Advice of the Gerbil kind!

picklepick

I have gerbils! I love them

We also have them in a tank. Make sure you make a mesh lid for it though cos a proper tank lid doesnt let enough air in for them. We just have sawdust in ours and they are able to make very comples tunnel systems.

You must get them something to gnaw on. We have some wooden toys and bridges etc.
They love cardboard, so any you get including toilet rolls you can pop in the tank and they get through them pretty quicly.

You will have to perservere to tame them. They can nip at first if they arent used to you.

Go on http://gerbilsuk.proboards.com/index.cgi

A wealth of info available on that forum

They make excellent pets for children, i have a hamster as well and whilst he is adorable hes not as interesting and exciting to watch or play with as my gerbs!

remembered_nights

We have gerbils! Always better to have at least two, they're very sociable animals. Ours live in a Gerbilarium that cost about £35, it's a tank with a two-tier cage attached on top.

Gerbils are pretty much fearless and will always pop up to see what's going on! They do loooooove to chew, we get regular donations of cardboard tubes from family. We let them fill up the base with their fluff and cardboard bits until they can burrow through it Also extremely clean and non-smelly. Oh and CUTE!

Food is 'Hamster' Muesli, bits of fresh veg and dried fruit, fresh water. In a ceramic or metal bowl for the food or it will be destroyed. Bedding standard fluff, shredded paper etc readily available. They should also have a dust bath that you put in once a day (sold as Chinchilla dust, one bag lasts for aaaaages.)

foreign_correspondent

oh - just one thing - make sure your daughter is aware that their tails can come off if you try and pick them up by it!

And, I have no idea how old your daughter is, but even if she promises to do all the feeding, cleaning out etc, do be prepared to make sure she does this, as sometimes the novelty can wear off and kids can forget!

dattasatta

Hi,
Thanks for all your reply's.
My daughter is 6 years old, and the cleaning and feeding will be added on as another responsibility for her. She does all of her other jobs ( mostly ) without being asked.
On the cage front!!!! Grandma has been out and bought her a ROTASTAK cage. Is this no good???? Should I ask her to return it??.
It's a cage one not all plastic, if that makes sense.
Thanks again
Sarah

P.S Daughter still doesn't know

picklepick

We have a rotastack attached to the top of our 2 foot tank and its only just big enough for the pair i have. In my opinion a rotastack on its own is too small, they're extremely active creatures and need a large digging area. You can keep it and add it to the top of your tank though. We've got a hole in our mesh lid that a tunnel goes through so they can get up and down. Make sure you have metal anti-gnaw rings on the ends of any plastic tubing as they make light work of them believe me!

I got my fish tank from freecycle for free and the mesh lid cost about £10 to make with the bits all from b&q. Take a look on the link i gave you or google making a gerbilarium.

Also this thread..
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1627381&highlight=gerbilarium

dattasatta

picklepick wrote: »

We have a rotastack attached to the top of our 2 foot tank and its only just big enough for the pair i have. In my opinion a rotastack on its own is too small, they're extremely active creatures and need a large digging area. You can keep it and add it to the top of your tank though. We've got a hole in our mesh lid that a tunnel goes through so they can get up and down. Make sure you have metal anti-gnaw rings on the ends of any plastic tubing as they make light work of them believe me!

I got my fish tank from freecycle for free and the mesh lid cost about £10 to make with the bits all from b&q. Take a look on the link i gave you or google making a gerbilarium.

Also this thread..
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1627381&highlight=gerbilarium

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE ADVICE!!!:money:
I must admit that I wasn't relishing the look on Nan's ( Mother-in-Law ) face if I had to tell her to take it back:o:o

Your a lifesaver ( or should I say Babysitter saver:rotfl:)
Sarah x

picklepick

Also has your rotastak got a water bottle attached?

If not, like us, we had to buy a plastic one thats suspended from the mesh lid. We've made a metal wire cage for it to sit in cos they'll chew through that aswell.

UKTigerlily

Yeah a rotastak alone is too small but add it to a tank type thing! I'd say at least 3ft is needed & preferably 3 gerbils so you never end up with one alone! She must be really excited!

looby-loo_2

I loved having gerbils too. At first I had a large cage but they made so much mess as they really are little shredding machines. A tank keeps all the bits safely inside and it's fun to watch them making the tunnels. From what I remember they don't drink a lot but water must be available.

loulou123

My concern with a rotastack cage would be them falling down the tubes and hurting themselves as hamsters are somewhat bigger. I think you can buy little ladders to put into the tubes to stop thi happening tho.

Gerbils are fantastic pets, but as others have said they do chew anything, so make sure the water bottle has a cage around it ( i speak from experiance here!) and definately buy at least 2 as they are very socialable and love cuddling up together.