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Out of curiosity, how high can gerbils fall from and not get hurt? I assume they shouldn't be falling from any hight, but my gerbil jumped out of his aquarium onto the carpet, which was about a 5"2 feet fall. Is there also any way I can teach my gerbil not to be dumb and jump from a high place? I can't really put the aquarium anywhere else due to my parents not letting me put them anywhere but my room, and it's really the only place in my room to put it. I can not station it on the floor due to having too many curious cats that could probably open the lid if they wanted to. Do you guys think it's probably fine where it is? I forgot to mention, but my gerbil seems to be fine. He is acting basically just like how he would any other day.
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Oct 7, 2012 08:21
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So I have 2 gerbils, one which is kinda bitey but is pretty good at being social towards people, which isn't a big problem to me, but the other gerbil I'm having a little trouble with. Basically, I have a hell of a time trying to get her out of the aquarium. This is pretty strange to me because she is not shy at all, if you put your hand in the aquarium, she'll be the first to sniff and touch it, however, she will not give you the chance to pick her up by walking on top of your hand like my other gerbil does. She is also quite adventerous when she gets out, as she'll climb all over you and stuff. So my question is; is there anyway to make her more comfortable with being picked up, or this just normal gerbil behaviour? I really hate trying to pick her up with almost any means (I never pick her up by the tail though.) One last thing is that she doesn't really mind being in your hand either after you pick her up weirdly enough.
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Oct 30, 2012 06:41
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So today I've been having trouble with my brown gerbil. For some reason today she is in a very bitey mood, she's not frightened or anything cause she doesn't bother trying to hide or run away when I put my hand in, she just comes up and either nibbles on it or like today, takes a chomp out of my finger (which bled a whole lot for a total of like 30 seconds.) I will admit that maybe she bit my finger cause it may have smelled like food, but she also bit another person in the house who didn't have smelly food hands. So how can I teach her to not bite people? Like I said, she doesn't seem afraid or anything, she just likes to take chomps out of fingers like they are toys. I've tried things mentioned on the internet like pushing her nose away if she bites but it doesn't seem to be working. Any ideas? (She also has a fascination with biting noses and ears too.) EDIT: My other white gerbil is basically a saint though, however is incredibly anti-social. I guess this is what people mean by gerbils having a lot of personality. Zetsubou fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Nov 18, 2012 |
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Nov 18, 2012 02:42
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Here's a quick question. It is getting pretty cold where I live so I was wondering if putting a small blanket over my gerbil's aquarium would be a good or bad idea. I imagine that they probably wouldn't like living in darkness all day and I am afraid that they might suffocate to death if I do put a blanket over it.
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Nov 23, 2012 02:35
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Thanks for the answers/considerations. As a reward I'll upload some pictures of them when I'm not feeling too lazy. I've tried taking pictures of my gerbils before and it's hard as hell cause they won't ever stop moving.
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Nov 25, 2012 11:15
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So I have always been wondering, but is this set up too small? I can try to maybe scrounge up some money to see if I can buy a bigger one. I also recently bought that wheel today, cause the one I orginally bought was a tad too small. I've never actually seen them use a wheel before, so if they don't end up using it, what's a good exercise alternative? I'll edit this post if I can get any good pictures of my gerbs, but my only camera is somewhat broken making it very difficult.
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Nov 26, 2012 03:15
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If a gerbil draws blood (not too serious), do I need to go get that finger checked out or should putting my finger under running water be fine and dandy. My brown gerbil seems to be fine most of the time, but likes to bite hard enough at least once every month or two. It's weird too, cause you'd figure after about 2 to almost 3 months of owning them and handling them every day, the brown guy would stop his shenanigans, but nope. Maybe it's because he is still young. EDIT: Am I going to turn into a Were-gerbil? Zetsubou fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Dec 20, 2012 |
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Dec 19, 2012 14:27
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So here is a pretty weird question, but just here me out. So, is it possible that gerbils can give people pimples? I'm not really pimple prone, but recently (since I've gotten my gerbs) I've been getting pimples on places where I let my gerbils climb on me, like my forearm, upper shoulder and neck. My theory is that their sharp (and most likely dirty) little claws scratch and very very slightly pierce the skin leaving dirt in the pores or something. Am I on to something or am I just crazy? On another note, how long is too long for gerbil nails?
