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Re: Hi! I'm new
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Lauren Cohen
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Jun 25, 2009 11:38 PDT
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Hi. Here are a few thoughts about what is going on:
1. It's possible that Chester is allergic to the antibiotics he is
taking, or to something in his environment (perhaps food or bedding
material) and so he is scratching himself.
2. It is possible that Chester is self-mutilating because he is stressed.
If it's an allergy, you should work with your vet to determine the
source of the allergy. If he has an allergy, the runny nose could be
leading him to accidentally scratch himself (thus, the blood).
There are several parts to your story that make me think it might be
self-mutilation. The first is the condition he was in when you
purchased him. It sounds like he certainly was not raised in a
healthy environment, and so he may be easily stressed out by being in
a new setting, or he may not be used to being handled. He may also be
stressed out by the scent of the unfamiliar gerbil, so you should
probably keep them in separate rooms initially.
Just a few last notes. Putting a male and female gerbil together is
an almost certain recipe for gerbil babies. It is also very difficult
to introduce adult gerbils to each other (it is difficult for two
females, and nearly impossibly for two males). Gerbils have litters
of a half-dozen pups, and the females can get pregnant again a few
weeks after birth. If you are fine with this, you will need to
introduce the two gerbils very slowly.
Also, it is better to purchase gerbils from a reputable breeder than
from a pet store. Pet store gerbils are not as tame and not as
healthy as gerbils from a breeder, which receive more individual
attention from a young age.
Lastly, you should never buy a gerbil that shows any signs of illness
or injury. Doing so only rewards pet stores and breeders that do not
take proper care of their animals.
Good luck,
Lauren
On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 12:15 PM, Juliette
Bartenbach<juliette-@gmail.com> wrote:
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Hi!
My name is Juliette and I live in Mexico, I own two gerbils, a female
(Mariska) and a male (Chester) and I love them very much.
Up until 4 months ago I had no idea of what a gerbil was, but it was my
boyfriends birthday and he wanted mice. I'm not a mice fan, they are a
bit too stinky for me, but I went to the pet shop and asked for some
mice, the shops owner said that maybe I would be better off with a
gerbil, I saw her and completly fell in love with her.
So I bought her, I got home and started to look up info about them, and
discovered that it's not good for them to be alone; so for the next
three months I have been desperatly trying to buy another one, aparently
in Mexico they are not that common, acctually they are rare. But last
week I found one and I took him to the vet because he had bite marks on
the base of his tail. He is in antibiotics right now, so I can't put
them together just yet.
Mariska is doing just fine, we have a garden and we let her run around
in it, she has gained weight and her fur is shiny, she is pretty healthy
and looks happy. Chester came with a bloody nose and pretty stressed
out. He had the bite marks and his right eye doesn't open properly. The
vet only gave me the antibiotics to put in his water, but it's been a
whole week and his nose is still bleeding, I mean we see some dry blood
on it. Since it was so hard to find him, we are now wondering if the vet
really knows what his doing, we are affraid that maybe his never treated
one and maybe he's not doing everything his supposed to be doing...Any
thoughts?
Thank you!
Juliette
--
Make sure you are familar with the GML Charter at:
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gml/charter.htm
Any questions? Visit the GML FAQ at:
http://www.igf.org.uk/gml/gmlfaq.htm
[NB] These will shortly be updated for this new list.
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