Gerbil Care Guide
General:
By allowing your new gerbils to eat from your hand and avoiding sudden movements you will soon win their trust. When they are comfortable sitting on your hand, begin to lift them up to sit on your arm or shoulder. Children should always be supervised and taught never to pick up a gerbil by the tail, and to protect their pet from falls by sitting on a sofa or bed when holding them.Housing:
A 10 gallon aquarium with a ventilated lid makes a suitable home for two gerbils. Gerbils can easily damage plastic cages by digging and chewing, so they are not recommended. Cages with metal bars may be used, but bedding tends to get kicked out easily!
Gerbils enjoy multi-level cages with ramps, tunnels, solid wheels and a variety of chew toys. Cover the floor with safe bedding such as Aspen Shavings or Living World Fresh 'n' Comfy and place shredded paper in a nesting box so your gerbils can burrow and make a nest. Gerbil's teeth grow constantly and should not be allowed to become overgrown. Offer gnawing material such as lab or rodent blocks, untreated bits of wood, or balsa wood.
Diet:
Although the gerbil mix will provide the gerbil with a good basic diet, gerbils also enjoy fruit and vegetables. However, it is important that fruit and vegetables should be introduced to a gerbil's diet gradually; as a sudden large amount of fruit or vegetables can cause diarrhea.The Gerbil Care Guide recommends that gerbils should be fed a commercial gerbil, hamster or rodent diet.
They readily accept and prefer sunflower seeds to a pelleted diet, but feeding sunflower seeds (low in calcium) can lead to a nutritional imbalance. The fatty seeds in the diet should be limited to 2 or 3 per day to avoid obesity in your pet. The three types of fatty seeds that need to be limited are peanuts, sunflower and safflower seeds.
Instead the Gerbil Care Guide suggests the use of loose alfalfa hay as an excellent source of roughage for your gerbil, and should be available on a daily basis. Fresh water should always be available in a sipper bottle.
Cleaning:
Replace soiled bedding weekly, or when it appears dirty. Gerbils need less frequent cleaning than some rodents, due to their desert origins. Wash food dishes and water bottles weekly, and the cage bottom monthly. Always dry the cage well before adding fresh bedding.Health:
Gerbils are hardy pets, but they may suffer from various respiratory ailments. Loss of weight, poor appetite, diarrhea, nasal discharge, and discharge from the eyes are symptoms to watch for. Contact your veterinarian if they occur. DO not use pet store remedies as these may do more harm than good.Gerbils sometimes suffer from spontaneous convulsions which are genetic (from inbreeding) in nature and affects about 50% of the gerbil population. They can be fatal and there is little that can be done about them. This is another reason breeding is strongly discouraged. Daily handling of your gerbil will help you distinguish whether or not your pet is healthy,
Warnings:
"Fluffy" nesting material can cause fatal injuries and should not be used. Pine and cedar shavings contain harmful oils and are best avoided.Fertility:
It is easy to sex gerbils from the age of about 7 weeks by which time a male's testicles are quite prominent. Gerbils are sexually mature at around 10 weeks old. The average litter size is 4 - 6. The average gestation time is 25 days.Newborn male gerbils are distinguished from newborn female gerbils by noting the greater anogenital distance in the males. This is best accomplished by lifting the tails of litter mates and comparing perineums.
We hope that this Gerbil Care Guide has been useful and informative. If you still have further questions on the care and maintenance of your pet gerbils, feel free to come top one of Centre d'Animaux NATURE Pet's six convenient locations in the greater Montreal area.
