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Gerbil needs vet! I kno not a guinea pig

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Claire W said:
Yes they did. It happened several times in the two years we had them but as soon as they'd had a scuffle, they were soon back to cuddling each other again so we never separated them. A single tooth puncture makes a hell of a mess but it always looks worse than it is
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Thanks much for this. You have made my heart rate go back to normal. And thanks to everyone for your fast responses. I would have put it on the gerbil forum but its very quiet
 
Casper seems to have cleaned himself up a bit now. Shadow has been scent marking him when i have had casper out and put him back. I think this is normal @Claire W
 
Right, ive cleaned their cage out and any scent from abbi the female that WAS next door. Ive split the cages to oppsosite sides of the living room, just found shadow and casper cuddling up sleeping. I now believe they have fought over abbi. Shadow and abbi were always trying to get to each other.

It is a rule with gerbils that you shouldnt keep opsosite sexes near, as two males will compete. I tried telling the wife this ages ago. Now she has listened. 😑🤔😒😪..... 👍 Sorry casper and same goes for guinea pigs with two boars.

Now i just have to watch for infection. Theres no bad smell, just coppery blood smell
 
Would like to just apologise about my thread title, Incase it came across a little short tempered. I didnt know where to place the thread because its a gerbil problem and i was not hanging around lol 👍
 
Could he have injured himself scratching? One of our Syrians did this a couple of months ago... we were concerned because there was dried blood on her face, but when we cleaned it off all we found was a tiny scrape under her eye, probably from her own toenail. She lives alone so there was definitely no fight. Hope it heals up without a problem!
 
It could be possible, but i found a tuft of fur missing. It looks like a fight. Ive just woke up to them cuddling then casper came out to scratch away in his tunnels, so looking good . Thanks for the reply, i hope you are right
 
At first i thought is it the tear fluid, because gerbils tear fluid is red. Its so strange. But there was way too much to be that
 
Hope Casper's ok today?
Can understand your panic, years ago I walked in to find my (Siamese so light haired) ratty Hamish with blood everywhere in the morn, all over beds and him and his brother! Freaked!
He'd actually knocked the end of his nail off, exposing the quick. He was completely fine but did frighten me! Looks like a hell of a lot of blood when it's been groomed and smeared everywhere!
 
alpacasqueak said:
Hope Casper's ok today?
Can understand your panic, years ago I walked in to find my (Siamese so light haired) ratty Hamish with blood everywhere in the morn, all over beds and him and his brother! Freaked!
He'd actually knocked the end of his nail off, exposing the quick. He was completely fine but did frighten me! Looks like a hell of a lot of blood when it's been groomed and smeared everywhere!
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I checked him this morning, he has cleaned himself up really well. And was snuggling with shadow, so should be fine. I reckon it was abbi that triggered the scrap if it was one. But shadow hasnt a mark on him.
 
Hope he is ok. Gerbil fights can lead to such awful wounds :( The boys will fight over females, but OMG females are even worse for fighting and disbanding, I've had females kill other females in the blink of an eye when the morning before they've got on brilliantly. Such lovely creatures but can be horrible to eachother if it takes their fancy.
 
Flutterby said:
Hope he is ok. Gerbil fights can lead to such awful wounds :( The boys will fight over females, but OMG females are even worse for fighting and disbanding, I've had females kill other females in the blink of an eye when the morning before they've got on brilliantly. Such lovely creatures but can be horrible to eachother if it takes their fancy.
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Glad i moved abbi now to the other side of the room. Wife just called and said casper looks fine. 👍
 
So glad your little chap is doing well. Hopefully it will heal quickly, he looks a little character!
 
Aw he was lovely. Here’s my Kym although she’s been dead for a good few years now as has her sister Aggie. Aggie had a stroke and died and Kym literally died an hour later they were that close :(

2A324E4F-EC0B-4E9D-B499-1CCD89D5E89E.webp
 
Bill & Ted said:
So glad your little chap is doing well. Hopefully it will heal quickly, he looks a little character!
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Thankyou yea hopefully by the time I'm back from scotland he will look alot better, he ate his red pepper chunk.this morning with no trouble
 
Claire W said:
Aw he was lovely. Here’s my Kym although she’s been dead for a good few years now as has her sister Aggie. Aggie had a stroke and died and Kym literally died an hour later they were that close :(

View attachment 102906
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Awww sorry to hear about that, she is a lovely old chubber lol. I also had a pair called ollie an ash, ollie died very unexpectadly and then his bro ash died a few weeks later. Rapid breathing and was falling over, i had him pts , too far gone
 
Skypipdot said:
Awww sorry to hear about that, she is a lovely old chubber lol. I also had a pair called ollie an ash, ollie died very unexpectadly and then his bro ash died a few weeks later. Rapid breathing and was falling over, i had him pts , too far gone
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It’s horrible when they follow each other but I don’t think they can live without their companion. When I had the 5 brothers who all died within the space of two years (definitely something genetic) little Percy was the last one but he only lived for a couple of weeks after Wallace died :( It was them two who used to scrap but Percy couldn’t live without him
 
Claire W said:
It’s horrible when they follow each other but I don’t think they can live without their companion. When I had the 5 brothers who all died within the space of two years (definitely something genetic) little Percy was the last one but he only lived for a couple of weeks after Wallace died :( It was them two who used to scrap but Percy couldn’t live without him
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Bless them, the one in the pic i posted with the mugshot, he lived 2 years on from his bro, but he was very tame with humans
 

This is coconut, i called him nutboy because he was so nuts. This is theclose up gerbil in the picture i posted above. He was about 5 years old here. He died from pneumonia in the end, had i have known what i do now, he could have gone to 6 i reckon. Tamest gerbil i ever had. He was rescued from bad conditions from a school, the lady who got her for the school in the first place admitted she was naieve and didnt think it through, and agreed to us having them. Now she has passed away too from a horse riding accident. She was only 32 . So sad
 
Little update on Casper.

Hes doing great, he looks almost back to his white self again now and is carrying on as normal with life. Not being a grazing animal like guinea pigs has really been on his side i think👍( still eats when a bit under the weather)
 
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Skypipdot said:

This is coconut, i called him nutboy because he was so nuts. This is theclose up gerbil in the picture i posted above. He was about 5 years old here. He died from pneumonia in the end, had i have known what i do now, he could have gone to 6 i reckon. Tamest gerbil i ever had. He was rescued from bad conditions from a school, the lady who got her for the school in the first place admitted she was naieve and didnt think it through, and agreed to us having them. Now she has passed away too from a horse riding accident. She was only 32 . So sad
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So cute! Is that a typical lifespan for a gerbil? They are one of the few rodents I haven't owned over the years (presently have guinea pigs and two hamsters, but growing up I had mice and rats, as well as hedgehogs, though they aren't rodents!) I like the little guys, but find that the short lifespan on the hamsters is getting hard on me, feels like a never-ending cycle of loving and losing little guys.
 
Freela said:
So cute! Is that a typical lifespan for a gerbil? They are one of the few rodents I haven't owned over the years (presently have guinea pigs and two hamsters, but growing up I had mice and rats, as well as hedgehogs, though they aren't rodents!) I like the little guys, but find that the short lifespan on the hamsters is getting hard on me, feels like a never-ending cycle of loving and losing little guys.
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Gerbils about 3 -5 in my experience.
 
Skypipdot said:
Gerbils about 3 -5 in my experience.
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How about going for some degus? They can live up to 8 years old, similar looking to gerbils but about twice their size. Only thing with degus is you can only seem to get the wild colour or white. But that is only a tiny downside to them
 
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