Again, thanks to everyone who has offered advice and help. This list has given me almost as much info in two days as I have been able to find on the internet in a year! To answer the questions I have received from everyone:
1. Our gerbils (and forgive me because I probably don't think of them in "proper" genetic colors) are Ember (golden blond with a white stomach and bright red eyes, hence the name) and Tanzi (black all over with a few tiny white patches (looks like she was on the outskirts of a shaken paint brush) with black eyes, she is named after Tanzanite the gemstone). Ember is the one that still shows a bit of the red nose, is she light enough in color to be more likely to have allergies? 2. UPDATE: We changed their cage last night. I had found a tablet of newsprint art paper and ran it through the paper shredder. We used this and a bit of timothy, (but I think some aspen will have to be added until we can get a different litter because they can now move their house around with no trouble). We tried taking Ember out and putting her in the "travel" cage with the wheel to give her some exercise. (Tanzi is the one that broke her leg.) We didn't want her to be without water so we made up a fresh bottle (their cage bottle has ornacycline in it) and when we put it in the cage with Ember, she went straight to it. She drank and drank. We went to reposition the bottle and she continued hanging onto it! I have never seen her drink like that. Well, having the girls separated seemed to make them nervous, so we put Ember back in the cage. We tried holding the non-medicated water bottle in their for Tanzi and she did the same thing. We decided then to remove the medicated water and replace it with the plain water. They both drank so much we waited on them to float away. They both seemed to perk up and have been acting more lively ever since. Could they have been dehydrated?!?! As far as the red nose goes, our current residence can be a bit musty (there has been a floor rot out in the past, we rent and are hoping to buy SOON) and our allergies have been acting up, so I am thinking this may be it, but will keep a good watch on them. Now, through your replies I have more questions. Does anyone have any experience with CareFresh or Yesterdays News? We are considering going to one of these and wondered which was best. Cuttlebone was mentioned, is this just the ones you buy for birds? Moulting was mentioned. I have never heard of this with gerbils, can you explain? Sand was mentioned and I have thought about this myself as chinchilla dust is soooooo dusty. Should I get play sand or aquarium sand or does it matter? On dosing them with meds, our vet said they may be too old for the "kitten pinch" method. (But I am putting much less stock in what the vet said after hearing from you all.) What do you think (just in case we need to medicate them in the future)? The tube sock sounds like a good idea, but what if they eat it, will it harm them? I actually work at a pharmaceutical company that makes various antibiotic ointments (bacitracin, double and triple) and various hydrocortisone creams (0.5%, 1.0%, with aloe, without aloe etc.) Would this be an option if their noses seem to get infected from overcleaning? Another question, we have bought the cotton fluff pads in the past and cotton bedding. I have read that this can cause "plugs" in their intestines and lead to trouble. What do you all think? Sorry again for the long message, but I can't believe this resource was here all the time and I just now found it (kid in a candy store kind of thing I guess.) Are their gerbil chat rooms? Thanks! _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
