How to Spoil Your Gerbils

Feeding Your Gerbils

Buy specialty organic food for your gerbil from the pet store. Rodent food is specially tailored to the dietary needs of smaller rodents, like your gerbil, and it can be found at any pet store. To really spoil your gerbil and give them top-of-the-line food, look for organic options. Remember, you need to clean out uneaten food from your gerbil’s cage every day, otherwise, it could start to go bad and make your gerbil ill.

Supplement your gerbil’s diet with a variety of fresh foods. An easy and inexpensive way to treat your gerbil is to give them a few pieces of fresh food every day, like carrots, celery, apples, pears, banana, peas, and even plain popcorn. If you really want to give them something special, scramble an egg and put half of it into their dish along with the rest of their food. Although you want to spoil your gerbil, you also want them to be healthy, so make sure to balance their diet and avoid giving them too many treats. 2 to 3 small pieces of fresh food every day is enough for their small bodies. Always rinse off fresh food and cut it into small pieces before giving it to your gerbil. Don’t give your gerbil any citrus fruits, lettuce, or spinach. Watch your gerbil’s weight since too many treats could lead to obesity.

Give your gerbil live food like mealworms or crickets for extra protein. Purchase mealworms and crickets that have been bred in captivity, meaning they weren’t caught in the wild and won’t have harmful bacteria on them. Give your gerbil 1 to 2 mealworms or crickets for a tasty treat. If you have a wire cage, opt for mealworms instead of crickets, otherwise, you’re likely to lose the crickets before your gerbil has a chance to catch and eat them.

Feed your gerbil special treats, like sunflower seeds, from your hands. Gerbils love sunflower seeds and will eat a ton at a time, so just offer 3 to 4 seeds to them when you give them this tasty snack. Or, if you don’t want to feed your gerbil from your hand, bury a few sunflower seeds in the cage for it to find. This is a delicious treat for your gerbil, and it also helps strengthen the bond between you and your pet when you feed them from your hand. Too many sunflower seeds can cause unhealthy weight gain for your gerbils.

Clean your gerbil’s water bottle often and make sure it’s always full. Every week, remove the water bottle and rinse it out with warm, soapy water. Every day, check the water bottle and refresh it with clean, cool water for your gerbil to enjoy. Gerbils don’t drink a lot of water but they do need it available to them all the time to have a healthy life.

Creating a Nice Home

Keep your gerbil in a large, glass aquarium with plenty of space. For each gerbil you have, provide at least 1 square foot (0.093 m) of space, if not more. Experts recommend using a 20 US gal (76 L) tank for 2 gerbils. This way you can add in toys, tunnels, exercise wheels, and feeding dishes without crowding your favorite pet. Glass is the best option for your gerbil’s cage. Gerbils can chew through plastic, and wire cages can’t always hold in bedding very well.

Provide multiple places for your gerbil to nap and sleep. Small houses, tunnels, and hidey-holes give your gerbil lots of options for nesting, which is really important for them to be happy and healthy. You can buy small houses at the pet store, or make your own out of recycled material like tissue boxes, cereal, boxes, and empty toilet paper rolls. Every time you clean out your gerbil’s cage, give them some new spaces to explore.

Give your gerbil lots of wood shavings and nesting material. Without these materials, your gerbil won’t be able to make tunnels or create their own little nests, which are big parts of their home habitats. Toilet paper works well, as does bedding you would find at the pet store. Provide enough materials for 2 to 3 inches (5.1 to 7.6 cm) of burrow-able space and watch your gerbil make its own tunnels. Don’t use cedar or pine shavings—these can be harmful to your gerbil. In the wild, gerbils use underground tunnels to safely travel to their homes, so not only are they fun, but they’re also reminiscent of their natural habitats.

Treat your gerbil to a spa experience by giving it a dust bath every week. For really healthy fur, put a large glass jar with 2 to 3 tablespoons (15 to 22 grams) of chinchilla sand into your gerbil’s cage, avoid chinchilla dust as it can cause respiratory problems. Leave it in there for a few hours or until your gerbil uses it, and then take it back out. The dust absorbs oils found in your gerbil’s hair.

Clean out the cage every week to maintain a pristine home. Schedule a reminder on your calendar to take the time to clean out your gerbil’s cage every week. This is a simple way to keep your gerbil healthy and to also give it the best living conditions possible. Some experts say you only need to clean your gerbil’s cage once every 2 weeks, but you’re trying to give your gerbil the best home possible. Keeping it really clean is a great way to spoil your gerbil!

Entertaining Your Gerbils

Provide companionship for your gerbil so they don’t get lonely. Choose a same-sex companion for your gerbil to reduce the chances of them fighting and to keep them from mating (gerbils reproduce really quickly and can give birth to a new litter every month!). Gerbils live in large groups out in the wild. They do everything together, from playing and sleeping to even helping each other groom. Try adopting 2 gerbils from the same mother or introducing 2 gerbils to each other when they’re still young—this will help them acclimate to each other better and prevent them from fighting.

Get your gerbil a solid exercise wheel so it has somewhere to run. Gerbils love to run around, and sometimes they have more energy than they can get out from just running back and forth in their cage. Look for a wheel that is solid, meaning there aren’t any spaces where their feet or tail could get caught. Avoid metal or wire exercise wheels. These could hurt your gerbil’s feet.

Give your gerbil lots of toys to stimulate their minds and entertain them. Look for or make items for your gerbil out of untreated wood, cardboard, plastic tubes, or natural fibers. There are lots of things you can buy in the store or online for your gerbil, or get creative and recycle things from home to keep your friend supplied with a variety of toys. Rotating toys will give your gerbil new experiences, which will help keep it happy and healthy.

Create a secondary jungle gym for your gerbil to play in. Use a small inflatable swimming pool or even your bathtub. Fill it with lots of objects your gerbil can explore, like empty toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes, or empty egg cartons. Line it with clean towels so that your gerbil’s feet have something to cling on to, and then enjoy watching it play. Never leave your gerbil unattended when it’s out of its cage. Keep a close eye on it at all times to make sure it doesn’t wander off somewhere and get lost.