# Wannabe gerbil owner. =]



## Chinquary (Mar 5, 2009)

Hullo!

I know that there are lots of gerbil breeders on here so I'm looking for so good advice. I've had a look online and I can't find any good information.

Anyway, the OH and I are looking at getting a pair of gerbils when we move into a flat together at the end of next month, but we don't really know a lot about them.

So a few questions to start with, and please include anything else that you think we should know.

1. There are lots of gerbilariums on the market, but I know like hamsters, gerbils can hurt their feet on the metal bars. So what is around that is good for homing gerbils.

2. Do they actually use wheels? When we were looking at some in pets at home they were just jumping in their wheel and not actually running. I know its a silly question and that they probably do, but I was just wondering.

3. Are they easy to sex? We've sexed all our robo's and find that simple enough, but if we get some from [email protected] or even a local breeder, we want to make sure. =]

4. Read somewhere that gerbils only need a full clean out once every three months, which seems barbaric to me! I know they get through a lot of shavings because the bottom of their cages are full for burrowing, but surely it needs changing more often than that!

5. We like to change our robo's toys around to keep them entertained, and I know this will be true of gerbils, but is it ok to give the gerbils toys that the robo's have played with (after cleaning obv) and vica versa. 

Thats it for now, but I'm sure I will think of more later. 

Thank you!


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## bexy1989 (May 10, 2009)

Chinquary said:


> Hullo!
> 
> I know that there are lots of gerbil breeders on here so I'm looking for so good advice. I've had a look online and I can't find any good information.
> 
> ...


helloo =)
i cant answer everything and i might get most of it wrong but i'll letyou np what i no 

1 - homing - i have a [email protected] gerbilarium but i hate it my male is in it for the time being until my other tank arrives but my female and 6 pups are in a 28 inch tank that when the pups have opened their eyes and are more independent i plan to fill full of wood shavings so they have space to dig 

2- i don't have a wheel in with them and in the past when i have had them we didn't have a wheel, i find mine always prefer to dig and chew on things than run on a wheel 

3- this one i might leave to marcia...i have just sexed my pups but that was fairly easy as they didnt have much fur but i have found a site that might help you  Gerbil Breeding and Development - Sexing

4- they need to be cleaned out more often than every 3 months but because they are desert animals they don't tend to lose much fluid so every 2 weeks should be okay 

5- i think it should be okay..the gerbils will probably prefer something they can chew on though...i got one my male a nice grass house for him to sleep in but he didn't like that idea and chewed it to bits  we have given them the 8-1 shack things the house and the log...and they go and have the odd nibble on them...ours loveee toilet roll tubes aswell 

hope this helps

if any of it is wrong no doubt either marcia or stolenkiss will pick me up on it 

good luck with the gerbils when you get them


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## Marcia (Mar 10, 2009)

bexy1989 said:


> helloo =)
> i cant answer everything and i might get most of it wrong but i'll letyou np what i no
> 
> 1 - homing - i have a [email protected] gerbilarium but i hate it my male is in it for the time being until my other tank arrives but my female and 6 pups are in a 28 inch tank that when the pups have opened their eyes and are more independent i plan to fill full of wood shavings so they have space to dig
> ...


Bex has pretty much hit the nail of the head with everything 

Sexing gerbils is pretty easy. The males scrotum is very visable  The link that Bex has given is very good at showing the differences


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## bexy1989 (May 10, 2009)

Marcia said:


> Bex has pretty much hit the nail of the head with everything
> 
> Sexing gerbils is pretty easy. The males scrotum is very visable  The link that Bex has given is very good at showing the differences


i had a good teacher


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## Marcia (Mar 10, 2009)

bexy1989 said:


> i had a good teacher


Awww, shucks


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## bexy1989 (May 10, 2009)

Marcia said:


> Awww, shucks


i went to look at my little ones this morning and they are starting to open their eyes    me and my mum were squealing and my sister was like I CANT SEE! aha


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## Chinquary (Mar 5, 2009)

Thanks a million!

I enjoyed looking at all the baby gerbil pictures on that website. So cute! But really, really don't want any babies!

Also had a look at some of the different colours you can get. I've only ever seen Agouti (and some variants like grey) and what I think may be Argente Golden from pets at home, so I assume that those are the most common colours. To get different colours I assume that one'd have to go to a breeder and home they have the colours you want in a litter. I personally really like the Polar fox and Siamese. The OH likes the Algerian Fox.

Tank wise, the OH wants to give them the large perfecto tank that the three robo girls are in atm. I personally don't want to, because I think that if we downsize the robo's into something even slightly smaller, they'll start fighting. However, if we did get the gerbils a large perfecto tank, would that be suitable enough, if the whole bottom level is filled with wood shavings?


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## Marcia (Mar 10, 2009)

Chinquary said:


> Thanks a million!
> 
> I enjoyed looking at all the baby gerbil pictures on that website. So cute! But really, really don't want any babies!
> 
> ...


Perfecto tanks are fantastic in my opinion  I have 4 of them 

Your common gerbil colours are Agoutis, blacks and golden argentes. If you wanted for instance...doves, Lilacs, Polar fox, siamese, burmese etc, you would probably need a breeder


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## Marcia (Mar 10, 2009)

bexy1989 said:


> i had a good teacher


I love it when they open their eyes, they've got such big eyes lol


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## bexy1989 (May 10, 2009)

Marcia said:


> I love it when they open their eyes, they've got such big eyes lol


i can't believe how fast they have grown and how active they are now compared to a couple of days ago!


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