Questionary about aggressive Gerbil behavior

As a female PhD student of veterinary medicine at the « Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire » in Nantes / France I examine the aggressive behavior of

Mongolian Gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) among themselves in captivity. My Ph.D. advisor is Professor Bourdeau.

For a data collection I demand all gerbil-owners to answer the following questions. If you cannot respond to one or more, please ignore the individual question.

Furthermore: When someone has experiences with more then one gerbil population, I would be sincerely thankful, if the regarding could fill out and send the form several times.

Before you begin, please be so kind and specify your age and your profession for the final evaluation.  

Age :                                                     Profession :

A. Your animals

1.         How many gerbils do you have (living together) ?   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 >20

2.1       Number of males?   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >10

2.2       Number of females?   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >10

3.         What's the age of each gerbil ?

Form for males

Age of Gerbil No. :	< 3 weeks	3 weeks to 3 months	3 to 6 months	6 to 12 months	1 to 2 years	2 to 3 years	3 to 4 years	> 4 years
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Form for females

Age of Gerbil No. :	< 3 weeks	3 weeks to 3 months	3 to 6 months	6 to 12 months	1 to 2 years	2 to 3 years	3 to 4 years	> 4 years
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

4. Are they all related?   Yes   No

5. Did they always live together ?   Yes No

6. Did you notice aggressive behavior?   Yes No

If the last question was answered with no, please proceed with part 3 of the questionary« The cage ».

2. The aggressivity

7. For how long were the participants together, before the aggressivity began?   < 1 month 1 to 6 months 6 to 24 months > 2 years         

8.1 Which gerbil was attacked?   founding father founding mother male descendant female descendant new member

8.2 Age of the victim?   < 3 months 3 to 6 months 6 to 24 months > 2 years

8.3 Color of the victim?   natural (agouti) black white gray siamese honey saffron cinnamon apricot brindled else

8.4 Was the victim castrated?   Yes No

9. How many attackers did participate ?   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 >20

10. Please categorize the attacking gerbil/s?

	Type					Age
n°	founding - mother	founding father	female descendant	male descendant	new member	<3 months	3 to 6 months	6 months to 2 years	>2 years
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

11.1 How often do you notice aggressive behavior?   1 to 5 times/week 1 to 5 times/day 5 to 10 times/day constantly other frequency  

Other frequency : 

11.2  Is the aggressivity appearing cyclic?   Yes No

12. At which time of day does the aggressivity appear predominantly :   in the daytime in the nighttime constantly unknown

13.  Is a relation visible between the appearence of aggressivity and the feeding ?   Yes No

14.1 Was the attacked gerbil sick or weakened ?   Yes No         

14.2. If so, which symptoms:  

15. Please categorize the aggressivity

Frequency Type of aggression	never	sometimes	often	constantly
Provocations (head strokes, nibbling,..)
exclusion of the community, the feeding dish, the nest, aso.
chasing
fights
severe injuries
fight with fatal consequence

3. The cage

16. What is the size of the cage approximately (length x width x height) ?           

17. What sort of cage is it?

clear-transparent plastic   metal cage/ wire netting     terrarium

one level several levels     several (connected) cages

18.1 Do your gerbils have games or activities available in the cage?   Yes   No

18.2 If so, which? 

19. The gerbils ground is strewn with which material?      sawdust vegetable granulate soil sand hay other            

Other:   

20. Is clean sand available for the gerbils (e.g. chinchilla-sand) ?   Yes   No

21. How frequently is the cage cleaned?   > 1 time/week 1 time/week 1 time/14 days,1 time/month <one time/month

4. Alimentation

22. Which basic nutrition is given?   assortment for gerbils (grain feed, dried-fruits/ vegetables, etc.) granulate for gerbils assortment for other rodents granulate for other rodents other  

Other :  

23.1 Do you give treats?   Yes No

23.2 If so, which?   bought products fruits vegetables meat eggs dairy produce

If possible, please specify: 

23.3 How often are treats distributed ?      every day every two days 1-2 times /week one week

24.1 Is dietary supplement given?   Yes  No

24.2 If so, which?   vitamins  minerals   other:  

25. How often are the gerbils provided fresh water?   every day every two days 1-2 time/week one time/ week

5. Environment and care

26. In which lighting condition do the gerbils live?   faint light medium light bright light

27. To which acoustic level are the gerbils faced frequently?   few noises loud music parasitic noises, constantly or often (computers, washing machines, etc.)

28. Are there strong smells in the dwelling(kitchen, incenses, cigarettes, etc.) ?   Yes No

29. How is the ambiance in your dwelling?   hot average cold

        dampish average   dry

30.1 Are other animals living in the same room as the gerbils?   Yes   No

30.2 If so, which?   dog   cat   other:  

31.1 Do you let the gerbils out of the cage sometimes?   Yes No

31.2 If so, how frequently?   every day every two days 1-2 times/ week > one week

32.1 Do you take your gerbils on your hands, shoulder or similar ?   Yes   No

32.2 If so, how frequently?   every day every two days 1-2 times/week > time/ week

Thank you very much for having taken the time to answer the questionary!