2007-01-23 06:53:37 · 6 answers · asked by J 3 lv lv 2 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
WOW, that's a long time for a gerbil to live, but then I had a hamster that lived for 6 years. He'll most likely start eating less also. I never raised gerbils, only hamsters and they'd suddenly get a burst of energy after being lethargic, then passed shortly afterwards. Sometimes you can actually smell a death smell before it happens. My son (21) brought one of his older hamsters out for me to check, she had cancer and you could smell the smell on her, 3 days later she passed. Only God really knows when an animail or anything else will die.
2007-01-23 10:52:36 · answer #1 · answered by wolfinator25840 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Considering that the average lifespan is 3-4, possibly 5 years, he's probably 100+ old in human years.
Has he slowed down considerably in the last few weeks/months? If so, I'd say he probably doesn't have much longer. But if he has already been like this for a while (6 months+) the little guy could still have some time left!
2007-01-23 10:09:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The average life of a domestic gerbil is about 2-5 years, depending on conditions. Stress can cause the animal to depress and die.
So I would say he's a lucky gerbil.
Good luck!
2007-01-23 06:57:17 · answer #3 · answered by Ashley 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
he's an OAP now, collecting his pension. maybe a gerbil sized zimmerframe is in order?
for a gerbil to last this long is very lucky. if he's still healthy and eating that's awesome! but it may just be borrowed time if he's starting to slow down.
2007-01-23 07:08:49 · answer #4 · answered by catx 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I got my first gerbils when I was 10 years old. They both lived to 6 years old. A gerbil's average life span is 2 to 5 years so I would say that your sister has done an AWESOME job of looking after him right.
Only he knows how long he will live. I've always had rodents as pets ever since the gerbils, many, many years now. I've seen them die suddenly, and I've seen them live for a very long time after they start to show signs of old age.
Signs of old age in gerbils
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=signs+of+old+age+in+gerbils&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAnYM54NvMNPtXBeKUqFf2zcazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAs6qPmKbEGuHV570VYkOMTkazKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=signs+of+old+age+in+gerbils
spazrats
http://spazrats.tripod.com
Rat Slave at 38
Specializing in the care of pet rats for 10 years
2007-01-23 11:53:00 · answer #5 · answered by spazrats 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you got 4 years longer than most gerbils go. i'd say within 3 weeks. sorry.
2007-01-24 09:06:16 · answer #6 · answered by sandy e 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