Hi, I'm looking for a lone male gerbil to pair with my little guy. He lost his brother a few months ago and I hate seeing gerbils on their own. He is around 8/9 months old. I currently live in Coventry, but I can travel by train a short distance on my days off (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). I will also be willing to travel further in a few weeks when I get my holiday.

Thanks for any help in finding a new little guy.

Do you know about splitcaging? You cannot introduce adult gerbils without one, they are highly territorial and will fight to the death: Mongolian Gerbils Splitcaging info

Bath Gerbil Rescue could be a good one to contact, they can advise on personality/age and tell you if they know of a suitable boy to splitcage. They have fosterers in various places. You can contact them via Bath Gerbil Rescue. You can also check this UK rodent rescue map

If you don't have the time to do a splitcage (boy-boy is a relatively easy one, but can still take weeks if not months), then another option would be to get a male pup - has to be under 8 weeks, ideally only just weaned but can be introduced carefully directly since you have a guy. Usually if you have a gerbil a year or older you'd intro two, so you aren't left with a lonely gerbil later on. Any gerbil in a pet shop is too old for this method so you need to go with a decent breeder.

Anyhow good luck finding a friend for your guy, he'll definately be happier for it

Yes, I know about splitcaging, I've been keeping gerbils for five years and I've introduced quite a few gerbils to each other. Andros and Zhane where bought as friends for my old gerbil Hajime and they lived together until Haj died of a tumour. Before then Haj was introuduced to Kenji and Jen. Kenji died and left her alone, when Jen's sister died, she was intruduced to Hajime. Jen died of old age leaving Haj on her own, which is when I got the boys. They where supposed to be girls but turned out to be boys, but Haj was already starting to get sick (she was old) so I just kept them together.
Only having one gerbil is kind of sad (I had five at one point) so a friend for my little guy would be great.

Ah good to hear it

Hope you have some luck finding friends. I Know a good gerbil breeder but unfortunately they are in Brighton, if you fancy a holiday there let me know and I'll give you details!

Have you been to Pets at Home in the area. I know they have many faults but they do have adoption corners and I adopted 2 gerbils from the one in Telford and they are little sweet hearts. At the time there was also one on his own who needed to be rehomed with friends. He's no longer there but they get animals that have ended up alone for one reason or another quite regularly that need to be bonded with new friends. So worth taking a look.

__________________

Yeah, I went there Tuesday. They had one male called Roy on the notice board, but when I asked about him they told me he had already gone. It's a shame, I really wanted to just pick one up. They told me I could have one of the babies, but when I looked at them, some of them where far too skinny just like Andros was when I got him. I didn't want to watch another baby have a long drawn out illness and die in my hands. If they had allowed me to hold him before I got him home, I wouldn't have bought him.
I also called the RSPCA shelter. It's a long way out for me and I would have to cycle there and back but they don't have any lone males either.

That's a shame, keep an eye out thought as I know at ours there are new animals brought in fairly regularly.

__________________

Still looking, poor Zhane is so desperate for a friend, he's such a lonely little gerbil.