Possible Gerbil Problems...
 

Hi there!

First post here... So forgive any ignorance to site rules, please... I'm worried about a new little friend of mine.

My roommate and I just bought 2 new gerbils. They're about 7 weeks old now. We got them from a litter together, and, as far as we know, are both female. We've owned them about a week.

Tonight, as we were sitting by the fire, we looked over to the cage (a 20 gallon aquarium) and only saw the one (The solid colored one, we have yet to settle on names - there's a solid brown and a brown w/ white stripe) running around. We took the striped one out and held him for a few minutes, but he was moving pretty slowly and wouldn't respond to food. The little guy fell asleep in my roommate's hand - not something I've ever seen before - but after a few minutes started to pick back up and wander around.

We have them separated at the moment, but are planning on "reuniting" them shortly. We're not entirely sure what's going on with stripe, but would appreciate any help.

We have a call in to the local small animal vet, and are awaiting a call back, but the message claimed a "15 - 30 minute wait was possible" so I thought this might be quicker.

Gerbils can be prone to respiratory infections, especially the very young or the very old. If that's the problem, they'll both need antibiotics since if one gets a 'cold', it seems the other usually does, too.

Good luck with your little sweeties! :goodvibes: Please keep us posted on how they're doing.