The deal with rodents..

So have you ever heard someone say to you at a pet store,
"YOU CAN'T PUT RODENTS OF OTHER SPECIES TOGETHER. THEY'LL KILL EACH OTHER."
or...
"Gerbils hate hamsters."
or...
"Hamsters are solely solitary animals. They will kill any other animal you put with them."
or perhaps, even,
"Mice are the only small rodents that can live in a community. Gerbils will kill each other for a mate and hamsters will kill anything."


Well...
False, false, false, and false, I say.
I know for a fact that mice and hamsters can live together happily.
I know that gerbils and mice can live together happily.
And I now know that gerbils, hamsters, and mice can all three live together with no problems.


I think that perhaps the reasons these myths have been formed in the rodent area is because people are not careful or strategic when introducing animals to another animal.
Here are my suggestions (goes for ANY animals):

1. If you plan to let any animals live together (in the same cage, or even in the same house), you should put them together as babies, or when they are still fairly young. Before sexual maturity is ideal.

2. When putting your 2+ animals together, let them "check each other out" on a neutral ground, away from anything that would have any of the animals' scent on it. A cardboard box works well for this when dealing with small rodents.

3. Monitor their interaction closely. While most animals get along fine with others when they're young, there are exceptions. One of your animals might not like the other(s) at first. This will take 1-3 days (or less) of monitored interaction before they will be used the other animal.

4. If your animals seem to be getting along perfectly fine after an hour or so, it is likely safe to put them in the same cage. But, do NOT put them in together if the cage has not been thoroughly cleaned out (to get rid of any previous animals' smells).

5. Keep an eye on the cage and a close ear to listen for squeaks (if your gerbil(s) squeaks, you probably shouldn't worry to much about it. They squeak a lot normally). Do keep within earshot of the cage the first day, though. If after 1 day, all the animals have interacted positively and haven't had any trouble, it is safe to let them stay together from there on out!

6. If the animals do have trouble with each other after sticking them in a cage together, you may try a few different things.
-put a distraction for them in the cage. With rodents, a running wheel works quite well as a bonding instrument as the different animals will be focused on the wheel and running all over each other.
-take all the animals out and start at square one with the cardboard box
-put a wire divider in a cage so that the animals (this works better with two animals) can see and smell each other, but can avoid any quarrels that may arise.

7. If your animals do not sleep "in a pile" right away, don't worry. That kind of closeness between animals comes with time. However, if you can see that they are taking advantage of objects in the aquarium to sleep on/under (to be away from the other(s)), it is safe to remove the objects for a while to encourage them to interact with each other more.


Best of luck!