Tell me about gerbils please

[baddyfreckleface]

We were all set to get a hamster but after doing lots of reading I have decided gerbils might be more interesting, active in the day, and more sociable.

Is this true?

Also I now want a pretty big cage with nice clear plastic/glass at the bottom to watch them burrow.

Any tips on materials to use in the cage, the cage itself and where to get the gerbils from. I had found a hamster breeder as want to avoid big pet shops for the actual animal.

I think they are more interesting, but I am a devoted gerbil owner. They are active during the day, come to see what's going on, dig and make new nests....

Yes you need a cage with space to dig- with space for 2. They must have a friend!

We use wood shavings and shredded paper but I have seen compost used for digging. We got ours from a pet shop, so not sure about breeders- sorry.

Hi

Thanks for that. I think we are decided on gerbils now.

I can't find the cage I want so will be attempting to adapt two very large storage boxes a bit like this

Has anyone done this?

Just remember they chew through plastic.

Have you considered a fish tank type set up?

Gerbils are fantastic! I had them growing up and I really want some for the cd, just need to convince dh.

fish tank set up is def best, they can make a lot of mess digging so in a mesh cage it would end up on the floor. We had a glass tank with a mesh lid and used a mix of peat (sorry, I know, bad for the environment. Could use compost I suppose now so long as it didn't have anything added for plants) and wood shavings so they made tunnels and lived 'underground' I kept them supplied with loo roll tubes and egg boxes which they shredded for bedding. Wooden toys got eaten too. They are lovely animals though, very socaible and unlike hamsters they are awake in the day.

haha they will chew through the plastic, clever little critters, one of ours can lift open the top hatch and dash around upstairs, we call him Houdini. We bought our cage from Pets at home. However, there may be a parent at school with a cage languishing in a garage, worth asking around.

We have two gerbils in a tank/cage set up - tank below with sawdust and hay, and mesh above. They manage to kick the sawdust around a lot, though, right out of the cage.

The need things to chew - wood, cardboard. You can get all-in-one gerbil food and various treats.

Very cute, very lively in the day, easy to handle - and they don't smell!

Argh! Thanks everyone. Everything I read online contradicts everything else!

See I read not to get anything with a cage topper as they chew it and it's bad for them and the mesh is bad for their feet?

I also read glass was good but very heavy and so hard to clean out and move. Also i would need a huge tank to get the surface area I wanted.

All the cages I have seen aren't as big as I was hoping for.
The plastic boxes are completely smooth inside, do you still think they could chew through it?

Could I also ask how often they tend to need cleaning out?

Absolutely love our gerbils.....we had loads when I was young. Miy DC don't like the feel of their little toenails so wear garden gloves to handle them!
They live in a gerbilarium , and I can second the avoidance of plastic cages/ connectors .....they will escape! We use shredded paper but torn up newspaper is good as they spend ages shredding it. Clean them out once a week, and put them in the bath with boxes etc whilst we do it. They get a good run around in a huge space, but beware nothing hanging into the bath as one of ours managed a breakout using a dangling flannel.....once discovered in a bedroom was caught and reunited with his brother!

They don't need cleaning out that often, obviously you do it regularly but say you went away for a couple of weeks they'd be fine with someone popping in to feed and water.

Because they're native to desert, their kidneys reasorb water very effectively. No urine=no smell :)

With the peat/wood shavings set up we had the literature said to clean out every 3 months ish. Wasn't too big a job really, gerbils into a small hamster cage we had, tip contents of gerbilarium onto compost heap, wash out and refill.

Thank you again. Could anyone recommend a good cage/tank?

We had hamsters and gerbils as children (at separate times). I preferred the gerbils, they were more active and friendlier. They are really fast though, I remember having been used to hamsters it was strange to handle a gerbil and have him run all up your arm and attempt to scramble over your head! As a pp did we'd put them in the bath when we cleaned their cage with tissue tubes and tissue boxes, I loved watching them run about in the bath.

Qute

We have this - is much better than loads of others we have had. Very easy to clean and not so much debris around the cage.

Look for a big second hand tank - it does not have to be waterproof. Make a lid from aviary wire bent over a wooden frame - the frame fits round the outside of the top of the tank so they cannot chew it.

Pink - I have seen those and really like the look of the bigger one. I can't even remember now what put me off in the end! I have looked at SO many tanks! It may have been the steep tube that links the two levels. Can they always manage that?

Day - I am looking on free cycle and eBay but not seen anything yet. Are they really heavy though?
I have a 90l fish tank but obviously it has fish in! I can't remember how heavy that was empty!

They can jump :). High :)

We forgot to put a tube in once and they just jumped instead. Vertical tubes would be no problem.

DD1's two seem to love it. No problems with the tube, loads of burrowing space, food and water up the top level with the solid floor. Storage underneath is great too. It is pretty good. And we have had loads over the years. I like the fact it doesn't take up surface space or that you end up with a mini-mountain of saw dust at the back of whatever surface it is on - i.e. behind the bookcase or in DD1's knicker drawer...

We have the Pets at Home version with a plastic tank and a mesh top. The gerbils seem vv happy with that but Ginny, I love that one you linked to!

We keep all the stuff (hay, food etc) in a big plastic box with a clip lid, but the integral drawer is a stroke of genius.

We also have the pets at home cage. They spend almost all their time in the tank part, so the wire is ok on their feet.

Thanks Queen, think I am going for the biggest version of the pets at home tank:cage and will cover the wire bits with wooden stuff.

Just got to find a couple of gerbils now!

Your children can have hours of fun with shoe boxes and kitchen towel inner cardboard and loo rolls, cellotape making mazes for them to run through. Ours was about four foot square in the end. Was dismantled and kept under the bed.

Sounds great measles. My older dd is very excited! Think we will rehome rather than get new ones. Dd is a soft touch for homeless animals

I personally would not rehome for two reasons, one they do not live that long so tears will be sooner. Two younguns are easy to tame older ones may not have had much handling.