Gerbil issue

Hermitcrabgirl · Post by **Hermitcrabgirl** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 1:11 pm

So today I adopted 2 gerbils. They are males. Their names are Nacho and Taco (lol). Here is the issue. Nacho is the issue. They are brothers, but when I adopted them, I was told that Nacho is cage aggressive. What? They did a bad job of explaining what it was. I looked it up on google, but all the results were about cage aggressive birds or dogs. Nothing about gerbils. Is it a big problem? Will Nacho hurt Taco? I'm really confused and I hope that it's ok. I need advice. In case it makes a difference, they are in a 55 gallon long tank. Please reply ASAP.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:56 am

@Hermitcrabgirl, I've had hamsters on and off over the last twenty years and they are very similar to gerbils in the way they can show cage aggression.Having two males housed together is the same as having two females not the most ideal set up because these pairs are going to fight each other from time to time this is to establish dominance and a pecking order but sometimes this can go way past that because of the lack of other gerbils the dominant will only have one other to pick on which will cause the victim to become aggressive very aggressive when caged and from what I've read you can deal with the problem by either allowing them to have a lot of play time outside of the tank or housing them in separate tanks.You'll know how bad the situation is by listening to the two of them tussling around if either one is squeaking then you have a serious issue on your hands because they aren't just playing around anymore they are really fighting at this point and need to be carefully separated.Cage aggression can even stem to you being bitten by the aggressor when you put your hands into the enclosure with them.

Hermitcrabgirl · Post by **Hermitcrabgirl** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:46 pm

Thanks so much! He hasn't bitten me yet, so that's good. I can't pick Nacho (the cage aggressive one) up as easily as Taco. As soon as I touch him he darts very fast. I began to scoop him up, but he quickly jumped out of my hands. Luckily I was holding him close to the bedding in the cage. I appreciate the advice

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 5:42 am

Your welcome.

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 12:03 pm

Yes, whenever I've had hamsters in the past we always kept them separate. Young ones are usually ok together for a while but after several months need to be separated. If we wanted to breed a pair we would put them together for a short time then separate them again so they wouldn't hurt each other. Like crabber said if you consistently hear them squeaking at each other they will need to be separated. Anything from a simple 10g tank to an elaborate wire cage will work.