# Might be given Gerbils... never had one.



## mink

So, in this past year I've had 6 critters pass away. My 4 old lady (sisters) Rats and my 2 RC Dwarf hamster girls I was given a year or so ago. 

I was feeling lonely with all the absence of cages and was thinking about getting a Syrian Hamster. I visited a couple places the other day, got bit a couple times, and ran into my cousin. Talk about coincidence.. he told me his girlfriend accidentally bought a pregnant gerbil and now has babies she needs homes for. 
I don't know much more, just saw she posted on FB about them in early September and still needs to sex the babies. 

Throughout my childhood I had a total of 9 Syrian Hamsters, and when I was 15 I got my first rat. 
I've had mainly rats for the past 13 years - I took in 2 Fancy Mice once, and then the Dwarf Hamsters. 
Now Gerbils, I've never even gave a thought. I kinda forgot about their existence. 
The only Gerbils I knew belonged to friends as a child, and they were always not friendly. 
But now that I think of it, we did have an awesome classroom Gerbil in my 2nd grade class lol. 

Anyhow, 
I've been doing a little research on Gerbils, they seem actually pretty nice and I'm thinking I would like to give them a try.
They seem a little bit like rats, and a little like mice.. I dunno.
I might get 2 females, male animals have a monopoly on my house right now!
My fiance' isn't very fond of boy parts.. lol I feel bad that we got the 2 nakie boys making him cringe. 
I don't recall ever seeing a male Gerbil have "torpedoes" (as my fiance' puts it) I don't think my mice had anything outrageous to show either.
Do male Gerbils have testes like hamsters and rats? Or are they more discreet? >_<

I was wondering if there were many people here who have had Gerbils or both gerbils and rats and what your take is on Gerbils??


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss

I'm a registered gerbil breeder and I've had gerbils since I was 11 years old or so (I don't remember my exact age but anyway). 

The first thing to know about gerbils is they must be kept in a tank. Gerbils need plenty of bedding to tunnel in, and a small hamster cage can never supply that. Not to mention hamster cages are dangerous to gerbils and very small. A 10 gallon tank is the minimum size to keep two gerbils in, but its better to keep a pair in a 15 or 20 gallon tank. Usually the guide is 10 gallons per gerbil. 

Also, gerbils are social animals like rats and must be kept with their own kind. Females are dominant and more territorial than males, so its safer to keep them in pairs but trios have been known to work but declanning will be a higher risk if they're in a smaller tank. Males can be kept in larger groups since they're less territorial, but they are also fine in pairs. Personality wise there is no difference in genders. I've had many calm females that will sit on my shoulder and many hyperactive males and vice versa. 

I'd probably say that gerbils are a bit between mice and rats, but also different. Gerbils are a lot more active than mice and rats. They are frequently on the move and love to chew. You have to make sure you always give them wood and cardboard (they are great cardboard recyclers) to chew on. Never give gerbils any kind of plastic toys, because they will chew it up and it can harm them. Gerbils can learn their names like rats, and some have been known to learn tricks, but I personally have never taught mine any tricks. They aren't nearly as smelly as rats and mice. Gerbils are desert animals, so they will drink less and urinate less than other small animals. Their urine doesn't smell very much so tank cleaning can be done once every 2 or 3 weeks. I prolong my full tank cleaning by just removing some bedding and replacing with some fresh bedding. Gerbils aren't as skittish as mice and will be very curious about you and your actions. Gerbils also won't bite if they're tame. If the person with the gerbil pups holds the pups daily from about day 7 onward then they will be tame when you get them. 

Males do not have large testes. The following pictures are of three of my adult males. As you can see their male parts aren't very visible. 


















As you can see on Raichu here, he has a bit of a lump in the back, but it isn't unsightly large.









And here's a picture of Raichu's underside. You can't see them at all. (He attacked the camera lol)


----------



## mink

Cool, thanks! Raichu is such a perfect name! 

Hmmm, it might come down to coloration of the babies then.. I don't think I'd want my very first Gerbils to be the exact same color - I have enough split-second pauses trying to figure which nakie rat twin i'm talking to half the time!  

