It was a rather sad day today. A family friend bought two gerbils for the family about 4 months ago. Both females. Today I got a frantic call - one of the kids had accidental stepped on the gerbil and they ask for me to come over.

I went over and sadly the gerbil was dead - awful as there was blood and the poor child was frantic screaming and really traumatized.

I still feel numb. But the problem is they are worried about the remaining gerbil, and whether they should get another to keep it company.

Any thoughts? I would like to give them some advice.

how old is the remaining female ??

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animals are my life

i have:
2x dogs (rottweiler and a jug),
1x african grey parrot,
2x rosella parekeets
4x syrian hamsters (baby, mocha (wiggy), peaches and daisey),
2x winter white dwarfs (sunshine and harry),
1x female leaf insects (doesn't have a names),
1x female corn snake (awaiting eggs),

4 months, they were sisters

I've not had any gerbils but from previous posts on this forum (and from experience with other rodents) I would think that the gerbil would need a friend. They get on better with company as they are such social animals. It might be worth suggesting to them to introduce the gerbils using something like the split cage method (have a noisey on google.) Try even sending a pm to one of the members on here (Marcia) as she is a breeder and a wealth of information on their behaviour. I'm sure that some others will come along to be able to give you more advice.

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Run free my beautiful rainbow babies. I love you.