I fail to agree that it was chewed off by another Gerbil, as your friend has told you.
You may have seen other tailed animals picked up by their tail. But if you do this to a gerbil, you can seriously injure them. The skin on the tail of a gerbil is very thin, and may actually slip off if he is picked up by the tail. Gerbils can “lose” their tails due to improper handling.
This improper handling is done by picking up the gerbil by the distal part (tip) of the tail.
The skinless tail then dies off and sloughs, the stump will usually heal without complications. However, in some cases, the tail may need to be amputated.
Any tailed rodent should “not” be picked up by the tip of their tail. The tail is an extension of the vertebral column that projects out of the back of the animal, and are very delicate. Fractures of the tail vertebrae’s can occur at the distal parts.
To correctly pick up a gerbil, place your hand over the gerbil's back and encircle his body with your thumb and fingers. Rodents can be restrained / handled by grasping the tail at the base (nearest the body) with the finger and thumb of the right hand, and then with the left hand slipped under the animal then lifted. Grasping any further caudally can result in damage.
Sounds as though your Gerbils tail has healed ok now. It will not grow again, and he should lead a relatively normal, but restricted life.
Last edited by hammy; 09-23-2007 at 06:43 AM.
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