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Dec 30, 2012 11:15
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Ok, here's my last but and more serious than my last post question for a while. I like to listen to music in my room, which is also where my gerbils are stationed. The problem is, I like to listen to my music really loud. It's not like I have a super bass speakers that shake everything when I use them, but a part of me tells me my gerbils wouldn't appreciate the music like I do, so I've toned it down since I've gotten them. Should I continue doing this or can I listen to my music to my hearts content like I use to. Most of my other animals didn't seem to mind my music blasting before I got the gerbils, like my cats and dog would still sleep in my room whether I was playing music or not.
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Jan 1, 2013 05:22
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How often should I be giving my two gerbils alfalfa hay? And also is there such a thing as too much handling? I play with them for about 18-35 minutes daily not to mention just randomely poking my hand in the aquarium every now and then.
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Jan 15, 2013 11:36
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A Sloth posted:One of my hamsters started licking my fingers most of the time I go to get him out. He's just tasting you for later.
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Jan 18, 2013 03:22
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So I've heard that if you put some food in the palm of your hand and your gerbil sits and eats on your hand, it's pretty much tamed. I did this with a unsalted almond and it worked with one of them, but the other grabbed it and zoomed away. I'm not sure how much water this theory holds, but how exactly do you tame a gerbil? I've been handling her basically everyday for four months and she is still, bittey/nibbly, flighty, and somewhat hard to hold without dropping. Do some gerbils just not stop being jerks? Also, I hope that almond was okay for them. I read on the internet that any unsalted nut is okay for gerbils in pretty small doses, so I hope that's true. EDIT: Also I really got to find a water bottle for my aquarium, cause god drat if it isn't annoying having to refill bedding filled water bowls every hour, or even worse, knocked over water bowls Zetsubou fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Jan 24, 2013 |
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Jan 24, 2013 12:35
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So, my two female gerbils kind of smell. I always clean out thier aquarium every two-three weeks and give them sand baths everytime I clean the aquarium. I use aspen for their bedding. Most people say that gerbils don't smell but mine kinda smell musky. is this nothing to worry about or am I doing something wrong. EDIT: I wouldn't say the smell is overbearing at all but their is some kind of smelly gerbil business going on. This might be a stretch but could this be because they are in heat? They are about 5 to 6 months old now and sometimes and both of them try to mount each other even though their both female. They've also sometimes come up to me, jump on my arm and pee a tiny amount on me, which actually really smells. Zetsubou fucked around with this message at 11:55 on Feb 3, 2013 |
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Feb 3, 2013 11:43
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Fraction posted:How big is the cage? If it's too small there might be an ammonia buildup that's making it smell. That could possibly be it. My dad got me the aquarium in a garage sale so I have no idea how many gallons my aquarium is. To be honest it looks like to me that it could be anywhere from 12 to 20 gallons. I'm planning on getting a bigger aquarium soon. Anyone know if it matters if the aquarium I buy for my gerbils was used to host fish in prior?
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Feb 4, 2013 12:56
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Is it normal for some aspen to be super dusty? I bought and just used Living World "Aspen Shavings" and it was pretty dusty. I ended up having brown dust speckled snot from putting it in the aquarium even though I tried to keep my face away from it. Also my silvery gerbil now has a brownish dust tint to him. I don't think that is what shavings is suppose to do. I wish I could use some other bedding but I don't have any and it's in the middle of the night. I just hope they don't end up dying a really dusty death.
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Feb 10, 2013 13:05
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Is their a reason why my gerbils want to eat my face? They don't bite any of my other body parts anymore but as soon as my face comes in contact they like to scratch and nibble on my chin/cheek/nose. It kinda hurts.
