# Gerbil health: Strange bloody spots, mucus, stress and fur loss?



## jetandscampxxx (Sep 9, 2013)

[]Hi I need help.
I have 2 gerbils, Jet, who is black and Scamp, who is grey. It has been almost 3 years since I got them.

Yesterday I cleaned their cage and added to their cage: their finished bathing sand carton, an old good quality t-shirt and a rose quartz to file their nails.

They where fine last night, but when I got home tonight they had dark red, bloody spots on the upper sides of theirs body, near the side of their head. (See picture)






The pictures not very clear, sorry. I wiped salt and water solution onto the wounds to clean them.

Scamp has blood between his fingers and under his mouth which shows he's been biting/scratching the wounds. He also has dark red blood/mucus around his eyes and nose which hasn't gone away after around 5 hours.

It looks like they might have fur loss around the wounds but it could just be them grooming the wounds. I found some of scamps fur in the carton but I don't know if this is normal. (See next picture)
They are quite active but are very stressed, much more then normal, when I hold them, as they are normally very calm. Jet stood in the same corner for over an hour.

I do not know what is happening. Plz help.

I HAVE ATTACHED PHOTOS: 1 of the box with hair, the other wouldn't work

Day 2 Update: I took the gerbils to the vet today, her first thought was a fight too, but I thought this was unlikely as they've been together they're whole life and never fought. But then she saw the scabs where beginning to go down the whole side of they're body as the infection spreads. She said it looks very sore and infected, and looks like its not a fight as it goes down they're whole flank and is in exactly the same place on both gerbils.

She gave them an injection of anti-biotics and gave me some with the oral dosage. She said that not many bacterial skin conditions like that where common in gerbils, so it looks like over-grooming, however we don't know the cause. If it doesn't improve in a week, I should come back and we can do a skin scrape.

Day 3: just given them there 2nd from home and last for today dose of antibiotics. The fur looks a lot more healthy, the scabs the same, but they at harder to see as the fur is lying flat again. I guess this mean they are itching a lot less if any, as the furis not disturbed any more. Definitely an improvement! Still no clue on what caused it.

Day 4: About 50% of the wounds have closed up, but are definitely still there. You can see little gaps where the fur must have come out from itching.

Day 5: Same as day 4, I have kept giving anti biotics. Getting very good at spotting the wounds/spots now!

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THIS COULD BE CAUSED BY?


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## blade100 (Aug 24, 2009)

I'm not clued up on gerbils but I'd say they've had a huge fight and that's the reason they are stressy.
I can only see one picture.


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## Knightofalbion (Jul 3, 2012)

Yes, sounds to me like they had a fight.

Do they have a big cage and 'toys' to play with to keep them occupied?


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

A fight was my first thought too. How are they today?


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## DarcyGerbil (Jul 23, 2013)

I also agree with the posts before me, it sounds like they've had a nasty fight. Im no expert on dealing with fights but my suggestion would be to get them checked over at the vet first. They should be able to give some medication and wound dressings, and they can just check to see how badly hurt they are. If the gerbils are not getting along now you're best bet is to split them up and maybe find a new friend for them. Then again, Im not an expert so Im sure someone can give more accurate help. Good luck and I hope everything goes allright!


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## HazelandDan (Apr 22, 2012)

Oh poor you! and poor gerbils  sounds like a nightmare situation!

Good job for taking them to to vets, hopefully the antibiotics will help the wounds to heal without infection. Poor little guys . I though it sounded like a fight too. Even though they've been together their whole lives it just takes an odd smell or one of them feeling a bit grumpy one day to fall out.

The red mucous will be porphyrins. Check out this article on egerbil for info.
Red Tears ~ Understanding Porphyrins | eGerbil

It might be an idea to put them in a clean tank with just tissue paper for bedding, to avoid infection and irritation from bedding. This will also hopefully remove anything in the tank which could have caused the wounds if it wasnt a fight. If you use a thin layer of bedding for now you can watch them more closely to see if they're getting on with one another, cuddling up like usual etc.

How are they doing today?

oh, and welcome to the forum


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## jetandscampxxx (Sep 9, 2013)

Thanks for ur reply, hazel and dan, I have never given my gerbils shop bought bedding as I think that have more fun ripping up newspaper and gathering it into their bed


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## jetandscampxxx (Sep 9, 2013)

And thanks for the link!


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

Aww poor gerbies, I hope they don't mind the antibiotics too much and they start to show improvements soon. It's nasty when they aren't well and especially if you're not sure what is wrong. Well done for taking them to the vets so quickly though 

You're absolutely right about the gerbils preferring to make their own bedding - mine all do, the only problem is that now I have four I don't always get enough junk mail to keep them all occupied! I tend to avoid newspaper because the print comes off on their noses and paws though.

Get well soon gerbs!


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## jetandscampxxx (Sep 9, 2013)

Hmm the prints never come off on mines noses... Must be the type of newspaper or how fresh it was. They did get black noses when I gave them a box which use to have mushrooms in though!


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