Jill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>A while back I experienced a very unusual gerbil death, when a 2year-old
>female gerbil bled out in front of my very eyes. She had a tumor in the
>area of her sinus cavities that either itself ruptured or caused something
>else to rupture and basically all the blood that was in her came out
>through her nose and ear. It was horrific to see, and I was absolutely
>shocked by the sheer volume of blood that there was. I asked the vet who
>examined her exactly how much blood was in a gerbil and he showed me
>approximately with a syringe (I don't remember the exact volume- could it
>be about 10cc?)
>So I agree- there's quite a bit more in than you would expect.
>Jill
THE LABORATORY HAMSTER AND GERBIL, Field K J, and Sibold A L, CRC Press,
1999, 0-8493-2566-8
Says the total blood volume is between 6.7 and 7.8%. That means an adult
female will have about 6.5ml and a male, nearer 10ml. Ten percent of the
blood can probably be lost without serious consequences. For example,
humans who donate blood give up about that much. 1 ml of gerbil blood
does not look much, but small amounts of fluids can go a long way and
look much worse than they are. Poor a teaspoon of water onto a flat
surface and see what I mean.
--
Julian
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
National Gerbil Society
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
