SERIOUS HELP NEEDED FOR Split Cage With Gerbils!?

I’m doing the split cage method with two gerbils. Though I work in a pet shop with gerbils, so I know the basics, I’ve never introduced two gerbils (that’s not part of our training because we just generally say that people can be irresponsible and most would just chuck the gerbils together, so we try not to tell people about the method) and I don’t know if it’s going well.

It started on Sunday when I was actually doing cage in a cage, and the first gerbil- Hunky Magoo- seemed to pay some attention to his roommate, Dylan Moran, who had been with other gerbils up until that point, whereas Hunky has been alone now for at least two months.

It wasn’t until Tuesday night that Hunky started chewing the plastic in the second smaller cage (I was swapping them about five times a day and he was in the larger tank whereas Dylan was in the smaller one) and I had to remove the cage and Dylan, so I did that and built a split cage on Tuesday- I didn’t purposefully ignore the fact a split cage was better, I was simple trying to do it the easiest and cheapest way possible- and couldn’t reintroduce them in this setting until Wednesday night, as I had to wait for the sealent to dry and cure.

Now, the issue is they don’t appear to be paying ANY attention to each other. They have a water bottle, food bowl, and a little bit of sawdust, and once everyday I give them a bit of cardboard or a bit of a treat each to keep them fom getting too bored, so I know toys aren’t a distraction. In fact, they spend most of their time sleeping! I swap them about five times a day but still see no sign of interaction- the only positive sign I see is they sleep in each other’s nests, but they don’t try and groom through the mesh, sniff each other, or sleep next to the divider. BUT they don’t do negative things like scent mark when swapped or ‘freak out’. They explore a little then go back to the nests and sleep.

Are these good signs, bad signs, netural signs? They’re both male, and one’s about six months, and the other one’s about three months.

This is the cage I’ve got, though it’s not uber important-

http://www.petsathome.com/find/keyword-is-gerbilarium/product-is-14991

(The cage topper is turned upside down and weighed down, not with platforms so they’re constantly on the same level.)
No, we don’t tell people because we don’t like to encourage it.

For example, if someone comes in and wants a guinea pig, we inform them two is best. We don’t tell them one is okay, but you can add one later using this method; why complicate things?

If someone came in saying I have a single guinea pig; its’ friend just died, THEN, if the age was okay, I would inform them of the split tank method.

I’m saying it’s not a practised technique in the job because it encourages people to ‘only buy one’ and add another later, not knowing how hard and potentially dangerous adding another animal later can be.

Wait a minute, you TRY not to tell people about proper introduction methods for thier animals?? O.O
So it’s better that they go unaducated and toss them together, having one killed and the other injured? This is why I don’t like pet stores.

Aside from that, the wouldn’t be paying attention to eachother if they are familiar enough ith eachother’s scents. This does not mean they are ready for an official introduction, they just notice nothing interesting. It might be that they both recognise other gerbils, but the stress of being moved around is causing them to behave a bit more enclosed, you could say. Defensive.

The fact that they sleep in eachother’s nests are great! Everything that they do and don’t do is all great. Since they won’t be progressing any more this way anyway, try putting them together very, very briefly and see what happens. If you don’t introduce them in the same cage they are in now, use the same bedding. If they fight, which it does not sounds like they will, wait for them to break to be separated. They normally should fight at first, but not too severily.

So everything is going well, good luck with the next steps!

Edit: Oh, I see what you meant. My mistake then