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Feb 19, 2013 04:28
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So basically one of the worst things that could happen did, which is to say my cat got ahold of one of my gerbils. Right now I believe her to be in shock, with no visible injuries or bleeding, but my cat was holding on to her pretty tight. So my question is what the ehck do I do. She is just sitting in the aquarium with her eyes closed and basically just breathing while once in a while moving very slighty. Right now I feel like one of the biggest idiots in the world and if I could transfer her pain to me I would in a heartbeat, but I can't. If she died because of this my guilt would be incomprehensible. What should I do in this situation? It is almost 5am and vets aren't open yet. EDIT: 20 min later now and she is actually moving quit a bit and at gerbil speed, but does still look a litle shocked. her eyes are now open. Does this mean anything or is it still common for a gerbil in shock to do that? Zetsubou fucked around with this message at 13:04 on Jun 28, 2013 |
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Jun 28, 2013 12:45
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I cannot see any wounds on her, but I haven't gotten a super close and thurough look yet because I don't know if it would be a good idea to disturb her right now. When the vets open I will definitely see what I can do about getting some antibiotics. EDIT: Like there is definitely no blood on her (besides from mine  )
Zetsubou fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Jun 28, 2013 |
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Jun 28, 2013 13:18
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It's been about 10 hours later so here is an update. She seems to be more flexible now, allowing herself to stretch and sleep in a more comfortable position. She is eating as I have given her food (about half of her tablet) and she ate it all. I have yet to se her drink but gerbils can go quite a while without drinking and i haven't been watching 24/7. She has moved around quite a bit and doesn't seem to mind doing so, the only problem is that I think she may have a bit of a limp that may be due to just being sore. She has also been kicking around her bedding every once in a while like how most gerbils do it. So long story short she seems to be getting better with time. She still is in a bit of a shock although I think. EDIT: From further investigation she also seems to be in heat today. Kind of a bad day to pick but whatever. That may explain why she is sleeping a lot and acting/moving kind of funny, which is what she would normally kind of do when in heat. EDIT EDIT: To avoid double posting I'll just make another edit. So lucky me she seems like she's is going to be okay. I took her out for play time today and she can run, jump, climb and all that good stuff. The only difference is that she just seems to be a bit weaker in grip and stuff, which im assuming is because of soreness or bruising. Thanks for eveyone's concern. Zetsubou fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Jun 29, 2013 |
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Jun 28, 2013 22:43
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So summer has finally showed it's ugly head around here, and it is at least 90+ degrees fahrenheit or 32+ degrees celsius around here. Any of you have any good tips to try and keep some hot gerbs cool? Of course I could just move them to the coolest spot in the house, but I don't necesarily want to lug a huge tank down a three story house and then have them freak out cause they are in a room they have never been in before (not to mention I would have to lug the thing all the way back up too probably in the same day.) Is ice the answer to my prayers?
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Jul 1, 2013 01:02
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Sounds like some good ideas in here. I'll go shopping tomorrow and pick up some of the stuff mentioned here. Also no I do not have any air conditioning. I don't mean to sound like an angsty teen but my dad is literally scrooge and there is no way he would get air conditioning.
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Jul 1, 2013 03:47
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Dead Inside Darwin posted:Guinea pigs don't *need* to chew right? My previous pigs weren't big on it but my current ones have made pretty large headway into the entrance to the igloo and even have taken some noticeable chunks out of the colorplast bed on their cage. I think they're bored and I'm not sure what to do about it (they start giving attention bites when you hold them long enough and they want to go back in) Well, I ain't no Guinea Pig expert and have also never had one, but from some googling around it seems like Guinea Pigs teeth don't stop growing, So I am guessing they are chewing on stuff to wear down their teeth. Also from experience rodents can vary personality wise and habit wise so yeah it wouldn't be surprising if your new piggies do different things than your last.
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Jul 1, 2013 09:06
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So once again I have a gerbil problem. I really don't understand what is the problem this time though. So long story short, I let my gerbil out for play time and he was completely fine then, but when I went to retrieve him he may ouf had a tiny tumble (I don't really know) but he is somewhat limp and a little non responsive and was making weird noises from his mouth, along with a lot of salivation. It's been 20 minutes now and he is still salivating a lot and just sort of resting. When need though (like when I tried to pick him up) he can go at a pretty fast/normal gerbil pace. I mean it's really confusing, one moment he was fine and now he's just sort of salivating everywhere and resting. At first I thought he was maybe choking on something but he hasn't passed out so that doesn't seem likely. Also I do not keep anything poisoness on my floor that I know of, so right now I am baffled. Any ideas?
