Bloody loving our new Gerbils!

[runforyourdog]

We just got some gerbils today, OMG so cute!!! I've never had small pets before more of a dog/horse person, but they are so adorable! Seem pretty tame / happy already too!

Does anyone have any gerbil advice? Are you meant to handle them much? DD is a bit obsessed but don't want to stress them out!

They are called Cookie and Thunder. Cookie has a penis but would rather use the pronouns She/Her (DD really wanted a girl!)

We had two (Barry and Gary) when DS was little. They actually are very easy to keep and rather clean. They are very fascinating to watch and ours lived a few years. Enjoy!

You might find they soon out grow their cage. I found a second hand big fish tank with a home made mesh lid worked best for them. Gives them loads of room for deep bedding to tunnel etc

No advice, but they’re SO cute!

Hopefully Thunder also has a penis or you might end up with many more!

www.itv.com/news/anglia/2022-02-18/frisky-gerbils-with-more-than-60-babies-in-six-months-need-rehoming

Love gerbils, they will become quite demanding of humans for such small creatures.

Don't put anything plastic in their cage...at all. They will gnaw their way through it on no time. I used to save up loo rolls and cardboard stuff for them to demolish.

Your gerbils are gerbiling wrong - mine only ever chewed their wheel to bits, never actually ran in it 😂 They are ace pets and very clean, unlike our Guinea pigs who poo and wee buckets in comparison.

Ours lived in an old enamel teapot in their cage. Was very cute.

Agree with giving them stuff to shred - we used to give ours paperwork that needed to be destroyed (bank statements etc)

I had one called cookie too!!

Save up loo roll and cardboard for them to chew :)

Actually, in terms of advice and handling: they jump - surprisingly high. They like exploring but not tons of handling. If they do bite then it's powerful but they also kind of nibble if they are investigating things, which kids might feel some nerves about.

Please tell me they both have a penis or your going to be inundated by bay gerbils.
They will chew and destroy those lovely plastic wheels and tubes!!
They love cardboard. And yes, will probably need a bigger tank. They like at least 15 cm of sawdust for tunnelling.
They’re great pets.

Go on Pinterest to look for how to DIY toys for them - my dds spent hours making things for our rats.

They love being handled and played with. We make our hallway and stairs gerbil proof and they love jumping up the stairs. They’re the kind of pet that you get more out of the more you put in.

Super cute! I love gerbils.

A few recommendations:

Handle them daily to make them calm - sit on the floor, so you can get on their level and offer treats so they trust you
Give them a whole food and don’t feed them the muesli type - they will pick out their favourite (unhealthy bits) and leave the rest
Get them the biggest cage you can as they are very active
Daily exercise outside of the cage (fyi gerbils tend not to like hamster balls)
Water dish instead of bottle (can get dehydrated with bottles)
Ideally use paper bedding as wood shavings can be too dusty and not form tunnels

Good luck with your new little family members :)

Ours love a sheet of kitchen roll to play with (destroy) and cheerios! We got a coconut house from the pet shop which amazingly has proved to be indestructible.

When my sons were kids, they had 2 each. One day we discovered about 6 babies (they're called Pinkies) in the tank of one "pair". The 2 adults were mating again straightaway afterwards! We ended up giving the male back to the pet shop. The babies all went, as soon as they were old enough to be sexed.

They are incredibly cute, but can jump high - ours used to jump up to the bed, and once on there, they managed to chew the curtains.

Thanks everyone! I am a bit worried about how small their house is now we've got it and they are in there. Maybe need to rethink that.

We made a cardboard ring type thing out of cardboard and put loads of wooden toys and a few kid toy houses etc. They loved it! Can't believe how confident they are already!

Aww! Had a pair of gerbils as a child! Gave mine lots of exercise - free run of my bedroom for an hour or so each day. Mine loved being handled, would fall asleep together if I held them snugly in my closed hands next to each other. Loved toilet roll tubes. Seem to recall teaching them tricks (e.g. selecting the red card to get a treat). Great pets!

@Tanfastic

Don't put anything plastic in their cage...at all. They will gnaw their way through it on no time. I used to save up loo rolls and cardboard stuff for them to demolish.

I thought the same as soon as I saw the plastic wheel. My gerbils made short work of theirs!

Yes please get them as big a house as possible.
Mine were so lovely. Very tame and lived for years.
I used to put my hand in their tank and they would run up arm and sit on my shoulder 🥰

They have already been running free in the kitchen! I thought they might hide away more but they have not really been bothered about anything! I've got a fairly biggish dog and he was having a look / sniff at them in their house. One of them came right up to the front and put his feet up on the cage about a cm from my dogs nose! I don't think that gerbil got the memo that he's a prey animal!

They have burrowed down and been quiet for ages, big day think they are exhausted!

Get the ikea detolf display cabinet. Use it on its side with a mesh lid. Much better than that cage you have. Google detolf gerbil.

Best house for gerbils is a big fish tank with a secure mesh lid. Half filled with substrate. They love to burrow. Wheels are generally not a good idea for small animals with tails as they can get caught. Don't let the dogs anywhere near the gerbils. Even if you think the gerbil is standing his ground or saying hello or whatever, it's probably causing it stress to be faced with a huge predator. It doesn't take much stress to kill a rodent.

You might not end up with loads. We had gerbils when I was a kid, they had babies loads of times but always ate them. We didn't have a single one survive to adulthood! And we had a few pairs over the years, so it wasn't just one especially cannibalistic pair.

The cage should be at least 100 cm, we had this zoo zone one and wiretied 2 sections of a wire indoor hamster play pen t the top so they couldn't get out.

They love to burrow, keep any unprinted cardboard, loo rolls, hay and substrate material to maintain tunnels.

If your gerbils fight leave them to it but separate them as soon as they come out of their fight ball and you'll have to keep them in a separate tank. We ended up with 2 in the above tank and the other one (former alpha) in a large plastic storage box, we tried to slowly reintroduce them but it never worked and they lived for three years separated.