Believe me, I am one to go way overboard. 
I have some sort of obsession with soaking up all information I can get my hands on about my pets. 

My 2 RC Dwarf girls had a 30-Gal breeder tank, here's some pics:










They gradually got some better stuff, like matching wheels, more puzzle pieces, a cool bridge, and a hamster potty I just ended up using for sand bath. 




















I also have a 20-Gal tall tank I might prefer for a pair of Gerbils since I've seen they can jump pretty high and making the litter / substrate deeper would be easier to do in a taller tank.

Pixie (the white one) just passed away a couple weeks ago, she would actually brux and boggle when you rubbed her head. She made me squee all the time, although you could not pick her up by hand, she'd turn and bite - she liked to ride up to your hand in a Tp tube though and never bit otherwise. Trixie (blue) passed away about 4 months ago, she was pretty chill. You could just pick her up anytime, she would just hang out and never fidgeted. 

Sorry to get side-tracked! 

I'll gratefully take in all the info I can get on Gerbils right about now!


----------



## ratchet

I agree with everything Abyss has said! I do want to add, however in my personal experience, that my gerbils (my sisters and I have had upwards of 20 of them) never really made good 'lap' pets, so if you are looking for something that provides companionship they really aren't as excellent as rats. That being said, some of them do have bigger cojones, I've noticed. They've also shamelessly chewed through many of my shirts haha.


----------



## mink

Okay, just did some exploring on my cousin's G/F's FB page, she posted on July 9th about how her Gerbil is having babies.
So.. they're about 3 months old now? 
Is that still a youngish age for Gerbils? Will they still have some growing to do?
He mentioned she still needs to sex the babies - will she have pregnant females at this age?


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss

Your hamsters were very cute! I'm sorry for your loss of them.  I love the white and brown one.

The 20 high or the 30 would do nicely. Gerbils need 6 to 8 inches of bedding at minimum, but as long as you have a lid on the tank then you won't have an issue with them jumping out. 

I have a few gerbils currently that are "lap" pets. It all depends on each gerbil's personality. I have one gerbil that will sit on my shoulder or arm for as long as I keep her there. I also have gerbils currently that will only stay still if I hold them in a certain position with my hands cupped around their bodies with their head sticking out. Every gerbil is different just like every rat is different. Companionship depends on how tame they are and how much time you spend with them, just like with rats.

Like rats, gerbils also enjoy treats. It'll be easier if I just give you a list of what's good for them and what cannot be given to them. I have a list on my website.
Good things to give gerbils : http://gerbitailsclan.wetpaint.com/page/Gerbil+Treats
and things to avoid : http://gerbitailsclan.wetpaint.com/page/Food+to+Avoid
My gerbils really enjoy cheerios, almonds, pecans and peanuts in shells.


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss

A 3 month old gerbil will still be small, but they will have already molted to their adult color. 
She should have sexed them right at birth or shortly after. She hasn't sexed them at all? Has she held them or played with them while as they grew up?
They could be pregnant, but it is unlikely. Females don't sexually mature until 12 weeks and even then usually they won't mate until they're older or ready. Females are the dominant gender with gerbils, so they will let a male know that they don't want to mate.
Are they still with their parents? If they are then the likelihood of them being pregnant is even slimmer, because the parents are the breeding pair of the clan and it will put the pups roll as a pupsitter to the next litter.


----------



## mink

Yeah, I don't know much.. I haven't even met this girlfriend of my cousin yet, they just started dating in August. 
My cousin is pretty quiet, he rarely elaborates on anything. Yesterday I prompted him for any progress, and he said he would send me pictures of the baby gerbils today and they would sex them then.. but I didn't hear from him and its now too late in the day to pester him more. I'll get right on it tomorrow, that's for sure.

The large majority of my animals come from such situations like "a friend-of-a-friend" is getting rid of... _____. 
I got my hairless rat boys from my brother's friend who bought a female hairless that was pregnant, I wouldn't have ever gone looking for a hairless but after a while she had the 2 boys left, lol. 

I was just concerned about height if I were to re-fill the gerbil's food bowl and have them leap out on me or possibly in front of my cat.


