# Loving gerbils so far



## Daniel (Jun 24, 2013)

After having a ton of health problems in a short time with ALL of the mice I have had (my last male has now lost the usage of his back legs and I don't know why?! - he's been moved to a smaller tank since he is alone), I have decided to use the space I had for them for gerbils instead. Long story short, I had a single gerbil about 11 years ago that I got in the dead of winter and I came home to find him stone cold dead in his little wooden house one day (I always assumed because of the cold), afterwards not having them since until about 2 weeks ago.

I got a white/grey male who had been living alone in the back of a store since he fought with the others, and just a couple days ago a slightly younger agouti who I was able to integrate with my older boy with no problems. I am using the mice's former 10 gallon but I will upgrade them to a 20 high soon (for digging space). So far, I have to say I really like them. They are not quite as nice as rats of course, but sort of a middle area between rats and hamsters, yet not unfriendly or nippy like hamsters can be. I am pleased how clean they are, how little they smell, and how they make their own bedding with cardboard scraps I give them! They are active and fun to watch like mice are, but are not as suspicious.


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## FallDeere (Sep 29, 2011)

Gerbils are amusing little creatures. ^_^ My mom has two and they're pretty sweet, but not nearly as social as rats, of course. It's a lot of fun to give them a bunch of bedding and watch them burrow. They make cool tunnels! It's like an ant farm.  They also have personalities! I know, of _course _they have personalities, but I think a lot of people don't really think small pets have much personality (I admit to previously being one of them). Coco loves sunflower seeds as treats and never refuses one, whereas Pretty Girl loves Cheerios and won't always take a sunflower seed. Coco only takes Cheerios if she's in the mood, lol. Pretty Girl tends to be more dedicated to chewing anything in her tank to bits, whereas Coco sometimes won't touch cardboard for weeks. Coco's more likely to crawl into your hand, but Pretty Girl is very sweet and gentle towards people.

Pretty Girl now recognizes the sound of me getting Cheerios out. She visibly perks up when I start getting them out. Such a smart baby. <3

Such fun little creatures. My mom loves that we don't have to clean their tank very often. She also likes that they have furry tails... Mouse and rat tails remind her of snakes and she has a snake phobia, so gerbils are a good match for her. 

I'm glad you were able to successfully introduce yours! We've failed at getting Pretty Girl and Coco to not kill each other. Pretty Girl lost a toe when we tried to introduce them and my mom's not willing to risk more, so she's given up. Males are supposedly easier to introduce. We got them both last December, so they're about a year old now. They each have one side of a 40 gallon we got at a Petco dollar a gallon sale.


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## anawelch (Sep 25, 2013)

Gerbils are extremely territorial. With females almost the only thing you can do for introductions is get a very young gerbil for the older one to mother but that doesnt always work out. I had two girls for a long time (they were actually the same colors of my rats now lol) and they super sweet and super mischevious. They loved sunflower seeds and cornflakes. I only cleaned their cage every two weeks but not because it smelled just because I wanted to give them fresh bedding. Gerbils can become cuddly but its not likely however they rarely bite or become aggresive.


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