At 12:38 PM 7/8/00 -0400, Iva English wrote:
>Hi again,
>Hi evreyon,
>
>Well I am taking care of my youngest brothers 2 female gerbils who are around
>10-11 weeks old while he is on vacation with my parents. Anyway, this
>morning they got in a prett big fight. I left them together for a few hours
>to see if they would get over it since they have been togetehr since at least
>4 weeks old if they are not sisters. Anyway, I came back from the vets
>office with my dog and things had not improved. The little saphire girl was
>higding under the house and the black one was standing on top and would lunge
>in and bite her. They are seperated now as I think she was gradually going to
>kill poor little Kiara.
>
>Anyway, Kiara's fur is matted with bloodfrom below her mouth down to right
>belkow her legs on both sides. She is drinking and uses her feet just fine
>so I guess that's a good sign. I don't see any really obviouly big gashes
>either so I hope she will pull thru, should I do anything to help her? The
>other gerbil hjust seems to have one deeper wound right abouve her foreleg,
>she uses it but with some pain it seems, should I give her any furthar
>treatment? I can't get them to an exoctics vet till monday.
>
>Also should I find male partners for them soon or later? With them being
>very young still I am tinking it may be asier to introduce them sonner than
>later, which would be more stressful, a new partner or being alone?
>
>Thanks for your help, I am dreadingtelling my litle brother about this :(
>He's 12 and these are his first pets ;(
>
>~Iva and the clan..............
>--------------------------
>Cinco the big black great dane
>Striker the furry ferret girl
>And the Gerbils.........See them at www.geocities.com/keeper282
I have experienced this sort of thing, it usually looks much worse than it
really is. The important thing was to separate them. Since they are
eating and drinking ok, the only thing I might suggest is to put
Ornacycline (antibiotic) in their water to prevent infection. It's
probably not necessary, but just in case. Make sure you don't get anything
else. The same people make something called Ornacyn which is NOT the same
thing and not recommended for gerbils.
As far as introducing them both to new partners, I would give them time to
heal first. Are you sure you want two breeding pairs? Think carefully
about it first. You are looking at anywhere from 5-12 (or more) pups about
every month, most likely. Make sure you have a LOT of prospective
homes!! Have you considered introducing them to females?
Tana and The Little Rascals
http://thesanctuary.tripod.com
http://gerbils.freehosting.net
http://www.geocities.com/tinypaws68/
ICQ #: 44846928