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss

Well, even if they haven't been held much as they were growing, at 3 months it won't be very difficult to tame them. It'll just require a bit of time offering them food and just leaving your hand flat in their tank.


----------



## trematode

About the boy parts... I had two males where their testis and penis were not noticeable. I then got a larger male. His colouration was the same as one of my other boys (agouti) but his testis are bigger and the hair darker in that area making them much more visible (but not as visible as a male rat's would be).When I got my rats, it was a bit of shock. I used to go a maximum of 3 weeks between cage cleaning with my gerbils, but the rats I have to tidy up every day.I had two males in a 20 gallon tote made into a tank. They ended up in a 15, which I feel would be the minimum for 2. I had issues with them starting to show signs of declanning once. I think the culprit of that was too many places to hide. You don't want a massive tank for few gerbils because they might get territorial and declan.


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss

You do want a massive tank for a few gerbils because a smaller tank would increase the risk for a declan. You can never go too big, but you can go too small.


----------



## LightningWolf

Not to sound ignorant, and I know this isn't my post, but what is Declanning? Just curious, I think there might be a few other people out there who are wondering the same thing.


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss

Its when a clan of gerbils suddenly doesn't get along anymore and they start attacking each other. If its a group of more than two gerbils then usually the declan is just between two of the three and you can keep a pair together and then find a friend to put with the lone gerbil. With a pair sometimes they can be split-cage introduced back together after a week or so because by then they will have forgotten each other and that they ever had fights.

Declanning isn't something that happens often, but it can happen. Its usually more likely with females, but I've heard of it happening with males plenty of times. I have never had a delcan happen with any of my gerbils.


----------



## mink

Thanks for more info ^_^ 

Well, ran into my cousin yesterday and he said they will get to sexing them really soon and his G/f already separated out 2 babies she thinks are male. 
I was a little confused, he said "yea... she's a little nuts". Oh boy. I tried asking him if I should go looking elsewhere for Gerbils and he took it as I mean Gerbil supplies and asked me "don't you have like.. everything under the sun at your house?" my friend was with me so we all got in a conversation about that lol. Then we had to get going. 

Let me say, our local Petco is pretty nice. I've had many friends who've worked there and upon quitting for greener grass, had very little dirt to say about Petco. 
I currently have one friend that has worked there a few years. So anyhow.. my friend and I went to Petco since I was curious about non-plastic toys and stuff for Gerbils. 
Our Petco has been on a eco-friendly natural toy fad lately which is cool. They had a bunch of wooden toys, nice mesh wheels with enclosed backs to them, and ceramic hidey-houses. They had 2 male gerbils I thought were cute, but my friend went crazy over them lol. She had an employee take one out - very pretty cream with varying shades of gray mask and splotches with a white-tip tail my friend was nuts for - I need to learn Gerbil markings!! The Gerbil was a little dodging our hands but sat in my hand for a second if I scooped him up. He seemed torn between curious and cautious lol. My friend almost left with him and his all-white ruby-eyed buddy who wouldn't come out of their house. She was very tempted, she still might go back for them. >_< 

We also went to this newer place called Pet Goods - they are probably middle of the road, they sold one of my friend a pregnant rat once but the rat herself is very sweet and healthy. I handled a few of their hamsters like last week and got bit though. Anyhow, I go there for toys and supplies sometimes - they recently began carrying Oxbow! I was so excited and nobody I know could understand. They had TONS of wooden, straw, etc toys. Very exciting. They had 2 Gerbils, 1 was Agouti and 1 was fawn? They ran up to the glass to say hi, but looked older and I still didn't like my hamster experience. Chalked them up as cute and pretty and moved on to grab some Regal rat. They also had 2 Dumbo Himalayan babies we spent a good 20 minutes going ooh and aww at lol. I was almost crying hoping they wouldn't let them be sold separately since they obviously loved each other very much! 

I like our nearest Petco a lot - more than any other place around, but its a good 40 minutes away and I only go on special "have tons of gas and time" occasions lol. 

