Boarding houses for small pets - have you used them?

[springboks]

We're having trouble finding someone to look after our gerbils when we go away in the summer. All our friends are on holiday at the same time as us or they have cats. So we're going to have to pay for someone to look after them. Has anyone tried one of these small pet boarding houses? There are several in the area but none have any reviews.

How long are you going away for??

Gerbils are quite low maintenance so they won't need cleaning - just food and water daily with a some cardboard thrown in to keep them entertained.

Do you not have a neighbour that could pop in and sort them out quickly?

We don't really know our neighbours very well, they are busy professionals and are away a lot.
We'll be away for 2 weeks so they need to go somewhere. We leave them with plenty of food and water if it's just a night or two, but this holiday has proven to be a bit of a problem.

We have a small pet rescue in our area that also offers boarding. Might be worth a try if there are any in your vicinity???

Our local pet shop does it too

I've taken hamsters and mice to small animal boarding before. they were good, friendly, and the cages came back spotless. very useful for holidays

I've used one and my GP's and rabbit did not want to leave it. Mine also took gerbils/hamsters etc.

Why don't you call a couple and arrange to visit them to see how clean they are and how the pets are housed. We visited before we left our boys. The one we chose was not the most luxurious/modern looking, but everything was clean, the animals had plenty of space and we could tell that the owner just loved animals. See what questions they ask you. Ours asked about the treats our boys liked and if they liked to be groomed/handled.

My rabbits have always gone to bunny boarding , the current one wasn't keen as he likes to be out and about a lot but the previous one loved it and would probably have stayed permanently .

Thanks, that's all helpful. I'll go and visit a couple in the area and check them out. Didn't anticipate this problem when we got them, just bad luck that all our friends are away at the same time.x