A common interest in gerbils is play-fighting with their roommate. There are some pretty big differences between real fighting and just rousing around. Here are some signs of play fighting:
-Chasing: Gerbils love to chase each other around and play tag!
-Boxing: Gerbils can get on their hind legs and bat around in their roommates face, it looks a lot like "boxing"!
-Jumping: Gerbils will jump around each other!
-Wrestling: Sometimes gerbils will pin each other down and roll around in their bedding/sand bath!
Signs of gerbils actually fighting:
-Bite Marks: Gerbils will typically bite on the other's tail or torso region
-Patches of fur missing: Gerbils will sometimes rip off the other's fur, this is usually on the tail or torso area.
-Look for blood spots around the cage: Gerbils tend to fight in a private/covered area, so make sure you check in hides, or the bedding three or four times a week.
-Sleeping in different areas: Gerbils will sometimes sleep in other spots of the tank because the other is stressing them out.
-Hogging the food: One gerbil might steal, or hog all of the food to try and starve the other one. Try and examine your gerbils's weight every so often and notice the difference. Check on them when they are eating and see if anything happens. Slightly hogging the food is normal but actually preventing the other from eating is what you want to watch out for.
-Hearing banging on the glass: Sometimes a gerbil will be so stressed they think that the glass is invisible, and try to run out of it to escape their roommate. If it is a small tap, then that might be a sign of poor vision, but if you hear loud bangs frequently, then I suggest that you set up a pet cam outside of their tank.
Comments