The gerbilarium on the left is the home of Max and Myrah. Its size is 100x40x50 cm.
Myrah
is the surviving female out of the first two gerbils I got last year
(after a long period without keeping gerbils). Her sister Merle died
a few days after I got them from a pet store =-( .
Myrah went quite ill too but survived - thanks antibiotics I got from
my vet. Some days later she suddenly had problems with her hind legs
which are partly paralyzed now, though we immediately went to the vet
again.
This
gerbilarium (100x40x50 cm) is the home of a small group of females (five
sisters of different age) which I might need to separate as soon as
fighting occurs.
Originally I kept a whole "family" but had to separate the
group some weeks ago. First it was only one female that got chased by
her father and had to be separated (( ! ) it was one of the older daughters
(about six months old) and none of the femals had ever been fighting
with her!)
A
few weeks later I had to separate Marla, the "alpha-female"
and mother of all babies, and took out the remaining females too.
Two
females out of these seven sisters (another photograph of the females'
gerbilarium on the left) had to be separated about two weeks ago and are
now living together after a long re-introducing period in a split cage.
This gerbilarium on the right is where Mayte, the first female I had to separate from the group, lives now (80x35x40 cm). I got another female as a cage mate for her; her name is Matilda and she's the only Agouti within lots of black gerbils at my home ;o) .
Matilda had to be introduced to Mayte with a split cage because she was already about 14 weeks old.
This is the split cage I use: It is an old hamster cage with a wire mesh (tightened to the sides of the cage) to separate the two halfs in the middle.
Both gerbils (you can see Mayte on the right and Matilda on the left) got their own house, a branch and a sand bath as well as (of course) a water bottle, food and bedding.
The
last time I did an introduction I changed the position of the houses to
the opposite side but I think this position, as shown on the photographs,
is the best.
The
gerbils seemed to be less aggressive and were acting quite friendly from
the first day on.
But of course it also depends on each gerbil and some more facts that
can't always be controlled.
