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[lil BIG dwarf]

Hi!

So this cage is for my 2 male gerbils, Eggs and Pluto. I’ve had them for 2(?) months, maybe more (I’m bad with time). I adopted them, so they’re at least a year and a half. I don’t know how much more. Before this they lived with less than ideal conditions (they had mold in they’re cage before :/) so I’d like to consider this an improvement, at least.

It is a 75 gallon tank on a stand, so apologies the above photos kinda suck. I do have a solid, metal lid, but it was taken off for the photos.


https://ibb.co/6ybk9tt
https://ibb.co/3hX3fXM
https://ibb.co/ZMhwtGn
https://ibb.co/MSYxLLZ


For anyone who can’t see them: on the left end is 6ish inches of bedding (piled along the front so it looks like more) and a multi chamber hide (they have chewed extra entrances in there). On top is a Niteangel water bottle and wheel (10.5 inch). They can run on it well but haven’t used it much as of late (at least when I can tell). After that, the bedding slopes closer to 12ish inches. There is a well washed Pringles can in the bedding that they’ve hung out in and put food in (do gerbils make food hoard? These guys do). After that a coconut hanging from the lid (they never use it) and a falling apart tissue box. That’s it. On the base you can see a burrow, and I have an image of another cavern in the back of it. For chews they have one of those bundles of wood sticks, but it’s in their burrow. They dislike whimzees and peanut butter.


I used to have a ton more up top, but they never used it and just buried it. I’m worried to pull it out because they use it as structure for the burrows. I also a, worried to clean it out (I can see waste along the base of the tank) because they’re super shy. Pluto never comes out, from what I can tell, for more than a minute to get water (I just hear him chew stuff and see a tail or smth through the glass). Eggs used to run on the wheel a lot and explore more (I even got to pet him a few times/hand him treats) but now he never does and neither of them use the right side as much. I scatter food there, but never see them foraging so I put it in the multi chamber to make sure Pluto gets some. I also can’t handle them for a health check so idk if they’re doing all right. Could this be a health problem? Should I take them out even if they don’t want to to clean and/or check their health? How can I improve there cage to make it more interactive?

Thank you in advance.

Edited by lil BIG dwarf, 28 December 2021 - 12:14 AM.

[daisy~]

Some gerbils do hoard food, yes, especially if they're scatter fed and especially in the colder months.

 

The tank looks good. It's pretty standard for gerbil tanks to look empty at the surface because they bury everything! If I had to make any suggestions I would say to mix in more hay with the bedding (even to 30-40% of the total amount of bedding) to help with tunnel support and if you have any fairly low platforms you can put them on the base of the tank to function as tunnel roofs. Another thing that might really help would be a large, tall platform where you can put a large sand dish. This would give them something to do at the surface, it might well encourage them to use the sand as a toilet instead of their burrows, and you can also put some hides on the platform which might make them feel more confident spending time outside their tunnels. You could also put some cork logs on the surface as they're light enough that they don't need any support. Lots of variety and fairly regular setup changes at the surface, while ideally not destroying their tunnels, will help keep them interested enough to keep coming out.

 

When gerbils go straight into a very big tank it is quite common for them to not be seen much. They simply have much to do underground that they don't need to spend as much time above ground. I think when your gerbils get a bit older it would be good to dig them out at least every couple of months to weigh them and give them a health check. For now, it may be enough to just do a brief visual check when they do make an appearance. Check that their fur is sleek and smooth, their eyes fully open and bright (see photo below for an example of a healthy-appearing gerbil) and they're moving normally. This doesn't guarantee there's nothing wrong but it's a good start.

 

 

When the waste in their burrows builds up too much, you'll need to destroy their tunnels to clean. Unfortunately there's no way around that. They'll take a few hours to rebuild their tunnels but they'll be fine as long as it's not done too often.