What substrate to use for gerbils?

[Kirsty1987]

I'm getting the gerbils monday morning and will be doing some shopping the following day. What are some good toys to get for them i will be putting cardboard tubes and boxes in for them but wanted to get some wood things from the shop for them to chew on. And a deep layer of substrate what is best to use for gerbils i have a big sack of megazorb which i use for the hammys and some wood shavings cousin is also giving me a bag or wood shavings as well.
And what is the best food for gerbils?

[Nuri]

When I had gerbils, I gave them wood shavings, cause that's all I could get. They seemed to love it, but ADORED when I gave them tissues or something. So something nice and soft should work.

Toys are pretty simple. Look for something that you think is interesting, and make sure it is safe for their tails since they are really easy to break and such. They will play with just about the same things hamsters will.

Food I can't really comment on, because I just got the stuff that came in huge bags. They seemed to like it.

[racinghamster]

I would be looking at Aubiose and/or Megazorb or a mixture of the two perhaps with some handfulls of hay thrown in. Gerbils do tollerate good quality shavings okay, but these days, I prefer to look at safer alternatives that don`t give off the same strong aroma that wood shavings can.

Accessories gerbils love are plenty of toilet roll/kitchen roll tubes, small food boxes (not the coated types though from freezer shops) and ripped up plain white toilet paper as nesting. Wooden items, but no plastic.

Diet: Burgess do a gerbil granola mix for gerbils that sounds good although it`s not a mix I`ve used as it wasn`t available when I had my gerbils. Silver is currently doing gerbil mixes aswell through Rat rations, but I don`t know if these are still in the testing stage or actually on sale.

Gerbils also love the variety of seeds and grains that hamster enjoy, so flaked grains, jumbo porridge oats, millet seed/spray and the usual seeds and grains that you might find in hamster mixes.

[Kirsty1987]

I will probably just use megazorb i don't have the room to store a bag of aubiose and megazorb but they will get plenty of cardboard to chew up need to buy some hay for them they have a plastic wheel in there cage but i'm not sure if they use it.
I did hear about silver's gerbil mix think she is still testing them at the moment but as soon as its available i will be buying that. I can't wait for them to arrive just so i can spoil them but hate that i have to wait over a week before they can be moved into the bigger tank. From the pictures looks like one is all black and the other is like a grey colour but am not as familiar with gerbil colours as i am with hamsters.

[racinghamster]

The wheel I would remove because gerbils really don`t need a wheel. They don`t have the body shape to use a wheel and if they do, they usually just do it because they become obsessed with it. They can also chew plastic so it could pose a danger to them.

They adore digging and chewing best! Oh and you probably know already never to hold or grab them by the tail as gerbils have an escape mechanism where they will `de-glove` their tail to escape a predator and this exposes the bare bone of the tail if the fur and skin de-glove, so it`s better never to handle them by their tails. Gerbils usually like to hop into a box to be moved anyway which is the safest way to get them from their tank to a play area or another cage if cleaning out.

[Kirsty1987]

Yeah i did read you should never grab them by the tail my cousin said they will happily hop on your hand so they sound pretty tame just need to get them used to there new home and used to me at least i was able to convince the OH to let me take them

[purple_x]

I use megazorb and hay for my gerbils.
Plus they get cardboard daily and that adds to the substrate they can dig in and build tunnels with.

They then have carpet tubes (huge thick ones!) cardboard boxes and tons of wooden toys in the tank to keep them occupied.