Gerbil Information and Supplies
Owning gerbils is fun, if you like fun, cute, and furry. Gerbils have little odor, are easy to take care of, and require little space.
Our local pet store only sells male gerbils, to avoid accidental breeding. Both of our gerbils are boys. It's been reported that male gerbils get along better than female gerbils when you have a group, as female gerbils have a tendency to want to be in charge.
Gerbils are perfect pets for people with busy schedules, however, it is always good to take time to play. Gerbils only need to be fed once a day and we also give them occasional treats. Water is given to them from a water bottle which we keep filled as needed.
Meet our gerbils Raiden and Zan below.
The gerbil gift items for people on this page are from CherylsArt and Gerbil t-shirts on Zazzle.
Meet our gerbil - Raiden
Hi, I'm Raiden. As you can see, I'm on my wheel. I love my wheel, running on it and chewing on it. Although I'm a little on the chunky side, I'm the active one. What else can I tell you about myself? Well, I like to eat. My dinner time is kind of late, so I'll snack on pieces of hay or my bedding. Don't worry, it's aspen bedding, it's okay for me. Sometimes I'll even snack on things that aren't quite food, such as my owner's fingers. p.s. It's just to see if they smell good. Meet our gerbil - Zan
Hi, I'm Zan. I'm not nearly as active as Raiden. My favorite thing is sleeping. I love building up my bedding/fluff and then curling up in the middle of it. There's nothing better. Raiden likes to sleep, too, but only if he can sleep on top of me. I don't mind too much; he's like an extra blanket. I spend most of my time sleeping, so my owner has nicknamed me "The Dreamer". Getting to Know Your Gerbil(s)
Gerbils may not be immediately friendly, but with a little time and patience, they will become more accepting.When we first got our gerbils, the person at the pet store recommended little treats of hand fed dry oatmeal to help them to easily adjust to our scent and to us. This was very helpful and did help in the transition.
Our gerbils did give us little bites at first, but over time they realized that we weren't the food and that they could trust us.
Petting a Gerbil
Once they get to know you, they may even look forward to climbing on you and having you pick them up in the palm of your hand.
Gerbil house
An aquarium
We like having an aquarium as a gerbils home because it means there is less bedding to fly around outside their home when they dig. We do have a plastic gerbil cage that we house them in while their bigger home is being cleaned.
Super Pet My First Home Tank Topper
Amazon Price: $26.49 (as of 12/22/2009) 
Screen Cover for the Aquarium Gerbil House
Screen Cover - 20L - 29 Gallon - 12 in. x 30 in.
Amazon Price: $9.90 (as of 12/23/2009)
A screen topper turns a glass fish aquarium into an ideal home for gerbils. We use the same size screen cover on our 20 gallon tank. We bent the sides of the cover out a bit to accommodate fitting over the hanging water bottle.
A twenty gallon aquarium has plenty of room for a wooden gerbil house, a water bottle, an exercise wheel, and a couple of gerbils.
Cleaning the Aqaurium Gerbil Home
Mini Dustpan and Brush
Amazon Price: $2.01 (as of 12/23/2009)
DUST PAN & BROOM
Amazon Price: $2.44 (as of 12/23/2009)
Vote for your favorite type of gerbil home
For those who have had experience with gerbil homes.
If you have owned gerbils before, please shed some light on those desiring to have gerbils as pets, and make a recommendation for a gerbil home.
Gerbils eating
Gerbils enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables as well as their gerbil food.
Mocha in "His First Broccoli!"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/-d/427113262/ He is 13 days old today :) Music: BoA - Some Day One Day, remixed by Bestiz.com Featured on cuteoverload.com: http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2007/03/this_might_shut.html
Runtime: 95
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11434 Comments:
curated content from YouTube
Gerbil food dish
GEO CAT DISH 5
Amazon Price: $3.90 (as of 12/23/2009)
Since gerbils love to chew, it's important to give them a food dish that will last. Ceramic dishes hold up well for gerbils.
Water for your gerbils
If you have your gerbil(s) housed in an aquarium instead of a wire cage, you'll need a water bottle holder that can snap over the side of the aquariium.
Bottle Guard Water Bottle Holder 16oz
If you need a holder for your pets' water bottle, this one attaches over the edge of the cage or aquarium.
Amazon Price: $5.67 (as of 12/22/2009)
Critter Canteen Display 8 Oz 12
Amazon Price: $55.52 (as of 12/22/2009)
Gerbils chewing
Provide chew toys; gerbils love to chew and it's good for them.
Wooden toys last longer than straw chew toys.
The woven house lasted about three days; they especially loved it as a chew toy.
The heavy duty cardboard tube lasted longer than the woven house as well.
Toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls are a good resource too.
Super Pet Woodland Get-A-Way Small Mouse House
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/23/2009)
Critter Crunchy Chew Tube - 3 in. long x 1 in. diameter
Amazon Price: (as of 12/23/2009)
Timothy Hay is good for gerbils.
We give our gerbils Timothy Hay; they not only chew on it, they add it to their bedding, and carry it in to their little house. Gerbils chew on salt mineral treats too
Hard vegetables such as carrots and broccoli are great fresh treats for your gerbils.
Lava Bites Chinchills & Small Animal Treat
Amazon Price: $3.11 (as of 12/23/2009)
H388 Eight In One Trace Mineral Wheels 3oz
Amazon Price: $2.40 (as of 12/23/2009)
Gerbils bathing
Chinchilla Bath Sand works well for gerbils.
