Why did my girl gerbil kill another girl gerbil

Question
QUESTION: I had a gerbil named Herrmine and i got another gerbil that was a girl and in the next hour or two Herrmine had killed her.  Why did she kill other gerbils that were the same kind of gerbil and both were girls?

ANSWER: Hi Katherine

I'm sorry to hear about your gerbil.  I'm assuming that these weren't sisters and that you introduced one to the other????

If this is the case, then it doesn't surprise me.  It is very difficult introducing same sex gerbils.  Herrmine would be very territorial and to her the other gerbil had invaded her territory and therefore she saw her as a threat.  Unfortunately, even if they are related there is never any guarantee they won't fight - I have had to separate out gerbils before now because of fighting, and it is impossible to re-introduce them at a later date.

I think that Herrmine will have to live alone - although in the wild they live in colonies, in captivity it isn't a problem - I've had many single gerbils - it just means that they get more of my attention.

Regards

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I also had a boy hamster and i had him for 1 year and when i went togo and feed him he was on the ground and i thought that he was sleeping and so i got my mom and his eye'swere gone out of his head and i was really crying hard.  Can you tell me why he didn't have eye's when he died.

Answer
Hi Katherine

Sorry to hear about your other hamster.  I'm assuming when he died he was on his own (if he was with another hamster then they can mutilate each other - this is why Syrians need to live alone.  Dwarf hamsters can mutilate each other after they die.). I expect he did have eyes, it's just that when a hamster dies, and starts to decompose the eyes tend to dry up and it can look as though they don't have any.  It would really depend on how long before you found him that he had died and also what the temperature was then as obviously in the hot weather dead hamsters decompose much faster.

Regards