hi i was hoping someone could help. I adopted a gerbil from a pet centre that was handed in when the owners no longer wanted it. It is 2 year old female and nobody wanted to adopt it, so it stayed alone in the pet shop for a good few months. It was a breeding female at one point and so the woman in the pet store told me that i would probably be better off not getting any other gerbil to keep it company, as gerbils tha have already mated will fight with a male and fight with a female. But i keep reading that gerbils get depressed when theyre on their own, and i want it to have the best life possible after having spent so long alone in a shop. Is she correct? I dont want to just take one persons opinion, as I havent heard this advice anywhere else. Would be graeful if anyone with some knowledge coud help me!

bushg

I'm not sure about gerbils, but my kids were given a 2 hamster siblings. One evening they got into a fight so bad that one injured the others ones leg so badly that it had a limp for the rest of its life. It was a terrible sight to see. I would never keep rodents in a cage together after that.

mysteryperson123

bushg, the two hamsters fought each other because hamsters can't live with other hamsters, other rodents are fine, I keep two rats in the same cage, they don't fight, I used to keep two mice together, they didn't fight and after one died from cancer her sister still misses her. Don't keep hamsters together. hollyparrot, the gerbil will probably not want a friend, it is probably used to being on it's own by now, one of my mice who was on his own for only two weeks before I got him, doesn't get along with other pets, I let him meet one of my other mice and he started to chase it, I immediately seperated them. Keep the gerbil on it's own, if you had adopted two from the same litter at the same time then they would have gotten along, it sounds sad what happened to your hamster bushg, I like hamsters my sister has two IN SEPERATE CAGES.

Silverfoxkit

I love, own, and raise gerbils, and they are highly sociable creatures. I would never keep a gerbil alone, but seeing as this gerbil in particular is an older female, you might have some difficulty in getting her to accept another gerbil. Gerbil females in particular tend to be the more aggressive of the species. If you were to attempt to find her companionship I would suggest a very young gerbil pup, under ten weeks of age, then slowly introducing them. Allow them to see each other at all times, an alternate them between cages or sides of the cage for a while so they also get use to the others scent. If you cannot get her to agree with another, then make sure you give her a lot of attention to compensate for the solitude.

nessag

Give your gerbil a play mate thats about the same size and the same gender. Then she will be happy.