# Gerbils?



## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

Throwing some ideas around for small furries to get once the rodent clan has reduced some (well when we have less then 22 animals in five cages ).

Somebody mentioned gerbils to me. I've been avoiding furries smaller then rats due to lack of a good lifespan. With all the mouse deaths we've had I wanted something that lived a little longer. But apparently gerbils fall into this category.

I've read some stuff on t'internet and am a little confuzzled. Some say small accomodation to prevent declanning, some say as big as you can. Some say intros are terrible some say they aren't bad.

Now in my experience, often what is touted as 'ideal' doesn't always apply. Our Explorer we bought for the rats being totally unsuitable for what we needed and having to be changed. Plus despite being told we can just 'chuck em in' together we soon found this to have only worked once in the several different intros we've done.

So I am cautious when I start reading conflicting advice as its hard to know whats the more likely. 

I'd like to start small, and stay small. We have far exceeded out rodent limit at the moment and is bloomin hard work. So I'd like not to get into a 'get more gerbils' situation lol I'm looking for a nice, easily maintained environment for a trio if that will work. So what size am I looking at? Someone kindly gave me a link to a homemade tank topper that I am interested in giving a go but its got a wooden frame, would that be okay?

We'd possibly go for girls, are they easier to maintain in a group long term? 

Basically we have our squishy cuddle monsters in the form of rats, we are now looking for something that will be playful and entertaining to watch...which our bucks are not lol We are having 'conflicts' about the planned Chinchilla project so this may very well go on a long term back burner. Nobody is too keen on guinea pigs at the mo and little un is allergic to buns. Degus are not appealing to the family as a whole, I find it very hard to tell animals apart when they all look the same, which is probably a lame argument but so be it. Otherwise Degus would have been a front runner as they live very long indeed.

The shortlist is basically Robos or gerbils  And I have no idea how I would tell robos apart in any case. Plus I think Gerbils live longer?


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

Had some advice that females are more territorial then males so males are probably what we would look at.


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Ive got 7 gerbils right now, all rescues, living in three groups, 
Group 1 
Two girls living in a 2ft tank, this is not ideal but Im still bonding them and its the only tank I can seperate.

Group 2 
Two males, about to move (this weekend) into their 4ft tank with no tank topper, but for two gerbils this is plenty of space.

Group 3 
Three males about to move from the 4 ft tank into a 2 1/2 foot square tank (yes that is as huge as it sounds ).


They have a really deep bedding so they can dig tunnels to their hearts content, gerbils are really different to rats but they are incredibly entertaining, real characters and so fearless. Boys are usually easier to keep together.


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## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

in the past ive had 2 sets of gerbil brothers who never declanned and loved each other all their lives.

at the moment i have a trio of brothers happily living in a 4ft tank....i agree TDM 4ft is huge!...and is the center piece of our bedroom:blush:

as has been said i think boys are less likely to declan than girls.


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

Thinking about using the Freddy Max as a topper, but I can't find any kind of tank tat is 80cm x 50cm so it may require going for one thats too big and meshing part of the roof. If that works they'd have lots of room. 

I'll have to hunt round and see what I can find.


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

Also, are the tanks easy to clean without moving them? 4ft tanks must be quite heavy.


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## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

i got my tank off ebay for £25

you wont regret getting gerbils they are so entertaining and its so sweet when they interact with each other


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## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

ceretrea said:


> Also, are the tanks easy to clean without moving them? 4ft tanks must be quite heavy.


i dont move my tank tbh....i shovel everything out and give it a clean it where it is lol


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

noushka05 said:


> i dont move my tank tbh....i shovel everything out and give it a clean it where it is lol


Same here, gerbils never make it messy like rats and mice would, so its not usually wet or smelly which makes it easier to clean.


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

Thankee


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## manic rose (Mar 12, 2011)

ceretrea said:


> The shortlist is basically Robos or gerbils  And I have no idea how I would tell robos apart in any case. Plus I think Gerbils live longer?


had two gerbils - Kimmy who sadly only lasted a year and Meggy, her sister, who lived for 2 and a half years. They are such cheeky little characters and very active. Had for robos and think my oldest was about 2 years when she died. again they are very active but from my experience I found them harder to handle. may have been down to their tiny size and me being scared of hurting them

....and yea robos can be hard to tell apart at a glance! :laugh:


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

Thanks guys.

I had the thing about females being territorial from an experienced keeper so I guess its not a myth? Hard to say though when I don't know first hand.

All good info though and things to watch out for.


