Gerbil Fight - Need Advise

[pikachujird]

Hi I have two young male gerbils, Snoopy and Elmo (almost 6 mths old) and an adult male, Marble (3 yrs old).

When I introduced the two young ones to Marble at the beginning of April, they got along and lived together happily for over 3 months.

About 6 weeks ago Snoopy attacked Marble and ever since then both Snoopy and Elmo have been very vicious when they came close to Marble. Marble had two injuries, one to his tail (caused by Snoopy) and one to his nose (caused by Elmo) which have now healed.

They now live in a separate cage from Marble but still close by. All they do is constantly chew the cage, and when they are let out they go straight for Marbles cage.

Marble is a very sweet elderly gerbil, but now he's resorted to chewing the cage too. He doesn't even run when they try to attack him. Marble didn't seem to understand why Snoopy and Elmo were trying to kill him. He never once treated them roughly.

Please give me advise on how I can get the two young one's to calm down. There's no other place in the house to put their cage. They remain about 6 inches apart. I've put a barrier between both cages, but they still know Marbles there.

You can see the gerbils picture here:

Pikachu Marble Snoopy Elmo (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mmaziz/Aliya%20Pics/newgerbilwebpage.html)

(Pikachu is Marbles previous cage mate that passed away just before we bought Snoopy and Elmo.)

[MonoOmoi]

I'm sorry to hear about the fight, but sadly dominence fights like that seem to happen sometimes with older gerbils and younger companions. I hope Marble heals up alright.

My guess is that the two younger gerbils are probably still smelling Marble, and simply haven't forgotten him. If you could thoroughly clean both cages and give them a day or two apart (I know you said there is no other place but is there somewhere you could put him just temporarily?)... A lot of people say that gerbils will forget other gerbils after just a few days, so they might forget his scent and not be bothered by it anymore. Or, you may just have to give it time, and hopefully they will get used to being nearby.

I also noticed you said they were chewing the cages, so I'm guessing that means you have them in metal wire cages instead of aquariums. Please consider changing that, because the wires can be quite harmful to the gerbils when they chew them a lot. Plus it would probably be less mess for you...

[Zouave]

Gerbils should not be in cages.

Sometimes why they fight is sadly a mystery - see the thread I just started on the four who apparently started fighting. I have my own problems! Best of luck with yours.