Process of my "Gerbilarium"

[racinghamster]

Congratulations on your new gerbils. They deserve better than living in the back of a pet store so good on you for giving them a nice home. I would also pass on your concerns to Petsmart because sadly, unless people push for better animal husbandry, many others will be treated the same way because of overspill or being unwanted. Gerbils seem to suffer that fate a lot.

The only thing you need to watch for is any chewing of the bars on the roof or the metal hanging ball incase they get obsessed with bar chewing metal, which isn`t good for their teeth, so if they can reach the roof and chew the bars, you could always `vault` the roof area so as they can`t reach it!

[Kissa]

I think the boyfriend would kill me if I brought home a gerbil, he already had plenty to say when I brought Annie home, but damn they are cute I'd never been tempted before I saw the one in the P@H adoption centre the day I got Annie, and your gerbil escapades is making me so much more tempted

H'mm... when I have a giant house and space for tonnes of tanks, then maybe I'll get myself a gerbil pair

[Queen Of The High Teas]

Strawberry, their adorable! I love gerbils! I actually think that their a bit more entertaining than hamsters *dives from HC backlash*, because of the way they dig so much and are so active. They are extremely amusing to watch whether their digging endless tunnels or destroying a card box in minutes. They also have added appeal and a pro point in that they don't sleep all day like hamsters do, oh and generally they don't bite or nip.

[Stockannette]

Flower's question is, "Are there any raisins in that raisin box?"

(If so, she's on her way.)

[strawberrysmom]

It was strange - when I decided I wanted Gerbils it was really fast. I hadn't given them much thought. I didn't just see one in the petstore (apparently because they always hide them in the back!?!?!) or see one talked about on here or anything. I just was wanting a Chinese hamster or to get back into Mice again (I miss mice but they require a lot more bedding care as they stink up really fast!) But my husband was leery about that because ALL of our hammies are so late night risers. Like they don't get started until after midnight and it seems to get later and later and we never see them hardly. So I remembered then hearing about Gerbils being both day and night time active. Or mostly early morning and evening active. I started googling and BOOM - I knew we had to get a pair. And the more I learned the more I wanted them. Now I cannot imagine never having wanted a pair before.

They are still skittish. But they are getting braver. I did try to stick my hand in the tank yesterday since Lennon was checking me out inquisitively through the glass without hiding (Mercury is still hiding when I walk up) but he bolted. So I decided not to do that again for awhile. I hope they can eventually tame because with my set up there is no way to just try to gently catch one. I figured it might take awhile though. I just keep trying to come up to the tank softly and gently many times when they are awake and up on the surface but not every time either. Get them familiar with our presence. I talk to them when I do that.

If I could never hold them it wouldn't be the issue of not getting to cuddle as I didn't expect that from them. But I'd like to start being able to put them in their play pen which is a 110 quart bin so they get a longer space to roam about daily. Also not to stress them out when I do clean out some substrate from their tank.

How often do you guys do a FULL tank clean and how often to you do a "Sorta" tank clean...like only half the bedding and etc? I would think not often right? They hardly stink I heard and with so much substrate I figured that it will take awhile to become unhygienic.



OH and YES - there are raisins in that box! Just two but enough I figured to be a surprise. I tried not to overwhelm with with a lot of new foods and treats. I thought two raisins wouldn't hurt the one that got a whole of it. Which they have. They burrowed right beside it and the box sank down into the burrow and disappeared completely by the next morning LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are so great!!! SO CUTE. I want to hold one so bad. I haven't yet. I let them jump in a cup to put them in the tank initially. But I have patience.


Thank you everyone for your compliments and your help!!!!! It means a lot!!! <3 <3 <3

[Gibbs&JackBlack]

The breeder I bought 2 of my hamsters from also raised gerbils. Gerbils were actually his first love but hamsters are more popular. He had been raising them for 20 yrs or so I think and said gerbils are really a better pet in his opinion and they are more social with humans and you can train them almost like a dog! He tried to get us to consider a gerbil instead of a hamster since my daughter really wanted something to interact with but I hadn't done any research at all on them so wasn't comfortable with that. I'll admit, the long tail is too rat like for me and I prefer hamsters
But I bet you'll be very happy with your new pets! Enjoy!

[Queen Of The High Teas]

Strawberry, I only do full gerbil clean outs every month or so. Depending on how many you have (I've gotten 3), and the size of the tank (mine's the size of a 30" tank) will depend how often it needs cleaning. Gerbils are desert animals, so as they don't require much liquid, they don't produce much, therefore they don't need the bathroom as often as other animals can (like rabbits or mice). Also the amount of bedding you put in makes a difference. The more you put in, the less often it will need changing. I would say for 2 gerbils in a 2ft tank, with the bedding you've put in you will proberbly only need to clean them out every 5-6 weeks, maybe longer, as gerbils don't smell like hams/mice do (mice in particular, gerbs are nothing like them smellwise!) When I had mine in a zoozone 2 they could easily go 2-3 months without requiring cleaning. I don't do spot cleaning either, having so much bedding you tend to not get patches that need replacing like you do with hamsters, so unless you leave a sandbath or something in all the time (which will end up buried in seconds), there is no spot cleaning needed.

If you give them fresh fruit or veggies, I would watch that they eat it there and then, or they'll bury it in all the bedding,it will go mouldy, and if they find it again it might make them ill. For this reason, I don't give mine fresh stuff, other than a couple of peas which I watch that they finish first. Same goes for dry brown bread or anything with a short shelflife. Oh and when you feed them, don't assume they've actually eaten a bowl of food because the bowl is empty! A lot of it is proberly under the bedding somewhere, so if you keep filling it back up they will end up way too fat from having too much food! I either only give a quarter or half a bowl of mix of food a day, or only feed every other day.

