Does anyone have any experiance with gerbils? (or rodents in general)

[Neocridders]

I got my gerbils when they were babies.
I don't know exactly how old that would be, but the Petsmart lady said babies.

Got them from the pet store on my birthday, September 14th. I am confident they are no longer babies.

So, two males (Remus + Sirius) and I have been noticing hair loss on eyes and nose for both I think.

Remus has one eye worse than the other. They look a bit crusty. I think it looks painful, but I have no idea if he is in pain. I would assume there is a bit of discomfort.

And I believe Sirius is the same, but his is more obvious because he has black fur. Of course, I rarely get to see him because he never comes out of his hole and when he is out and I am in the room, if I make a movement he can hear he will run back in.

But my hamster, Mr. Nibbles, had something like this the last half year or so before he died.
But, you know, he was fine, the neighbor watching him while we were gone lost him, and we found him over a week later. (Luckily. I can't believe the cat did not get him! He went from upstairs in my room to downstairs under the dishwasher. That is a pretty strange route. I can't believe he did not die of dehydration!)

Well, ever since we found him, he seemed pretty sick. I don't know if that is what caused his ... crusty-ness, but I thought that might possibly be a factor so I thought I should mention that.

Of course, he is sadly gone now. But I am still having this problem with my gerbils now..


Hahahaha. Sirius is out of his hole at the moment. I mean, I can't go see him. I can look over from my bed and see the little black rodent getting food

Ha. Just thought I should mention that.


Weeellll, any help or advice or insight would be lovely!
Thanks a bunch!

Maybe they fight?
Maybe allergies, since it is winter here?
:/

[Silvanon]

Well, bored gerbils will "barber" each other sometimes - chew at each other's hair.  But, that doesn't remove the hair completely, just makes it really short.  The remedy for that is more and different toys and activities.

I've occationally had gerbils with allergies start loosing the hair around their eyes and nose, because they rub at them so much.  Hair loss combined with the crusty eye definitely makes me think allergies.  Gerbils with allergies will often get a "bloody nose" - their boogers are red.

Smelly beddings and/or dust are often the culprits with gerbil allergies.  I generally kept my gerbils on aspen, which is non-allergenic for most gerbils, but I had one that I had to try several beddings out on.  Beddings that gerbils do well on are: aspen, carefresh, corn cob, and just plain newspapper or tissue paper (although the last two have to be changed much more often).  Try switching beddings around and see if they start doing better.

Allergies often lead into respitory infection for gerbils, an ailment that is the bane of all rodents and can quickly lead to death if not promptly treated.  To tell if your gerbil has a respirtory infection, hold the gerbil up to your ear.  If you hear clicking (think your fingernails snapping against each other) or worse, wheezing, your gerbils have a respirtory infection.  The recommended treatment for gerbils with respitory infection is an over-the-counter medicine called Ornacyline.  It's a bird medicine, so you'll find it in the bird isle at your pet store, and you add it to your gerbil's water every day for 10 days (or until they stop showing signs of infection, whichever is longer).  Use the "small bird" dosage.

Adds:  It doesn't sound to me like your gerbils are fighting.  Fighting involves lots of scuffling and obvious bleeding wounds.  Barbaring isn't fighting, it's grooming going too far.  I would not recommend splitting up your gerbils, as their care and company for each other is important to their recovery.  Oh, and as far as being babies, they're at least 7 months old now, probably closer to 8, so yes they're long since adults and they should be about into full weight at this point.

[Neocridders]

I don't want to go wake them up by trying this now, but I honestly think I remember strange noises when I picked Remus up.
Oh. I bet he has the infection. I better tell my mom right now.

Well, I am so glad I asked. I usually never take notice of things like this, but I have been thinking that there must be something wrong since they seem a bit different than they used to be.

:/ I am the worse rodent owner ever. I actually made them a new cage a month or two ago. I cut out a box and put the cardboard as flooring for a second floor, it was in an old fish tank.
Ahh. I bet that actually hurt them. i thought they were happy in it. I moved them back to their original cage last week.
Awww. I am terrible

Thanks a million, Silvanon! I hope they can be saved. I think the clicking has been going on a couple or more weeks. I hope it is not too late!

Thanks!

[Silvanon]

Well, I've never had a gerbil hurt by cardboard, so don't feel bad about that.  I bet they chewed it up quite happily.  (Well, ok, the AGS will tell you not to give them corrigated cardboard because they figure the glue used in the middle isn't that great for gerbils.  But I think it'd take an aweful lot of it to do anything.)

And, don't feel too bad about not realizing what the clicking was.  That's not something the pet stores or most other people seem to know about.  For really good, acurate information on gerbils, I always recommend the AGS's online gerbil care handbook:  http://agsgerbils.org/Learn/Gerbil_Care_Handbook/index.php

ETA:  Double checked my spelling, it's actually Ornyacycline (brand name for tetracycline).  And, if you think it's a very bad case or been going on for very long, a heat lamp focused on only one corner of the cage could be beneficial too.  Sometimes sick gerbils have trouble keeping their body temperature up.

[Neocridders]

Thank you so so much.
I told my mom, she said we'll get something tomorrow for them.
I am just relieved that I now know this.
I don't know what I'll do when they are gone. Remus is in my own mind the best name for a gerbil ever. I don't think I can live without him. Or Sirius, but he is pretty aloof.

Ha. Not very related, but I was really only planning to get one, Remus, but my dad said that we needed two since my old hamster was anti-social. And they were both young and get along.
But it is funny. I named Sirius that because it went with the name Remus. And then he was black... now that is completely coincidencial! But awesome as well <3

A million thank yous. Bookmarking the site now <3 <3

[Ravvana]

I so want pets named Sirius and Lyra... Nope, no astronomy geeks over here >.>

[Silvanon]

I'm glad you got two - gerbils are very social, they are happier and live longer if they're in pairs or groups.  (Though if there's anyone else reading this who's thinking to jump up and get a friend for their lone gerbil - read up on split caging first.)   

Hehe, yes, awesome names. 

Mm, if you don't currently have them on corncob, I think that'd be my recommendation of what alternate bedding to try.  Improvement may take a bit since they've got the RI as well, but if the new bedding is good they shouldn't get worse.  I hope the treatment goes well! 

[Neocridders]

Actually, they used to use some old wood shaving things, since I had some left over from my hamster from forever ago.
Only when that was used up, my mom bought this paper looking (probably recycled) bedding.

They were fine before... I wonder if this could have done anything? Maybe they have allergies to the newer bedding?

Ha. Sorry. I am just now noticing this :/

[Silvanon]

*nods*  Well, the bedding was the primary suspect anyways, but if the problem started around the time of the bedding change then yes, it's almost certainly the cause and you should avoid using that type of bedding with them in the future.  That may have been carefresh, it's made from recycled paper (or a knock-off of carefresh, as I believe there's several around now).  Aspen or corncobs would be good bets for a better bedding.  Pine and cedar are more smelly and tend to be more problematic for gerbils, espcially ones already struggling with allergies.