That is the Golden Question we all hope for the answer to – a way to stop our gerbil declanning for good.
Unfortunately though, around a quarter of our clans will end in a declan – but of course this doesn’t have to mean they had a fight. If you spotted it early enough, they were only at the ‘being grumpy with each other’ stage and nobody was hurt so far.
I am assuming that your gerbils are now at this stage – maybe even progressing to a bit of chasing or separation – and you are looking for possible quick fixes instead of splitting them up right now.
Many people do not have the option of getting more tanks – or more gerbils to solve the issue – so they are looking for a few things to try to save the current clan, before giving up.
There are, thank goodness, things that people have tried in the past that are said to help slow down or stop declans.
These don’t always work for everyone of course – but they are mentioned often enough on forums and in groups that there must be something in them enough for their constant recurring themes.
Help me stop my gerbils declanning!
Right, I’ll get onto the points straight away – I know how stressful declans can be for us owners – and our gerbils…
Option 1 – Try a simpler set up: Scaling back on things in your set-up temporarily – especially houses, dens, large tunnels etc. can mean that there are less places for a gerbil to become possessive over. I mean – you can’t stop another gerbil sleeping in the house if there isn’t one.
In a declan, quite often gerbils will start to ‘defend’ certain places creating a rift between gerbils. Also a gerbil can become ‘trapped’ in a dead end fixture like a sold house or a tunnel against a wall – not a comforting option when you know you are being bullied.
Doubling up on water bottles, sand baths and also scatter feeding can help to ease tensions for important things – as then no-one has to ‘wait their turn’ for anything.
Option 2 – Remove extra bits: If your set-up has different sections connected via ladders or tubes – remove them. In the same way that permanent structures can cause trouble – so can restricted access areas.
What if that tunnel has the bully standing at the end? What is you can get stuck up in a topper with the bully daring you to come down? If the food, water or other essentials are in one section and not the other – it can cause a rift to grow if it is already there – especially if there are more than 2 gerbils in the clan.
The different sections themselves can cause tension – for example if two gerbils are always in one section and the other one is excluded – you can see this can make things worse very easily.
Option 3 – Make the set-up smaller: Even better for getting them closer together is to make the whole set-up smaller – the smaller the better (it is only short term after all).
Basically it is advised to downsize their enclosure so not only is there no room for too much clutter and secret corners and tunnels – but everything is in one place and there isn’t much room to fight about anything.
If they all have to stay closer to each other and share everything – then there can’t be any secret meetings between gerbils in trios. Still scatter feed and have two water bottles if you can as a way of reducing tension.
Option 4 – Try a split tank: If things have already escalated and you think an injury is inevitable then perhaps this final option is the safest. By putting a secure temporary divide between the gerbils involved you can help calm things down – and most importantly stop them hurting each other.
They can still interact but it is more posturing – so hopefully they can settle their differences with their attitudes rather than with their teeth.
This time apart can also allow you a bit of time to consider the options long term (as well as saving you a possible vets bill). I would swap sides with them for a few days at most and then reintroduce them in the split tank itself and see what happens.
If you are happy with them together, then after a few days more in the smaller split tank, move them back into their own tank with all fresh deep bedding and things to distract them with (loads of shredded paper, cardboard, etc) – but less permanent things in there for them to take ownership of (so less wooden things).
A simple set-up will work best – just like with a normal split tank between strangers. I know yours aren’t strangers, but in some respects they are starting from scratch again and need to build up their clan from the beginning.
What if this doesn’t stop my gerbils declanning?
Well, there is always the chance that nothing could have saved them – perhaps the divide between them was too big already? Your actions may have stalled it – but perhaps it was just one of those things.
Maybe your actions kept them together for another few months or even a year or more – but it can still reach that point again at any time.
Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be a reason we can see for these troubles – but it isn’t us who are living in the clan – so we finally have to take the hint from them that all is not well and permanently divide up the clan.
Thankfully though, a declan doesn’t always have to end in a serious fight.
If you can see the signs of a declan and know you can’t smooth things out immediately for whatever reason – you can at least still take action. Many breeders and keepers with multiple clans can see these things coming and so split up clans before anything untoward happens. They have the space and supplies to do so more easily than others.
These new arrangements are still classed as a declan – as the gerbils involved would most likely have gone on to fight anyway – so it is just a preemptive strike by us owners.
Once you have decided to keep your fighting gerbils apart permanently, you can start reassessing set-ups, new clans and whatever else you have the time and space for.