gerbils

[coco]

Does any one know anything about Gerbils ?

We got YD a fish tank for her birthday but despite our best efforts the goldfish keep dying which is distressing and leads me to think that we shouldnot have fish - getting to the point where they hide behid the weeds if I go in the pet shop lol

Would a fish tank with a fitted lid be suitable to keep a gerbil in ?

WE have had gerbils before and they were fine - no we did NOT kill them off and I thought that might be nice for her and wondered if the tank say half filled with sawdust would be ok for them ?? not sure how the water bottle would work but am sure hubby/son or dad could rig something up for them

Any advice much appreciated

L xx

[Easties]

i used to have one in a cage and it dove me mad with the chewing on it lol but seeing as you are keeping it in a tank it should be fine one word of warning though if you pick it up by its tail dont do it at the tip as my gerbils tail come off in my hand it wasnt very plesant but the gerbils tail soon grew back :D

[coco]

aye I remember with our last one that they did that with the tails lol and Dad used to bring wood blocks home from work for them to chew on.

The only thing I am worried about is the water - goign to empty the tank and have a good look at the lid which is platic and has a lid in it that the filter sits under. of course the filter can be removed but maybe a plastic water bottle could be hung from there ?

me xx

[Easties]

aye I remember with our last one that they did that with the tails lol and Dad used to bring wood blocks home from work for them to chew on.

The only thing I am worried about is the water - goign to empty the tank and have a good look at the lid which is platic and has a lid in it that the filter sits under. of course the filter can be removed but maybe a plastic water bottle could be hung from there ?

me xx
you could give it a go hun it may work :happy72:

[Azzi]

I would remove the plastic lid altogether and if you have a handy man around make up a wooden frame and cover it with strong wire mesh (most tanks have a glass lip around them you can use to rest this on) you can hang the water bottle from there and prey the gerbils don't chew the bottle

I used to keep rats in a fish tank, though I had a cage made for the top of it so it was three times the size

[coco]

thats for that idea, tis a plastic tank so might give that a go !"

[charmeddyke]

Agree with the plastic lid being removed.... my wee sister had one as a kid and i lost count of the number of times it escaped as the plastic lid wasnt heavy enough, it could jump up (they jump rather high) and knock the lid right off. we have kept hamsters for a while, but have had no luck lately with them, have killed off 3 in the space of about a year (if that!) the first ate toothpaste(cage was too close to it) and the 3rd ate blistex! (in a plastic cage with no holes in it.... how on earth did it get in there!)
Oh well might give gerbils a go!
Laura x

[coco]

lol @ them knocking the lid off - they could nto do that with this one as it ssort of clips on
still thinking bout this one, off to Preston tomorrow to look at a cat - LOOK ?? yea right like I've ever looked and left with nothing

L xx

[Katiequiggle]

Go for mice, they are the best fun to watch too. If you get females the don't smell, males smell terribly. Ds and Dd have mice in rota stack tanks, and ds got round the problem of the water bottle by putting it through one of the holes in a log roll thing, a piece of log with holes drilled right through it and hollowed out iykwim that they run in and out of. It works really well, you could do this with gerbils too.

Mice are so tame too right from the start, and are so funny to watch. They also spend more day time awake than hamsters or gerbils so are more fun for the kids.

Good luck