If I were to go looking to buy Gerbils, those would be my only 3 options - they're actually my only options for supplies as it is. 
There is one feeds store that I get Mazuri blocks at, but they only really have hundreds of great food brands for a variety of animals and dog toys / leashes. 
And there is a tiny place just down the road from me that is terrible - I got everything there growing up, but the owner had a stroke and got a new husband who has let things get disgusting. I won't even set foot in there anymore.


----------



## mink

Another question, what's the name of a few good staple Gerbil diets? I've heard Hamster&Gerbil diets are bad, and I believe it! But I know Oxbow is recommended for both their Rat and Rabbit blends - though the Oxbow I saw at the store was indeed "Gerbil & Hamster Diet".


----------



## mink

Another question, what's the name of a few good staple Gerbil diets? I've heard Hamster&Gerbil diets are bad, and I believe it! But I know Oxbow is recommended for both their Rat and Rabbit blends - though the Oxbow I saw at the store was indeed "Gerbil & Hamster Diet".

I fed my Dwarf Hamsters the Carefresh Complete diet - which was one of the top recommended diets, due to low-sugar and actually very good!


----------



## Awaiting_Abyss

You can also check out breeders in your area. I know of a few in the New York area. I actually contacted Kay's Kritters to try to get a schimmel producing breeding pair from her, but its $200 to ship them and she wasn't making a trip to Washington D.C so I could meet her anytime soon. (Schimmel is a pretty rare color that is born orange/tan like a nutmeg and then turns white so it has orange points and a white body)
http://agsgerbils.org/Find/Breeders/NewYork.php

The American Gerbil Society has a good page on their website that helps a lot if you don't know what color has a white or self colored belly or ruby/pink or black eyes.
http://agsgerbils.org/Learn/Color_Strips/
And this website has nice pictures of all of the colors and describes the colors well.
http://www.thegerbils.com/colors1.htm

Hamster & Gerbil mixes aren't bad, as long as it actually says its for gerbils. If it just says hamster food then its bad. You just have to make sure it doesn't have too much corn in it. I always look for a brand that has oats or oat groats listed as the first ingredient. I feed my gerbils a mixture of four different seed mixes for gerbils and hamsters, because I feed my pregnant and nursing gerbils a higher protein mix. Non-breeding adult gerbils need a food that has 12% protein and about 7% fat. Whatever you do, don't pick sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts or corn out of the mix. They are used to calculate the protein and fat percentage on the bag, so you will be ruining the quality of the food.
Oxbow is a good food, but I don't use it because a lot of gerbils refuse to eat the pellets. I've never had a gerbil that likes pellets (they always eat everything but the pellets in the seed mixes), and in my area oxbow is rather pricey so I choose not to get it since I know my gerbils wouldn't eat it anyway. However, I have heard of people using it and the gerbils love it. Oxbow also works well if you have an elderly gerbil without teeth; you can wet it and mash it up for them to eat.

For my seed mixes, I mainly use Wild Harvest 8 in 1 seed mix that Walmart carries, but it has a 16% protein level so I mix it with other mixes for my non-breeding gerbils, but I like this food a lot since it has pumpkin seeds mixed in it (my gerbils will eat some of the pellets from this food also). I also use Small World hamster and gerbil food from Walmart. It doesn't have a lot of stuff in it besides oats and millet; not much corn or anything else. And I use Kaytee Forti-Diet Pro Health that is also sold at Walmart. Its an okay food, but it has a lot of corn in it so I don't feed it to my gerbils as much. They do enjoy the cornflakes in it though.

 Ecotrition Essential Blend Hamster and Gerbil and GerriGerbil food are also good mixes (so I hear from others with gerbils since they aren't available in my area) if they are available to you.


----------



## mink

Thanks so much!

I have seen Ecotrition around. 

Yes, Kay's looks like a nice place and it says she travels north sometimes. She apparently took a break from breeding but put 3 breeding pairs together in August.. I can hope. lol It would be torture to wait around 8 weeks though. 
I did try searching for rescues, but found only a few nearby and they are older and "must adopt 3". 
For my very first Gerbils, I would like to start young. <3


----------

