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> From: Deb Rebel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Questions about items for Gerbil first aid kit-additions
> Date: 25 June 2000 00:25
>
> >
> You can also confine them some, and put an elisabethan collar on them
> to help control self mutilation.
>
I'm not too keen on the idea of putting an Elizabethan collar on a gerbil.
The problem is that a gerbil, unlike a cat or dog or even a budgie, does
not have a neck. Therefore, the collar either ends up too loose and the
gerbil manages to get its head free or it is too tight and digs into the
gerbil's skin causing an injury.
However, I have seen some excellent designs for body bandages for rats in
Debbie Ducomon's (sp?) books on rats. I've never tried using them but they
would seem more useful.
With gerbils the problem is not just self-mutilation but partner mutilation
too. I have had a gerbil kindly remove it's partners stitches after a
scent gland op. With rats, you can separate cage-mates for a few days.
But if you do this with gerbils, especially females, then you will probably
never get them together again. Also a separated gerbil, is an unhappy
gerbil and will take longer to recover. A difficult dilemma.
Sue
