Death of a Gerbil

[<David> <Lasnick>]

My son has had two black gerbils for about 3 1/2 years.  One of them died
yesterday.  There were no signs of bad health or stress.  It appeared to have
died in its sleep.  Perhaps this is how long gerbils live.  So now the big
question is can we get some new gerbils (after an appropriate mourning
period, of course).  Does anyone have thoughts on this.  I have heard that it
is difficult adding new gerbils to old ones.  The original two were brothers
that slept on top of each other since they were pups.

Thanks for your help.

Sitting Shiva in Connecticut