I recently got a friend of mine to pet sit my gerbils. He’s been with them many times, and they’ve never nibbled him or bit him besides one who’s a nibbler. He hasn’t had a problem with any of them except for one, who’s a baby and has been nibbling him, pretty hard. He hasn’t drawn blood, but has been nibbling consistently harder and harder. The other three gerbils seem to be doing fine and haven’t nibbled. Is this just out of fear? Will he likely start nibbling me when I pick them back up? What should my friend do? I’ve asked him to keep putting his hand in but not picking him up. Unfortunately the problem has just been getting worse.
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First, he could try washing his hands before handling them to remove any scent. But occasionally a gerbil is just a nibbler; he could just avoid that one.