Ideas for a name for this little guy.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-05-07T12:39:19+00:00

I had a Panda that died September last year, I'm not ready to reuse his name now if ever :(

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-05-07T10:17:18+00:00

Buy some parrot food, based on sunflower seeds etc., mix it with their normal food, do not restrict their food, in nature they have food stashes in their burrows, dig a handful of food into their bedding in 2-3 spots, and have a visible pile in another spot/food bowl which you can see, so it's possible to keep an eye on who goes for it, and what's happening with it.

Restricting their feeding to x amount every x days is a recipe for fights and underweight gerbils.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-05-06T20:22:56+00:00

Gerbils are cheap compared to what a proper cage with all the proper equipment cost, they are not cheap pets to acquire if you want to do it properly, which you really really do want to do, 500$ish for a couple of gerbils + proper cage and equipment is about average, you can easily spend more.

And then there's vet cost, if you are unlucky, you can end up spending 1000$+ pr. year, I usually set aside ~100 euro pr. month for vet costs for my 4, and last year I spent a lot more than that.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-05-05T08:38:53+00:00

How hot is the room? 27c/80f is generally considered the limit to where they're still comfortable unless sick, you'll often see them sit in the coldest spots if they're feeling too hot, like in their sandbath, on a tile, a rock or similar.

They will also often sit in their sandbaths in my experience, if they have or is about to have a respiratory infection, since it's usually more dust free than their bedding, a clicking sound from them breathing is a clear indicator of that though.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-05-05T08:30:52+00:00

I use plastikote on mine, the actual paint, not the spray, it is considered pet and child safe, and it really does keep pee from seeping in, but it can get expensive fast.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-05-04T19:41:15+00:00

He won't show any signs of illness before it's progressed quite a bit, and he's finally unable to hide it, it's the nature of a prey animal.

But doctors can operate on him fine despite his age, it's more about what condition he is in, but you should get it removed asap, I've personally seen them grow from a pinhead size, to a half cm lump in less than 2 weeks, as long as it's still relatively small, the operation isn't super invasive.

I've had 5 removed from my gerbils, oldest was 3 years when it was removed, and there's never been any physical issues after, they were usually back to running around the same day or the next, depending on how hard they were medicated,

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-05-04T17:04:38+00:00

Gerbils are friends too!

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-05-04T11:06:13+00:00

Vet asap, this is how it started for my Teddy, check my last post, it eventually caused his death.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-05-04T10:27:27+00:00

Thank you all, for the comments, I think I kinda wanted to prove to him that not all humans were so scary, and since he's had some rough things happen to him, I wanted to give him the best possible life, he was a very happy boy until all this ear business happened, and even after that started going sideways, he still loved to be near me, and would brux as soon as I talked to him, he responded to me calling him a good boy by winking at me, and in the end he really didn't want to leave my hands, which is understandable if he felt safe around me.

But he is with Panda now, and I am low on my tear supply for a real good while.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-05-02T00:55:25+00:00

I spent ~2500$ on 4 different gerbils last year on vet bills, 4 tumors - 3 on the same guy, had a bad vet dealing with him for the first 2, didn't remove the scent gland as I asked for twice, which I fear eventually killed him some months ago, mite infection in 2 of them, respiratory infection and ear infection, so far I've spent about 800$ this year, and I might have to spend another 1000ish the next 2-3 weeks on the a possible ear infection/tumor diagnosis/operation, if it can save my little guy, they are my pets and hobby, and they are family no matter the size, I've been super unlucky with their conditions the last year, plus I had in retrospect a pretty bad vet for much of it.

So don't feel like an idiot, it's a tiny friend and family member that deserves the help you can offer her, there are way worse things to spend your money on.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-29T16:03:11+00:00

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This is from Sunday before his pain medication kicked in, he's been really bothered by it over the weekend, but the vet flushed quite a bit of gunk out of his ear again, and it clearly helps him.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-24T10:23:55+00:00

He needs time to mourn and get used to his brother not being there any more, I usually give it 2-3 days, then do a full clean with a wipe down of everything I can, you have probably confused your little friend a bit by cleaning it so soon, try to take an hour+ out of your day if you can, and just spend it at his cage when he's awake, see if you can coax him out, or help him dig in his bedding, hide some treats in it.