The Gerbil Sand Bath
Super Pet Chinchilla Bath Sand
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/23/2009)
Gerbils love to bathe in the sand. We use Chinchilla Sand Bath; it is dust free and non-toxic. This one also comes in individual packets, which means it is pre-measured and it makes it easier to store and use.
We also use an open type dish for the sand. When giving your gerbil(s) a sand bath, remove the bath sand after 10 minutes or so to prevent it from becoming soiled. Then you can give them another sand bath with the same sand the next time.
A dish/bowl for the gerbil bath
Prevue Pet Products Hooded Ceramic Cup Assorted Colors Medium 10.2 oz
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/23/2009)
A hooded dish works great for the gerbil bath.
Gerbil Bedding, Fluff, and Hay
We also add the vegetable dyed fluff, and some Timothy Hay. The gerbils love building their nest out of a little bit of everything for sleeping in, but it's mostly fluff that they use. They go to building their nest pretty quickly whenever they get a clean cage, and they've also been know to move their nest to a new location from time to time in between.
We've read that fluff shouldn't be used with baby gerbils, so you might want to take that into consideration if you're breeding gerbils or they're babies.
Critter Sweet Dreams Cotton - P/I
Amazon Price: $2.40 (as of 12/23/2009)
Kaytee Natural Timothy Hay for Rabbits and Small Animals
Amazon Price: $8.27 (as of 12/23/2009)
Kaytee Aspen Bedding & Litter 3200 Cubic Inches (case of 5)
Amazon Price: $67.47 (as of 12/23/2009)
Gerbils and Sleeping
Gerbils Using Their Wheel
Gerbil Wheel - Here we have it hanging from the side of the aquarium.
Our preferred gerbil wheel
I then placed a flattened piece of cardboard between the base of the gerbil wheel base (which is now on its side) and the aquarium glass (on the inside of the aquarium), to cut down on the rattling noise. The gerbils are enjoying the new setup immensely; both for running on a stationary wheel and on chewing on the extra cardboard.
Super Pet Hamster Run-Around 8-Inch Regular Exercise Wheel, Colors Vary
Amazon Price: $8.49 (as of 12/23/2009)
Gerbils like to run and a wheel is the perfect thing for a small space. We had used a smaller wheel, and one of our gerbils started to get a messed up nose because it was too small. We went to a larger wheel and problem was solved.
Gerbils in playpen
Gerbil Playpen
If you're going to get your gerbils out, it's nice to have a special area, such as a Pet Playpen by MidWest for Small Animals
, for them. Note, this will have to be with supervision; gerbils can jump. Gifts for People that Love Gerbils
Gerbil books on Amazon
Gerbils: The Complete Guide to Gerbil Care (Complete Care Made Easy)
Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 12/23/2009)
Gerbils (Barrons Complete Owner's Manual)
Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 12/23/2009)
My Gerbil and Me
Amazon Price: (as of 12/23/2009)
Gerbil Lifespan
Gerbils passing on in style
For us, we buried our gerbils that have passed in a small box, on our property. For the last two, we chose a round oatmeal box and cut it down to size, and then taped the lid on. Oatmeal was one of their favorite treats and it was a great fit.
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Reply
- WindyWinters WindyWinters Oct 24, 2009 @ 3:53 pm
- Great Info and Tips on Gerbils. Small animals make great pets for children. Nice to meet your two "cute" gerbils. My kids had hamsters, a guinea pig, a dog and a cat and an aquarium when they were little. Now we only have two grandpups. Lensrolled to my Boston Terrier GrandPups! :)
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Reply
- CreativeArtist CreativeArtist Jun 14, 2009 @ 10:00 am | in reply to sophie
- The thicker wooden houses should last longer. One thing you can do is to provide them with things that are more cost effective to go through quickly; such as paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls, clean cardboard that things come packaged in. By clean, I mean no chemicals or sediments on the cardboard. Also, you can provide them with Timothy Hay. Gerbils like to chew on it as well as use it to help build their bedding.
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Reply
- sophie sophie Jun 14, 2009 @ 3:33 am
- my gerbils are chewing all there toys so quickly, any advise on somthing that last more than 2mins,,,
owner of 4 sister gerbils.....
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Reply
- TheGreenerMe TheGreenerMe Jun 7, 2009 @ 7:14 pm
- I loved having gerbils when I was a kid, and they didn't really smell much. They used to chew up toilet paper rolls and make big nests out of them. They were cute!
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Reply
- CreativeArtist CreativeArtist Apr 28, 2009 @ 10:43 pm | in reply to Vladi
- Gerbils do have some similarities in looks to mice. Hope that doesn't scare you off too much. Many people have mice as pets as well.
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Reply
- Vladi Vladi Apr 28, 2009 @ 6:01 am
- These gerbils look somewhat like mice to me. A pleasant look but perhaps I shouldn't get too close
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- CreativeArtist CreativeArtist Mar 2, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
- Hi Olivia, when I researched rodent pets, I read that gerbils had the least smell. We put in about a third of an 8 liter bag of aspen bedding in a 20 gallon aquarium, replacing it approximately every three weeks. We have two gerbils and the smell is pretty decent. Another idea that you can do is to go to a pet store with your mom and visit the different small animal cages and see if you can smell a difference. Good luck.[in reply to Olivia]
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