#gerblr

“Setting up a split cage”

What is a split cage?

A split cage is any type of cage/tank that has some sort of mesh divide in the middle! There a few different methods but the most common in a tank with a removable mesh divider!

How do you make a split cage?

My split cage isn’t the best as I didn’t have the materials to make a better one at the time! But here’s a link to a guide! Here

What do you put in a split cage?

Short answer? Basically nothing! Longer answer? Because the purpose of a split cage is to force two gerbils to interact with each other through the mesh you don’t want to put much else in it! The only things to include are a water bottle, food bowl if you use one, bedding, and some things to chew on like wood/cardboard/tissue!

How big should a split cage be?

I gave the girls a fancy cat cave bed and they had very different immediate reactions.

Whiskey: oh, a place to lounge

So last night, after cleaning the rats' cage, I went to go feed Bernice (my gerbil, who is hard to get good photos of) and after she was awakened (the time change threw her schedule off) and ate a bit, she started just sitting on top of her little house, eyes squinted, breathing kinda heavy, and fur by her nose bristled up.

So something's definitely wrong, and my immediate fear is that this might be it for her. I don't know how old she is, since I got her from my high school zoology class (story for another day) so I worry about potential age-related problems a lot.

She is definitely still responsive and all there cognitively. She responds to touches and gestures, and she'll move around if prompted, but she sticks to the top of that house. She also still ate some sunflower seeds from my hand.

I called my vet as soon as they opened, and they got me in at 4:30 this afternoon. I had my brother check on her an hour ago, since I leave early in the AM and he said she hasn't gotten any worse.

I feel so helpless though. The only emergency exotics vet in my area isn't great and it's a long drive away, and I trust my usual vet a lot more than them. But I get home at noon, and if her condition has worsened by then, I'll have to take her there. I really wish this happened last week because I could have skipped class and taken her so much earlier, but my only class for the day is a big group project worth a huge participation grade, so I can't miss it. I'm still gonna try to leave a bit early if I can.

Nim wants to play but Mablui is Tired™️