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Jul 12, 2013 09:24
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Fewd posted:How's his incisors? I think too long incisors are the most common reason for gerb to drool. That or some form of seizure / heatstroke. If it's hot over there, it might very well be a stroke too considering the other things you said. Sadly I can't check his incisors cause he keeps his mouth closed. He does react to my hand and stuff and becomes wide-eyed and movey when I pick him up, but he prefers to stay put it seems. I don't think it was a heatstroke because I don't think it is warm enough today to cause that. Seizure is a posibility, but I didn't really see any signs of one. Basically what happened was he fell under some blankets (and was fine prior to) and them I got him out of them a few minutes later and he scampered off to a corner and then started acting sick. I'm definitely going to take him to a vet when I wake up in the morning but it's just so confusing. I even checked the area he started feeling ill in and I didn't see anything that would make him sick on the floor. The only thing around there were some blankets and my mom's knitting wool. Hopefully he gets better but considering I literally do not know how to deal with this situation I'm just going to keep checking up on him till the morning. Man, I wish my gerbils could just be healthy or something instead of just stressing me the hell out (or maybe I'm just a really bad/unlucky gerbil keeper.) Thanks for the reply. EDIT: What the heck gerbil, a few hours ago she looked like she was in agony/death's door and now she is cleaning herself thuroughly as if nothing had happened. I mean she could still be doing better, but it's quite a difference. Zetsubou fucked around with this message at 11:27 on Jul 12, 2013 |
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Jul 12, 2013 10:20
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Here's a somewhat quick question. One of my female gerbils has always been a little bit on the bitey side, but now that she's reached about a year old, her biting is getting kind of worse. About 50% of the time with skin contact she will give me a nip. These nips never really hurt before but now she is putting a little more pressure with these ones, and she has started acting this way for about a month now. And now here is the thing that confuses me; why is she doing this? I know she is not scared of me because she basically leaps at me when playtime starts, and always looks around for me for some sort of assistance getting up to high places and is just generally very sociable towards people. I don't believe she is sick or hurt because she is one of the most energetic gerbils i've seen and can basically climb anything vertically. She has also proven herself to be really gentle when she wants to be, like licking water off my fingers without even scraping me with her teeth. Really the best way I can describe this is kind of what teenage angst would look like in a gerbil, kind of like a "gently caress you man, you don't own me" in a gerbil perspective. Maybe she is gerbil angry at me or fustrated for some reason? My tank is a little small but I literally let them out everyday to run around my pretty big room for about 20-30 minutes a day, and also give them treats and alfalfa hay every once in a while. Is there anything that can be done about this or is she just a small fluffy loveable rear end in a top hat?
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Sep 7, 2013 10:17
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Man, after one and a half years of peace for some reason my gerbils now completely hate each other (or at least one hates the other) and now i'm stuck with a make-shift gerbil habitat aka the bath tub. It doesn't make any sense to me, they were sleeping together when I took them out to play, and then they started to play fight that turned into real fighting which I seperated without any injuries to anyone. Hoping that it would be a one time occurence I put them back in the aquarium and went to bed because I was sleepy as hell. I made sure they were fine with each other before I went to bed and they were once again sleeping with each other so I thought it would be fine. I ended up waking up around 6am to check on them and as soon as I did they started fighting again for no reason this time drawing blood from multiple parties, so here I am, a gerbil in the tub and scrambling to find a new tank/divider. Gerbils are dumb.
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Jan 14, 2014 23:03
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Okay, split cage method in action now. Sadly the space for both of them is pretty tiny because of this but this ain't my fault gerbs, shoulda just gotten along. Edit: also the thing I used for splitting the cage in half is meant for fish, but that's all I have so hope it stays in place!
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Jan 15, 2014 05:37
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I'm going to ask you guys because I've gotten some good advice from here before. So at the moment i've got two female gerbils ages being a year and a half in my aquarium with the split cage method going on because they have recently started fighting. I have had them both for the same amount of time and from the same store and beyond the fact that I often put them in neutral zones together that may carry new smells, I don't really know why they have started fighting. It started when I took them out in my room to have a run around, while I will admit me and my backpack had a 6 hour day outside visiting many different places (including a pet store), that to me is one of the only reasons I can think of why they started fighting, that one of my gerbils explored my backpack confusing the other gerbil with new unfamiliar scents. After about 6 minutes outside, they started play fighting, which then turned into real fighting. I seperated then with no injuries and put them back in their tank hoping it would just be a one off thing. They ended up going to bed together so things seemed to be working out, but them I woke up at 6am to two fighting gerbils again (which I think there is only one aggressor) and ended up seperating them for good because blood was drawn. So long story short should I eventually try to reintroduce them at some point in the split tank method or do you guys think that keeping them seperated might be better? My plan so far is to buy a bigger tank, clean it out really well, put them in it using the split tank method and then try to reintroduce them in about 3 weeks. I am also going to keep two of everything in the tank. My local pet store employee told me to put vinegar or their butts when trying to reintroduce them but I don't know if I am going to do that / if that even works.
