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Gerbils + Set-up

DemiS

Warren Veteran
I got these gerbils before my current rabbits so I don't think I've ever shared photo's of them on here!

They're pretty terrible at making their own tunnels so we make them for them. It starts off like this
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And this is how it looks whilst it's all done! Gerbils need a deep area to dig in so many pet shop cages (especially ones that say hamster/mouse/gerbil) aren't suitable. They don't need the cage topper that I have, but my gerbils spend a lot of time up there, they even sleep out in the open on the top shelf sometimes (some prey animals they are :lol: ) and it stops them burying their food and water. They wee on the shelves and flick bedding out of the cage so we cover the shelves in hemp matting. They like to dig at it and pull at the fibres to make a fluffy nest to sleep in

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And here is fat a** stealing all the sunflower seeds whilst his brother does all the work
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Love the set up and they are just so gorgeous :love: Must stop looking at them... making me want a pair! :D
 
:love: Your big one will be the dominant :)

It's a lovely set up. My Jethro has a normal cage but we've built a bin cage that's attached via tube so he can do normal digging. He doesn't make tunnels but always builds a big nest. (Because he's alone having the separate areas doesn't matter too much).

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What cage is that? :D

My partner really wants gerbils but we can't find a tank that's big enough, deep enough etc etc only the living world eco but that has no topper which isn't the end of the world but would be nice x

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Love the way gerbil shred up cardboard. I have a foster gerbil at the moment and keep putting boxes in to keep him occupied.
 
This is the cage - http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/hutches_cages/gerbils_cages/189556 :) The bottom is glass not plastic so it's quite heavy. The top bit can collapse in to the bottom and it just about fits in to the back of a Toyota Aygo. Oh and also the shelves come just completely flat which is fine for the gerbils, but it does mean they'll flick out poo/food/bedding so we measured the shelves, bought some wooden dowel at B&q and they cut it to size for us, then we just nailed it to the edges of the shelves

I took the shelves out of the cage for a while and have just put them back in and it's much better. The gerbils like the extra space and having a view and we get to see a lot more of them. So whilst a topper isn't essential I defniitely prefer it :)

It really is amazing how quickly they can shred things! I always give them the insides of toilet roll tubes and any cardboard boxes or paper packaging we have lying around. Because of their incredible ability to destroy things it's best not to give them anything made of plastic. Or any expensive toys made from thin wood/wicker. When buying toys I tend to think 'could my rabbits destroy this in a week?' if yes, gerbils will probably destroy it in a day max. This happened in the space of a few hours...
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As for toys I tend to buy wooden things with lots of holes. I used to have two of these ladders suspended from the top of the cage which the gerbils loved running along and you can bury them too to provide some support for tunnel making (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/accessories/bridges_stairs/bridges/36593?rrec=true), this little house (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/toys_transport/hamster_toys/227904), and i used to bury this right at the bottom of their cage and they loved it (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small...bings_smallpets/wooden_houses/36374?rrec=true)
 
Ah thanks for all of the info it's super helpful as i've never had gerbils before but he really wants some haha :)

I showed him all your links (love the little houses they seem like a great idea) he said he'd seen that cage but a few people had said the metal grate at the back wasn't safe for their little feet- I've looked online at the images, it looks okay to me holes look way too small to get a foot caught - have you had any issues with the metal grate in the glass tank section? Thanks for all your advice :)
 
Ah thanks for all of the info it's super helpful as i've never had gerbils before but he really wants some haha :)

I showed him all your links (love the little houses they seem like a great idea) he said he'd seen that cage but a few people had said the metal grate at the back wasn't safe for their little feet- I've looked online at the images, it looks okay to me holes look way too small to get a foot caught - have you had any issues with the metal grate in the glass tank section? Thanks for all your advice :)

Yeah the grate bit has really tiny holes in, i can't imagine them getting feet stuck. Besides it's only small and up against a wall of glass, they're good climbers but their grip isn't good enough to scale glass
 
Yeah the grate bit has really tiny holes in, i can't imagine them getting feet stuck. Besides it's only small and up against a wall of glass, they're good climbers but their grip isn't good enough to scale glass
Yea, I think we'll probably go for that same tank then, it was perfect except for that grate, I think he saw a bad review somewhere but tbh I thought the holes looked too tiny for what the negative review said. Thanks for all your info :)

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When we looked after this pair they were lovely :D Absolutely loved a cardboard tube: they dragged it into the burrow and we never saw it again! Willow and apple sticks didn't last very long either :thumb: They only got short willow sections of about 6" though, but thick ones. They had an apple twig that was over a foot long and that was reduced to a couple of inch-long pieces in about 8hrs :shock:

I'd never looked after gerbils before: they were a joy to have! Their name means 'clawed warrior' in Mongolian :love:
 
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