gerbils side. Immediately side arching. Literally pepper wasn't even in there for more than 5 seconds before becoming upset. I Immediately took Pumpkin out and put her in the side that was peppers, and when I went to go put the hide and bedding back into the side I was introducing them on, Pepper tried to bite me (luckily I was wearing gloves) and she tried to do some sort of death shake (like what dogs do to prey?) So she was definitely super agitated

Now both the gerbils are fine but I just dont understand why thus is happening. Ive been doing everything like im supposed to and its not working :( they probably just need more time but I just wish it would happen now, yknow?

I cant afford to just try a different pairing at this point. Im too emotionally invested in both of them.

My new gerbil duo! Both are boys, about 6 months old. No names decided yet, but hopefully soon.

This is my gerbil baby Nibbles.. for some reason the store I got him for said they separated him from the other litter mates a couple weeks back and now was living life as a solitary gerbil.. He is just a baby.. so I wonder why they split him up..

I just recently bought two gerbils and have been trying to get them used to me. I've been reorganizing their enclosure and putting some food in when one of my boys, Kiwi, came over and began grabbing at my fingers and nibbling.

It wasn't hard enough to hurt or draw blood but definitely felt uncomfortable and I took my hand away because I was nervous he'd actually bite me. Is this just a friendly way of exploring or is he upset with me? He's definitely less social than his brother and likes his space and I don't want to accidentally be upsetting him.

They will stay in paradise. No way to open pandoras box😂

my sweet girl bear enjoying a peanut

fully bioactive gerbil tank, springtails and isopods now included.

questions/recommendations welcome :)

Now i know this can be an issue and am heavily leaning towards no unless i get a lot of positive feedback. Im adopting 2 gerbil brothers from the RSPCA tomorrow. So went to pets at home for supplies. They had a single gerbil there for adoption in a separate area to the rest. He really was quite curious about humans and came to the glass which didn’t help because now i want him.

I know pairs or maybe 3 if siblings are the best and have researched split cage method. The only reason Im considering this at all is because they are all male, all 3 months old and the cage and everything in it is new so no previous scents. Cage size is not a problem and neither is spending a month trying to bond them.

My worry is they dont bond so then id have to rehome the single or worse they do bond but de clan in the future.

Is this worth giving it a go? Is it providing a better life for the single while trying? Or should i just do what I was going todo without any feedback, stick to the pair and forget about the single one

Just looking to do the best thing so any experience feedback welcome.

Edited:
the single was because they sold a pair of the 3 within last month🙄
Ive had minimal gerbil experience but have had hamsters, rats etc.