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Jan 17, 2014 13:03
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Fewd posted:Unfortunately I got nothing on your problem, but I was just wondering about this one. Did he say why exactly you should put vinegar on their butts? To cover scent gland? That's on the belly, not on the pooper. And I was under the impression that the best way to reintroduce them to each other is to get them used to each others scents by switching them from one side of the split cage to another, so what does covering scent accomplish? I was thinking exactly what you were thinking so I was also pretty confused when she said that. She said something along the lines that it helps reset past aggessions by mixing up their smell, confusing the gerbil. Also at the moment I am using a divider ment for fish, it's made out of a hard but flimsy plastic that they can't chew through because it is too straight for them to grip at. It also has some small air holes in it. I'm thinking for my new tank I would buy some plexiglass, fit it to size and drill some holes in it too for scent passage. Edit: Here is a small update. Today I decided to see if my gerbs were going to start cooperating, so I put both of them in my bathtub. With gloves ready, I was posed to stop any agressive behaviour from happening however, i'm not exactly sure what I saw. Both gerbils were facing each other with their faces literally touching, almost as if they were face cuddling. Sometimes one would put their head under the others and the other would seemingly try to groom her but for some reason she wouldn't go through with it really. So basically they just touched faces for under a minute and then the aggressive gerbil somewhat lunged at the other so I caught her mid air and decided I didn't want to see where that was going. I have no clue whether this is an approvement or not. I just looked it up on google and apparently this person has had the exact same reaction. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120102001420AAC0ECR Zetsubou fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Jan 18, 2014 |
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Jan 17, 2014 14:25
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Captain Invictus posted:I feel terrible, I was holding Jumbo, one of the litter I raised, and when I was done I accidentally put him into Runt's cage because I was distracted talking to my roommate and I had both their cage tops open to feed them, and didn't notice until some of the worst noises I've heard started coming from Runt's cage because Jumbo had ambushed Runt while he was sleeping and they got into a furball. I know you're not supposed to intervene in a furball, but I had to because Jumbo was going to kill Runt, and he got me real good on the thumb and I was bleeding quite a lot and soaked half a paper towel in blood, I put some antibiotics on it then double-bandaged it, that should be good, right? I'm not sure what infections could be gotten from a deep hamster bite(it probably came close to hitting the bone, it's pretty deep). I'm holding Runt right now to check him out and he seems fine, he's not limping or anything but he's got a few bloody bite marks on his underside, though it doesn't seem to be anything major. Jumbo seems to have avoided injury which isn't surprising since he was the ambusher and twice Runt's size. I did learn something though, apparently male hamsters can retract their gigantic gonads into their body as a protective measure since both of them suddenly didn't have these massive things hanging under them anymore, they had pulled them in for safety. Man I feel horrible, this is the first time this has happened in almost 20 years of owning hamsters. Well I recently had to break up a gerbil fight not long ago and got bit on the edge of my thumb pretty deep and i'm not dead so you'll probably be fine. I put some sort of anti-infection cream on it and bandaged it up so all should be good. Unless ham's have some sort of secret venom/bacteria that gerbs don't have then in that case maybe get a doctor to look at it. Zetsubou fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 07:52
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So I may have said that I'd share pictures with you guys about a year ago and then completely forgot so here they are. All two of my gerbs! They are both a bit over two years old now.  This is Whitey! She is a complete sweet heart and has never bit anyone for the 2 years i've had her. She can be a little timid but still likes to socialize with people. Sorry for instagram filter.   This is Brownie! she likes to bite fingers and run around. She is pretty energetic and loves to climb things. While she likes to bite people she also loves to be picked up and played with. I don't really understand her. She has also gotten a little tubby I think. So cute! Some Hamsters just like to chew on the bars so I wouldn't be surprised if she did that for a few days or even longer.
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Aug 6, 2014 10:53
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