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View Full Version : frisky's getting a friend!


pinkpink33
07-15-07, 10:36 AM 07-15-07
hiya

so you probably know i took in a lonely pet store gerbil - he had been alone for 3 months when i saw him, and noone wanted him as he wasnt a baby anymore :(

well, me and my boyfriend have decided that he deserves a little gerbil friend! he's always been a very happy little thing, but i cant groom him or sleep with him or do other gerbilly things.
lately i've been feeling bad for him - we have a case of mites, and all pets are living on tissue paper as they have very irritated skin. he looks forlorn now, he cant dig and most of his toys had to be chucked.

so, when the mites are gone, he's going to get a baby boy gerbil friend! going to make me a split tank divider - i really dont have room for another cage, and i wont have the time for another lone gerbil if the new one gets rejected. so we're going to take it slowly.

anyone know how long quarantine is meant to be, for the new gerby? some people say 1 week, some say 2.
wont the new gerby be quite grown after this? i mean, if i get a 6 week old, he is quarantined for 2 weeks, will he still be young enough for frisky to accept him easily?

i wasnt going to get him a friend, as he's always seemed perfectly happy alone, but he's only 5 months old, and if he lives till 4 years, that's a long time for a social animal to be alone.
he's not violent, and the store didnt say anything about violence between the gerbils. when the rest of his litter was there, they were happily playing together, and sleeping on each other (so cute)!
this way he wont get lonely when im at uni in the day - i had to spend overnight away recently, and when i got back he came running up to see me and sat purring on me. it was so cute, but he must have been lonely and missing company.

very excited about getting him a friend! not bothered about colour, but a non-white one would be nice.

any tips anyone wants to share? have never done any intros before, but have been doing much research!

i hope he'll be happy with a friend to play with and dig with (and likely make twice as much mess with, lol).

S t e p h
07-15-07, 05:13 PM 07-15-07
Goodluck!:)

FemaleCheetah
07-16-07, 09:26 PM 07-16-07
2 weeks is the recommended time to quarantine any new animal that you bring into your home. This time allows the new pet to adjust to his new environment and to be vet checked and cleared of any noticeable health issues (i.e. mites, URI, etc).

Its especially important to quarantine a new animal when it comes from a pet store.

Good luck getting rid of that mite problem and with the new gerbil boy once you get him :)

I know if I were a gerbil I would want a buddy too... I mean I would not want to live alone all my life either so good for you for thinking of the little guy.

pinkpink33
07-17-07, 06:25 AM 07-17-07
well he's my responsibility now, and i want him to have everything he could possibly want for. i didnt think he would need one as he is such a happy chap, but i think a friend would make him even happier :)

Carebear
07-17-07, 11:01 PM 07-17-07
Aw. Mites suck. I know. As for where they came from... I'm guessing they came from him?

My advice would be not to get the new one from the store you got Frisky at. If you're getting rid of mites, you're likely just bring more home with the new one. That wouldn't be a problem if the new one would be QTed in a separate location and treated for mites before intros to Frisky. But if you're going to split cage them, definately look for another place to get the new friend. :)

pinkpink33
07-18-07, 04:32 AM 07-18-07
no i dont believe it was frisky. he was fine in the store, but the day after i got him, i got a really dodgy shipment from an online pet-store. it had tiny little black bugs, so i chucked the lot.
my vet didnt bother doing a skin scraping, he said we should treat them as if they do have mites because of that package.