Hi and thanks in advance for any responses.

This might sound a bit funny but I think that one of my gerbils has 'mated' with one of the stones we have placed in the tank. We had to move this stone from the bottom tank which is made of glass to the top part as he was making so much noise banging the stone about when we were trying to sleep. He crawls all over it and will be on it for hours at a time.

Now that the stone is in the top cage, the gerbil has moved the stone into a small housing structure we put there and continues to bang about with the stone all night. My partner manages to sleep through most of this and jokingly suggests drawing a face on the stone.

I am wary of removing the stone altogether as I fear it might lead to separation anxiety??

Has anyone had any similar experience? Any ideas?

Cheers.

How sweet! I've no experience of gerbils but animals can sometimes mistake inanimate objects for "mates". I think you're right not to remove the stone because your gerbil obviously loves it and it does no harm (apart from keep you awake at night). In my hamster's cage (the glass tank part) I put at least a 4" depth of bedding and straw which works well at preventing noisy toys clattering in the night.

Thank you so much. Will do!