lethargic gerbils

Question
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Followup To
Question -
Hi,

three weeks ago I bought three 6 week old male gerbils from a reputable pet store chain but last week I had to take one (who we suspect to be the runt of the litter as he was smaller but by no means less active than the others) to the vets to be put down because he had stopped eating and was like a rake.  In the last couple of days I have become more watchful of the remaining two who, whilst not be anywhere near as active as gerbils I have previously owned, have spent more time in their nest than playing.  There is plenty to do in the tank (a solid plastic wheel, jamjar, wooden cube, maze made from cardboard tubes that I constructed in the hope that they would discover their burrowing instinct, they haven't) as well as fresh water available all the time, plenty of dried food and the occasional carrot or grape for greens. They are in a tank approx. 2x1feet with a substantial layer of woodshavings.  This would have kept my other gerbils occupied almost 24/7 so I just don't understand what the promblem is.

Any insights you may have into the situation would be extremely welcome as I would like to avoid any unnecessary stress from taking to the vets if this is a common problem.

Thanks for your time

Lucy
Answer -
Well hello :-)! Hmmm.. three gerbils sleeping more than playing. well to be perfectly honest that's actually normal for the babies to be sleeping more than playing. Since they are so young they need to sleep more. As long as they are eating and drinking and they do not look skinny like the runt of the litter was they are healthy. My hamster sleeps like 24/7 and he's fat and pudgy lol. :-) Where I work the pets seem to sleep more, especially when people are loud and noisy and their sleep is disturbed. If your woodshavings are ceder or pine, I would take them out and replace them with aspen since they may be having allergies and sensitivities to the woodshavings. Most of the time it seems to take animals a little bit getting used with their new place. I'd give them some more time to get adjusted or you may just have sleepy gerbils :-). I hardly ever see the gerbils at work active until like 9pm and they are only active then for like an hour or so and then they sleep. I think they are fine personally. I would actually buy them some vitamins to put in their drink though. That may help them with energy and provide them with some nutrients. I use oasis drops for my hamster and he seems to be really healthy because of them.  Good Luck with your gerbils. keep me posted on them though. If they seem to get weak and thin then take them to the vet as they may have a bacterial infection or a disease, but if they aren't skinny and they are healthy and eating and drinking than they are just sleepy and not as active as others. It's normal though. Some just aren't as active as others. :-)

Hi, thanks for replying so quickly.  Unfortunatly the same day I emailed you one of the remaining ones died and the other went that night.  Im still not entirely sure what happened, they were no where near as skinny as the first one was, it was like they just gave up.  I have now got new ones, all girls and all so much more lively - it was like a box of jumping beans when I went to choose them!  It must just have been something to do with a weak litter, maybe?  This time am taking no chances - thoroughly disinfected the tank and solid toys, threw out all the wooden ones and bought loads of vitamin salt lick type things, one of which they love so much, they've buried it!
I'm really hoping these ones last, all in all they seem more active and gerbilly so I'm  going to stay optimistic! :-)

Answer
they probably had a disease or bacterial infection they had when you bought them. So sorry to hear about them not living. It's one of those mystery deaths that is hard to explain. I know we've had hamsters die at work for no apparant reason. One minute they were playing on the wheel and drinking and the next minute they died. No reason at all why. You did the right thing by disenfecting everything before you got your other gerbils. Maybe it was a weak litter. Reading up on it, it seems that some litters are weak and have weak immune systems even though they appear normal. Keep me posted on these babies and good luck with them :-)