[strawberrysmom]

I agree with the suggestion that Gerbils are more entertaining pets. They are definitely up there with Robos but even more so because they are awake more often in times when we're awake.

However, my Gerbils seem to be still adjusting or they aren't going to be much of chewers! They haven't shredded the toilet paper. They haven't chewed on much of anything on the surface that I can see. It seems they chew a little on their cardboard boxes that are buried under the substrate but it doesn't seem much at all! They are very young and skinny looking. So I am assuming this will change when they get bigger and more mature.

They are still afraid of me. Lennon (the brown one) doesn't run when I stand in front of the tank. I mean he runs initially when I walk up but he'll often come back up and watch me back. Mercury however comes back to look at me less that Lennon. The last few times he doesn't come back up.

Will this change in time? I don't dare stick my hand in there unless I'm checking on their water bottle (at first it wasn't letting out water properly so I've been checking on it since doing something someone suggested when I googled it - like filling it up, shaking it...then testing it and putting it in ... which works). But I didn't try that while they were "upstairs".

Is there more I should be doing? They stay burrowed underneath most of the time and come out to scout out a bit. They aren't super active above much yet but they do come out a few times a day. (SO CUTE. I get so excited to see them). There is no way I could catch one with the various escape routes they have now.

I hopefully will have these lovelies for several years and in that time I cannot imagine they won't eventually get used to us and all our movement in the living room in front of them.

I'd just love to get to the point where I can stick my hand in there for them to sniff and not run away. I guess being petstore gerbils they may not tame like ones from a breeder who were born accustomed and trusting of humans.

Anyway, I'm super glad about not having to change it out - mainly because of destroying their tunnels. I am more than glad to not mess them up until over a month or so. I go weeks before changing out the hammy bedding at that. My Syrian goes in a litter box and my dwarf goes in his tubes so I just clean out the tubes weekly. And the Robos go in their houses/toilet paper bedding in there so I spot clean with them. So if a Gerbil pees less than they do that won't be much at all.

I wish there was a Gerbil forum of the magnitude that Hamster Central is.

The gerbil forum with proboards is okay. Funny thing is I went over there and was going through all their gerbil habitat photos and threads and there was a link to my bin cage post from here as a suggestion for Gerbil bin cages. LOL.

Feeding every other day sounds like a good rule of thumb. I wasn't sure how much to give them. I started off with lab blocks in their bowl and scattered seeds in their substrate. They don't seem interested in their lab blocks at all and I haven't put more food at all in there in a couple days.

I wanted to find Gerri Gerbil. Our petstore had EVERY other one. You know - with the names ...like Ralphi Rabbit (making that up because I can't remember the rabbit name of the food) and Gerti Guinea Pig and Hazel Hamster and Charlie Chinchilla. They had it all but Gerri Gerbil. They don't even have it on their website. And elsewhere online it's super expensive.

I've heard good things about Ecotrition but I wonder if I should just feed them Hazel Hamster since it's much better mix in general. Probably the best you can get in the states.

[strawberrysmom]

OMG!!! Lennon didn't run from my hand!!! He sniffed it all over. He bumped against it. He only bolted as I slowly lifted my hand out of the tank. I just fell in love!

He was out and about and I walked up and he looked at me then went "downstairs" then back upstairs and then I tapped the glass gently with a yogurt drop treat (blueberry color) and he hopped up to the glass super curious!!! I then ran the drop up the glass toward the top that I had opened at one point and he stood to follow it trying to sniff and grab at it. I then sneaked my hand slowly into the tank far from him so it wouldn't be above him like a predator or anything. He didn't run! I just dangled my hand with the drop in my fingers and he came up and sniffed it. Then sniffed my hand. Then sniffed it again. Then my hand again (such a soft, sweet little muzzle!) and then he took it and went to town with it. Then he dropped it down one of his tunnels seemingly on purpose and sniffed all around my hand inspecting it. I almost thought he'd jump into it if I had I opened my hand out more but I was too afraid to scare him away. He then deemed me not a threat and went to his water bottle to get a drink. That is when I then lifted my hand out slowly but he bolted down his left rear entrance (LOL. I had to go attend to my baby who started to stir a bit).

This is a slow process but Lennon just met me half way! They must be getting super comfortable. I'm assuming that he is now feeling firm that it's his territory.

Gerbils are so incredibly adorable. GAH!!!!!!!!

[Queen Of The High Teas]

The reason they may not be chewing much, is because the pet store didn't give them any card to chew, so they don't know what to actually do with it now. Give. Given time they will get bolder and more curious, both with you and the chewy things. Most gerbils arent 'cuddly' like hamsters are, (even breeder ones), but mine are pet store ones, and they are very tame, pettable and holdeable. Being kept in the back of the store however, won't of really helped them much being around people, but time and patience is the key. If their just choosing to stay hidden under all the bedding, what might help ( and what I've done before), is to put them in something like a smallish barred hamster cage without all that bedding, just a house, food dish, couple of small boxes, just for the first week or so. It will help with taming them, they will have no choice but to get used to you and being around you, because they have no mounds of bedding to hide under. They will be quite ok without all that bedding for a week or so, and it will benefit you a lot. As they are, it's like trying to tame a hamster in a habitrail - you can't as there's too many places to hide and escape to. I didn't see the bin cage thread, but yes you can keep gerbils in bin cages, just make sure to get one that has smooth sides inside, like a RUB, rather than one with dips or ridges. They can't get their teeth into a flat surface.