Gerbils

[McHappyPants2012]

i have had 2 lovely male gerbils for a few weeks. but how do i know i am taking care of them.

they have fresh water twice a day, fresh fruit every day along with the dry food. also dusting powder replaced every day.

i put cardoard tubes and make mazes, they have a wheel and a ball am i doing it right.

alo handle them twice a day

We have a gerbil, you are doing everything we do, and our boy is 2 and a half, so we must be doing it right. I do change the water once a day, not twice and give treats (fruit, nuts, gerbil choc etc) on an ad hoc basis. As long as they get something to chew (cardboard chews, gerbil sticks etc.) it sounds like you're doing fine. .

They're really funny, aren't they, ours is a character, looks for treats every time you talk to him, so cute, he even knows the word 'treat' and he gets excited when you ask if he wants a treat. We bought two but one died so we make up for him being alone by giving him loads of attention.

The only thing I would change is the dusting powder. Change it to sand :)
The powder can irritate their eyes and airways, it isn't suitable for small animals (even if it is advertised that it is).

It sounds like they are well looked after little gerbs :)

I agree with dlady a gerbil chew stick will keep them occupied for a while 5 mins and they will love you for it :)

I read somewhere that you aren't supposed to put gerbils in balls as their tails can get trapped. I kept gerbils for years and used to exercise them various ways: sometimes I'd put them in the bath (dead easy to wash clean afterwards), sometimes I'd let them loose on the bathroom floor (no furniture fior them to run and leave droppings under, but I stopped doing this after one discovered a hole behind the toilet and got down underneath the floorboards! I did eventually catch her but it took a whole afternoon and I had to take the carpet and floorboards up) and sometimes I'd just let them loose on the bedroom floor, and pick all the visible droppings afterwards with a tissue (I regularly move the bed and hoover under it anyway).

Sorry, no furniture for.

We have had various gerbils more or less as long as we have had kids.
I also had them when i was a kid.
Atm we have 4 in an enormous fishtank half filled with bedding to dig in small branches to climb over and chew, tubes and terracotta plantpots.
No wheel and definitely no hamster balls.
They earn their keep shredding letters and paperwork for us, no need to buy a shredder!
they can shread a cereal box to tiny pieces in five minutes, they are brilliant:)