![]() ![]() (After that first investment, you will not spend much.) It costs little to adopt or buy a pair of gerbils, but you will need to purchase the following equipment and supplies, which will cost several hundred dollars. ![]() Or cardboard paper towel tubes to crawl through. Another option is getting one or more large cardboard boxes or constructing a “play pen” and letting them run around inside. You might want to put an old blanket on the bed to protect it (gerbils pee little and their poops are dry but they enjoy chewing everything, including fabric). If you can supervise them closely, put them on top of a bed and let them explore, making sure they do not fall off the edge of the bed. Find a small room, close the door and take them out (make sure no dogs or cats of small children are around). But they also should be taken out of the cage daily. Most of the day, gerbils will amuse themselves, building nests, running on wheels, chewing, burrowing and climbing. Once a week, remove the old bedding, clean off anything stuck to the bottom of the cage with water and paper towels, and put in new bedding and nest materials. The main task with gerbils is cleaning their cage. ![]() Or open the door of the cage and let them choose to come out. Put your hand flat on the cage floor and let the gerbils get used to is and come to you. Handling gerbils safely requires coordination and a gentle touch. They could accidentally squeeze gerbils to death. Young children could drop them or hold them so tightly gerbils will bite. Younger children lack the fine motor control and self-restraint to safely hold gerbils and let them move from one hand to another, as these animals like to do-they are always in motion. No matter how much they might want handle these cute, furry animals, children younger than eight should not be allowed to pick up gerbils. Or consider putting the cage somewhere else where it is not out of the way but where people do not sleep. So be prepared to hear them running on their excise wheel or chewing or digging if the cage is in a bedroom. They don’t need for you to play with them then, but they will make noise. Gerbils are active during the day but really come alive at night. Also, check to make sure that if the store gives you a male-female pair by mistake, they will be willing to take back the babies who are born once you have identified a male-male or female-female pair you want to keep. A good store should have knowledgeable staff who can identify which of their gerbils are males and which are females (hard to determine this except during a short window of time after they are born). Try to get two gerbils from the same littler, if possible six to eight weeks old. If you must go to a pet store, check to make sure their gerbils look healthy, show no wounds from fighting and are not scared if you put your hand in their cage. Try to adopt firstĬheck with local shelters and small animal rescues to see if they have gerbils you can give a home to. Do not keep more than three gerbils together since this could lead to territorial behavior and fighting. Normally, the pair should bond and share a nest, sleeping side by side. And because male-female pair will quickly have babies (and then more babies, and then even more babies), be sure to get a male-male pair or a female-female pair. Unlike hamsters, they are not happy alone. ![]()
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