# gerbilarium advice



## Sergeant.Floyd.Pepper (Mar 2, 2011)

Hi everyone

I am thinking of getting a couple more gerbils and wanted some advice on the gerbilarium. I wanted to get the large gerbilarium made by savic but was wondering how often the sawdust needed to be changed in the tank as it is going to take large amounts of dust (quite pricey!!).

Also can you introduce gerbils in or is it best to keep them seperate? 

Are there any other cages that would be good for gerbils? :thumbup:

Thanks for you help


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## purple_x (Dec 29, 2010)

I personally wouldn't keep gerbils in a gerbilarium, mine are in just a 4ft tank and they love it in there.
Although I have my eye on this.....
Hamster Cages: great selection at zooplus: Small Pet Cage Falco
and like it as the top part is wood and not wire which can hurt little gerbil feet.

Also sawdust is a big no-no for gerbils as they could cause respitory problems. I would recommend that you change to megazorb or something like finacard or cardboard squares.

It is possible to bond gerbils using the split tank method but like with any animal they may not get along no matter how much you try.


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

I just use a large glass ClearSeal tank and I have put a bendy log cabin thing in the tank as an extra level/hide for them. I have a hanging ladder attatched to the roof for them to climb as well as a coconut shell hanging toy thing which they love gnawing on and climbing! I have all sorts of different wooden/cardboard/coconut tunnels hidden all around the tank underneath the substrate.

Most gerbilariums are just a bit of a gimmick imo, my glass tank (which I think is 15x12x30 inches) was £30, whereas the savic gerbilarium is much smaller, much more expensive and has far more cons than pros!! However, if you really want to pay out for a decent 'gerbilarium' style tank, I would opt for the Falco tank in the previous post (oh how I love that tank! wish I could afford it!) or you could also look at the Perfecto, which is a pretty good one for most rodents....but again it can be expensive.

For the substrate I use shredded paper which doesn't cost a penny as it's all our paper that we have shredded! and I also mix in some hay and a small amount of straw which they are really enjoying. When cleaning the tank, I always fill it just over half way with my substrate mix as it will compact down much smaller as the gerbils walk on it, dig in it and eat it. Woodshavings are very dusty and very expensive, they aren't a very good substrate for gerbils by far!

I don't have a food bowl for my girls, I scatter feed them! This is more fun than having the food waiting in a bowl and is a more 'natural' way of feeding, it's also great fun to watch them dash around the tank grabbing all their favourite bits :thumbup:

As for introducing - it is best not to. I have one tank with 2 sisters and another tank with a lone gerbil. I would love to add my lone gerbil into the pair but I don't think they will get along. My lone girl is happy enough and I don't want to cause any friction between the two sisters by adding a 3rd unrelated gerbil. It is MUCH easier to just buy a pair (or a trio or however many you want) from the same litter or group, that way they are more likely to stay 'friends'. Also make sure they are all the same sex, one male in with multiple females makes for a disaster! Personally I would stick with a pair, as they tend to form a very close bond and don't usually get into any serious fights that would require splitting up. (as dwarf hammies often do) If you are gonna keep a bigger group of gerbils, I would have an 'emergency' tank on permanent stand by (even if it is just a small tank or a basic plastic animal carrier that will last until something more sturdy is sorted) just in case you get a fight within the group - there would be nothing worse than a big gerbil fall out and nowhere to separate them to!


If you need any more advice, just PM me or reply on here


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## Sergeant.Floyd.Pepper (Mar 2, 2011)

Thanks for getting back to me.

I have just bought this for the gerbil Indoor Rabbit / Guinea Pig / Tortoise Cage on eBay (end time 03-Mar-11 10:19:33 GMT)

I think it is the large zoozone. I am going to put in lots of toys including an ovo maze and obviously deep deep burrowing material! :thumbup:


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## Sergeant.Floyd.Pepper (Mar 2, 2011)

thanks for your help. I did post back but my post was't created. I tried to give you the link of a cage i bought today.


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

Sergeant.Floyd.Pepper said:


> thanks for your help. I did post back but my post was't created. I tried to give you the link of a cage i bought today.


aww just copy & paste the link from the website.... or put the name of the cage on here & I will google it :lol:

I hate it when you spend ages writing a post and it doesn't work or something, it does it all the time on my iPod  :lol:


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