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

I can assure you that both males and females are more or less the same in this respect. Myself and many other members of the gerbil community have been discussing this and no one has found any evidence that this is true. What i do know however, that de-clanning traits can be genetic and gerbils who show this type of behaviour should not be bred from. It could be the case that if the keeper is talking from first hand experience (or perhaps heard this information from someone else) that their gerbils were showing this genetic behaviour. It can also be the result of taking pups away from the mother/parents too young as although weaned fairly early on, they do still need to learn proper gerbil behaviour from their parents.

I've kept gerbils for over 15 years and I have only had one de-clan which was a pair of two males.


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## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

ive never had females so ive only gone on what ive read on the net...so thank you for clearing that up for me i'll know better from now on


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

noushka05 said:


> ive never had females so ive only gone on what ive read on the net...so thank you for clearing that up for me i'll know better from now on


No problem :thumbsup:


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

GerbilNik, you are now our resident gerbil expert, I know you didnt ask for the job but thats tough youve got it, oh and unfortunately the pay is lousy, all you get are 'likes' and rep


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

:laugh: I'm honoured. I'm normally on (cant say the name as i got my wrists slapped for mentioning other forum :laugh a certain gerbil forum but i'll nip in when i can to try and help - i think you might know the name of that forum though Gill :laugh:


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## Zanki (Jun 1, 2011)

I've had eight gerbils and none of them have ever declanned. The closest I ever had to a fight was when Tori got to close to Billy's cage and she decided to try and attack him. My finger was badly bitten, but neither gerbil was hurt, they where just very wound up. 

I find that boys get along with each other better than girls, there was always less squabbling with them. Although this could have been because of Tori and Jen's characters. They where little monsters, Tori was a really mean gerbil when she wanted to be and Jen was so much happier when she was put with Hajime after her sister died (split cage). Haj and Jen got along with each other so well, there was no fighting at all. Masumi and Kenji used to squabble, so I guess all squabble but I've found very few get out of hand.


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

GerbilNik said:


> :laugh: I'm honoured. I'm normally on (cant say the name as i got my wrists slapped for mentioning other forum :laugh a certain gerbil forum but i'll nip in when i can to try and help - i think you might know the name of that forum though Gill :laugh:


Nope never heard of that gerbil forum


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## Guest (Jun 15, 2011)

I have two male gerbils in a 4ft tank. They are about 1 1/2 years old now and have always got on great. They are very friendly and have never bitten. I found them difficult to hold when they were young as they were so fast but now they come right over ad hop onto my hand and are very easy to handle. Before I had the tank I had a pets & home gerbil cage with a tank at the bottim and a cage to the top but I found my gerbils never went up into the cage area and much prefered digging in the tank. as the tank part was too small for them to create tunnels properly I decided on getting the 4ft tank. They have never been happier. I did think about adding a topper but I think it would be a waste on my two, Other gerbils might like them though. Gerbils are by far the easiest to clean out. Simply scoop the bedding out. clean the tank where it is and refill with bedding, wooden toys etc. I bury wooden arches underneath the bedding to help them with their tunnel making.


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

Thanks again for all the tips and advice. I'm always double checking everything but it is a guide as the first thing I learned with rats is that some individuals just dont play by the rules lol

I reckon I will still go for boys, we getting to be an all boy pets household here at this rate 

I've seen some large aquariums on youtube. My question:- Is there such a thing as too big? I read that too much territory can result in declanning. Is that true or another myth?


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

Again it all comes down to breeding, personality, health etc. It is possible in larger territories that declanning is more likely to happen in groups of gerbils as two separate territories can be made and cause friction. However it depends what your definition of large is. This is a rough guide as to what sizes i'd suggest for gerbils

1-2 gerbils = 2.5 foot tank (minimum length) - 3 foot tank
3-4 gerbils = 3 foot tank/4 foot tank
4-6 gerbils = 4-5 foot tank

With gerbils really you never know if they are going to end up declanning or not and really its the luck of the draw! The percentage of de-clans compared to the percentage of gerbils who live out their lives happily however is very small and the risk is higher in larger groups of gerbils. Although it may never happen, its always best to be aware that it "could" so you are prepared if it does.


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

bearing in mind these will be rescue gerbils so background will be dodgy compared to those from a good breeder


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

ceretrea said:


> bearing in mind these will be rescue gerbils so background will be dodgy compared to those from a good breeder


All of my gerbils are rescues, and they are great personality wise (except for Bart but shhhhh we wont talk about bad Bart )


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

ceretrea said:


> bearing in mind these will be rescue gerbils so background will be dodgy compared to those from a good breeder


I run a gerbil rescue and have done for nearly three years now and have only experienced one de-clan and it was two boys. I've probably got the "worst" gerbils possible by way of inbreeding, neglect or ill heath/disability.


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

That is good to know, thank you


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