Omlet cage for gerbils - are yours happy in there?

[BearBirdBaboon]

Hello, we bought an Omlet cage and went to buy a pair of gerbils today, but they wouldn't sell them to us when we said we had an Omlet cage because they said the Omlet cage was not big enough for a pair of gerbils. Now, I know bigger is better, but I was just wondering if anyone who's kept a pair of gerbils in an Omlet cage can let me know how happy or otherwise their gerbils were?

For a gerbil, is the Omlet cage equivalent to a two bed house (for humans), as opposed to a four bed one? I mean, I know a four bed house would be nicer, but a two bed house is perfectly fine, too... I hope that makes sense!

Far too small, even for one. I get the novelty of it being part of a piece of furniture, but there’s not enough space and the wheel is far too small.

I had two gerbils in a3ft long fish tank with a mesh lid. They could have deep breeding and tunnel like they are supposed to do. I wouldn't think anything smaller could allow them to do the things they naturally do. I'm glad shops are finally seeing that small rodents need space.

I think they’re right on this. We bought the omlet for our hamster and at first I was really chuffed with it as it seems a lot bigger than the teeny cages I remembered from childhood friends pet hamsters. But when I actually watched our hamster moving around in there I realised that there wasn’t enough floor space still. We attached another tunnel through the side and added a single storey cage with a much larger footprint. He uses both the omlet and the other cage equally now, and is a very happy little hamster. If you look up omlet hacks online you’ll see photos of different set ups that might work for you.

Thank you for your thoughts.

@RomeoMcFlourish How did you add another tunnel to another cage? Did you have to make a hole in the Omlet cage? I've tried googling hacks, but couldn't find a great deal.

Not had experience of this myself but I was in pets at home when someone was trying to buy gerbils. They said they had omlet cage and p at h woman refused to sell her the gerbils. She said thye like to borrow so you need a big tank with a cage topper, what ever that is, and she said there is a glass cabinet that's ideal sold by IKEA. She said those omlet cages need are cruel. Not kept gerbils but we had a degu and the cage suggested was far too small, we got the biggest one were had space for.

The irony the cage pets at home sell for gerbils is tiny. The area to burrow is too small and bars on the top are terrible. I had one for about a week. You could see how stressed they were and they just bit the bars all the time. They love to run and move around a lot. I think an omlet cage even with a connecting pipe would need to be connected to a nice big tank. In which case you might as well just get a second hand fish tank and convert it, leaving the omlet out all together

You can get decent cages for not too much money, check out little pet warehouse, eBay and local selling pages.
I've not had gerbils before, only hamsters and currently have a mamble 100cm cage, was £60 new from a company on Facebook.
Omlet cages are just cruel for any animal, as far too small.

We have one for our gerbils (brought from pets at home) totally unsuitable. Too small and they have chewed so much of the plastic.. wish we went for the fish tank option. I let them out every day into a massive container so they can run around. Omelet shouldn’t be able to market it as a gerbil cage.. avoid!

Oh, I wish I'd known this before I'd bought an Omlet cage...

I don't understand why they're allowed to sell it if it's too small?

I know. Its just cruel. As are most hamster cages. These little guys can run miles in a night but we keep them in tidy cages because they are small pets. Suppose manufacturers think people will have one if the cage isn't too large to find room for. Can you send your omlet back?

We have ours in a converted ikea Detolf unit, about a third of it has a barrier up so it’s a ‘shallow’ end with the wheel, water bottle, a fish bowl with bathing sand in and wooden structures for them to climb/chew/hide in. The other end is deep bedding, and they have a whole network of tunnels and rooms under there - we barely see them that side :)
It’s about 5’ long, but sits on top of a sideboard we have. They’re very happy!

A lot of the housing, not just that cage, that Omlet sell is overpriced tat. They have a good marketing team, shame they don't spend the same amount of cash on decent housing. Is this the one with the sheer vertical tunnel?? That alone is daft. I can't think of any animal that would really be happy in it.

You would definitely be better looking at a fish tank or Ikea Detolf DIY cage instead.

Hello. I foster, rehome and specialise in Gerbils for an animal rescue charity.

The omlet is terrible. Its too small. The plastic wheel (and gerbils should never have plastic) wheel is tiny and will cause back injuries.

Because the majority of information about Gerbils online is dreadful, I wrote my own Gerbil Care website with a colleague. Have a look at the "Which tank" section for suitable housing.

Mine live in an Ikea Detolf (pic attached) and info in the website of how to set one up.

gerbilcare.co.uk/

Any questions I'm more than happy to help.

@Annabelle69
Thank you for the link to your website.

I don't have room for an Ikea Detolf I'm afraid, but it looks great!

This is genius!! Wish we had room to do the same!