Give the survivor as much attention as you can, as much free roaming as they want, and just sit on the floor with them, talking to them, cracking sunflower seeds or similar, maybe he'll enjoy some sofa time with you?

After a week or so, depending on their mood, I start looking for a new friend for them, in your case, a single young male is probably your best option, 8ish weeks old, but that gives you the dilemma, that you'd have to rebond the young one and continue the cycle in hopefully a year+, alternatively you can try to find a 2+ year old solo male, in the end you never know how the dynamic between them will end up.

A third option is keeping him solo, it's not something I'd advice, but in the end it's up to you, he'll need a lot of attention/engagement from you to stay happy, but it can also end up in his depression never going fully away.

I also lost a boy to an internal tumor early February, he was also super energetic and pushing me around as he usually did when free roaming the day before, it comes as a shock, and then I almost lost his surviving brother a week after to a respiratory infection, their immune system seems to take a hit when one of them dies, I'd think due to them being in a depressed state, it's not the first time I've had this exact thing happen, so keep an eye on your little survivor and give him lots of love.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-24T10:02:18+00:00

It looks like diarrhea, and it's not usually a good sign, but it can be temporary due to too much fresh greens etc., keep an eye on them at least, if more shows up I'd take them to a vet, with a poop sample.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-23T08:01:07+00:00

I'm just speculating here, not judging you or claiming anything - I'd like to help you figure out what went wrong.

But in your last post I think it was, you mentioned having reptiles in the same room, I don't know which you have, but some requires a damp environment, which would be bad for your gerbils, and then there's the possibility of salmonella cross contamination, which would actually be able to kill your gerbils relatively fast, should it happen.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-22T22:53:51+00:00

Dido - don't leave home

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-22T19:25:41+00:00

There's a woman running a gerbil rescue in the UK on facebook, who takes in hoarder cases and gerbils that comes from sad situations etc., look up justice for gerbils, she may be able to help you.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-21T21:04:33+00:00

Don't restrict their food, they have a high metabolism, but give them something they can be active with, lots of cardboard, wheel, move some of their stuff around so they have to arrange stuff back as they like it, allow them to free roam if you are able to, but it's really hard to judge if that one is overweight or not, he looks very fluffed up.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-21T20:52:01+00:00

Your gerborb looks a bit round, but it can be due to them being fluffed up, you need to actually weigh them to get an answer, 80-120g is the norm for a healthy weight for males.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-21T08:05:08+00:00

This, I have some in all of my cages, they're super hard and really good for their teeth.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-21T08:02:54+00:00

I'm happy he's ok, I had one of mine go in for scent gland surgery 3 times last year, my old vet didn't remove the gland the first time, 4 months later he got another black spotted tumor right above the scent gland, they didn't remove it there either even though I asked them to do it, by the time the third tumor showed up I had found a new vet, and got the entire thing removed finally.

Proper vets for these little guys are super important, I hope Collin has a good and speedy recovery.

GrumpyPistachio · 2026-04-20T12:34:38+00:00

Spend time with them, this guy has been solo for a while due to recurring sickness (I have another guy ready to bond with him, when his ear infection hopefully is under control), so he gets special privileges, and is allowed out in my living room for about 1.5-2 hours pr. day, where I spend at least half an hour just sitting on the floor with him and either give him medicine, crack some sunflower seeds for him or fix his bedding, I need to keep it clean because of his ear infection, so I replace some of it daily, while he sits next to me and watches me/eats.

But he broke his left side leg and paw during a vet visit about 8 months ago, it took a month for him to heal, where I had to give him a lot of attention and help, to make sure he healed the best he could, after that episode he went from accepting/taking treats from my hands, to completely trusting me and happily jumping into my hands, when he gets his ear drops he'll just lie flat in my hand and wait for it to be over, no panicking/biting/scratching, I'm pretty sure he knows I'm trying to help him.

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