>I see no noticeable marks on any of the bodies, the living conditions are
>normal being fairly steady around mid 70's in my apartment at all times, I
>use carefresh bedding and had cleaned the cages about a week and a half to
>two weeks ago. The thing that I find particularly odd is that it is only
>the two pairs that I have that died, a male/female, and a male/male pair.
>The other two gerbs I have, a male and a female, are currently alone and
>awaiting introduction. Does this give anybody any more ideas???
>
>-Will
>Evergreen Gerbils Ltd.
1. Some sort of ingestion of toxic substance.
2. A leakage of gas that took out the four.
3. Spray from something used in the room that
drifted into or on/through the bars of the cages involved.
I would remove the other two animals from the room, especially
if the cages had been near heating vents/ducting...and leave
the house and call in an expert to check for either CO (carbon
monoxide) or a natural gas leak! (from furnace, water heater,
dryer, or stove connections)
I have heard of this happening before. A gerbil is more
suseptible to such things (like a canary) and will often go
over before a human notices effects.
The other thing to track down if that comes out ok...is if there
is something that was sprayed in the room (such as hair spray,
room freshener, etc) and settled on the cages in question.
Then was there a contaminant that got into food or drink.
Unless you'd had necropsies performed on the dead animals
for a more definitive on what happened, that is my best guesses.
Did the animals that died show anything like dark pink, almost
red, gum and mouth tissues, and the same around the privates
and anus? Not blood red, but certainly bright. This is often an
indication of CO...which will give an appearance of well oxygenated
tissues when instead they're oxygen starved....
Without seeing/discovering the animals myself, that is all I can
offer. Get that checked immediately, as if it is a problem with
CO or Natural Gas, it can kill you.
The last thing is if the heating/air system for the apartment building
was worked on something might have come up the ducts, even
paint fumes, while you were away, and overpowered the animals.
Was there any work done that day (when they were still healthy)
or the day you discovered them passed on, in the utility/furnace
room of the apartment building where you lived?
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
