Tasha Rieck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>How can you determine when a gerbil is having a stroke?? I don't think
>that's what is happening to mine, but I'm not sure. I was cleaning tanks
>and I picked him out, as well as the rest of his family and put him in the
>carrier while I cleaned the bedding. He was fine...then I picked him back up
>to put him in his tank, and he went still in my hand, and just hung
>there...when I set him in his tank he didn't move..I held onto him, then set
>him back down and he still wouldn't move, but after a few minutes he was the
>same gerbie as before...moving around, curling up with his baby siblings,
>ect. This is the second time this has happened...does anyone know what it
>was? has this happened to anyone else's gerbils, and what happened with the
>gerbils? Thanks, Tasha
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What you describe sounds exactly like a fit. Gerbils sometimes have fits
when exposed to new surroundings. It can be inherited, and usually is
something gerbils grow out of. Nearly always it is harmless. As you have
discovered, back in the normal surroundings the gerbil makes a quick
recovery.
There are two types of fit. The first, which you saw, is where the
gerbil just goes motionless and stays that way for a few minutes. The
more serious type of fit involves a minute or so of twitching followed
by the ten minutes or so of stillness.
--
Julian
************************************************************************
* Jackie and Julian *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* National Gerbil Society *
* http://www.gerbils.co.uk/ *
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