Some one tell me about Gerbils please!

[TheElvesSawBatgirlKissingSanta]

Sadly I think one of our hamsters is on the way out. :(
We were thinking of getting another one when he passes, then we were at the pet shop and ds spotted the gerbils.
The cage that hammy is in is a savic gerbil cage. Tank at the bottom and wire top, from PAH i think. I know that they like to be kept in pairs, would this cage be ok?? Just about seems big enough for hammy.
What do they eat? Do they tame easily? Are they easy to handle? Do they need to come out of the cage very often? Day or night rodents?
Please somebody share their knowledge!!
Thanks in advance!

[countydurhamlass]

i had three gerbils after my hamster died (they were the last three in the shop). they are night animals and very noisy. much harder to keep than hamsters as i found they needed more exercise. they also run soooo much faster than hamsters so if they escape its a lot of fun catching them (and they are very clever at escaping)!!!!! ours werent very tame but then i think this was because we didnt handle them very much at first. you can get special gerbil food from the pet shop and they like fruit and veg also. we kept ours in a large fish tank cover with wire. they also had special "soil" (may be making this up and it may have just been lots and lots of sawdust) as they like to burrow (that's why we got the tank). also like to chew so toilet roll tubes were great for them to shred. they also breed very quickly !

on a plus side they are much cleaner than hamsters.

i dont have either at the moment but i think i would go for hamsters again

[TheElvesSawBatgirlKissingSanta]

Not a good experience then!

[KRITIQ]

I had gerbils before I had guineas and they are darling creatures. They live to be about 3 or 4, so longer than hamsters who rarely make more than 2. You can keep a group of 3 males from a very early age or 2 females, but you can't introduce new ones into a social group.

If you handle them when very young, they can be quite tame. They are very inquisitive and yes they do run fast (but aren't too hard to catch if you can "herd" them into a wellie boot or similar! They chew like nothing else, so make sure there are no bits of fabric in their reach or it won't be there for long.

Cages with bars aren't particularly good as many will chew at these until they get a bloody nose. Some also scratch in the corners of a cage, which it seems is a stress response. The best enclosure is a sizeable tank (like a leaky fish tank) with a secure lid but plenty of air holes. Layer in straw then peat then straw then peat until the tank is about 2/3 full. The gerbils will tunnel through, making elaborate constructions. I had one that even "planted" some of the seeds from his food, grew things and then ate them! You only need to clean the tank out about every 3 months this way, so very low maintenance.

They are awake in the day and sleep at night, so you don't tend to get the noise when you are sleeping.

Read up as much as you can and talk to real life gerbil owners though before deciding on getting some. BEst of luck.

[DoesItWearingWellies]

Gerbils are lovely - they have amazing little characters.

DD1 had a pair when she was 9/10 and they lived in a (I believe) 18 gallon fish tank with a lid made of a frame of wood and some 1cm square wire mesh.

We used to give them toilet and kitchen roll tubes to chew and it helped to stabilise their substrate so they could build tunnels, then the tunnels would collapse and they'd build new ones, as well as caching their food. They were also quite happy to be picked up and held and have a run around her bed.

They only needed cleaning out every 3 months and were very low maintenance. If the idea of peat doesn't appeal to you, MegaZorb (a horse bedding) works very well.

They were very good at escaping though. Before we bought the fish tank, they were living in an indoor cage meant for guinea pigs (looked a bit like big a bubble with a white bottom) but they chewed through the hole meant for the water bottle and DD kept finding one in the bottom of her chest of drawers.

[Beamur]

My DP loves his gerbils and we usually have them - they are longer lived than hamsters.
They are active in daytime and are inquisitive, interesting animals. Having also kept hamsters, I prefer gerbils.
They are not good for handling though, unlike a nice tame hamster, but saying that they are not difficult to catch when you need to clean them out as they are very curious - if you offer them a box with some food in it they will usually just go in by themselves.
We used to have a big tank, but currently have a tank with a cage on top - like the one you described and they seem quite happy in that.
DP usually cleans them out every 2-3 weeks, partly to keep their environment fresh - they seem to like the stimulation. Vary it with rocks, areas to dig in (they do like to dig) a variety of bedding. They are quite clean, low odour pets.
They do like to chew, so anything plastic will get shredded. I stuff loo rolls with hay and some food as an occasional treat, but the dense cardboard you get with printer ink cartridges are ideal - if we can get these, when we clean them we pack them with bedding and food and let them sort it all out and make their own beds and dens with it.
They eat dry food, but enjoy some fresh food daily - mostly greens, but they also enjoy a little bit of cooked food - like potato occasionally, cheese and hard boiled egg. They can get overweight though if over fed.
So far, ours have never escaped - I wouldn't fancy trying to catch one!

[dlady]

I agree with pps, gerbils are great. We have a lone one (brother died after a few weeks). He certainly doesn't seem lonely, we constantly talk to him when he is awake. They are quite fast though, and ours, although very tame, won't just sit in our hand, and has jumped off and ran away on many occasions (he thinks he is cleverer than us, but we catch him eventually). They are diurnal, which means they sleep on and off all day and night, ours seems have a routine, when the children are at school he sleeps and wakes up on the dot of 3pm. He lives in a gerbilarium and is very happy, loves treats - choc drops, cheese, fruit. He is a very spoilt member of the family. I would definitely recommend a gerbil, they are quite comical, VERY cute and clean. Like hamsters they love to chew. You can buy special sticks/blocks from pet shops and their fave things are the innards of toilet roll/kitchen roll.