How Big Should a Gerbil Cage be? Basic Gerbil Supplies and Feeding

How big should a gerbil cage be: Essentials for Gerbils

How big should a gerbil cage be: Cage

In the summer, use a ventilated wire cage or a half-iron, half-plastic cage, such as a field cage. In winter, please keep your gerbil warm. A full rubber cage is better for winter. Please be careful not to use wire mesh on the bottom of the cage, as gerbils are prone to break bones and injuries.

How big should a gerbil cage be: Food bowl

Most cages come with their own food bowls. If you need to buy your own, you can use any small container, as long as it is not easily knocked over and the rim is not too high for the gerbil to climb into. Commonly used containers include glass cigarette holders, saucepans, small bowls of all kinds, and microwaveable boxes.

How big should a gerbil cage be: Drinking water containers

Most cages come with a waterer, and it’s a good idea to install one when DIYing, because gerbils need to drink. Drinkers are generally designed with a stainless-steel bead on the front, so be careful to test for leaks when purchasing. Don’t take a bowl to hold water directly, because gerbils will wet their fur when drinking water or swim in it, so they will easily catch cold and get sick. If you don’t have one, feed your gerbil more vegetables and fruits.

How big should a gerbil cage be: Litter box

A plastic box with cat litter is a simple toilet. Remove the clumped litter every day or change all of it, depending on your personal hygiene habits. Gerbils raised by people who love cleanliness are also cleaner.

How big should a gerbil cage be: Bathing Room

Some gerbils will use cat litter to bathe in the toilet. Although it is not hygienic, it is the gerbil’s preference, and a bathing room is no longer needed. However, if some gerbils love to be clean, the owner should buy a bathing room for them, and put bathing litter in it to let the gerbils roll around and play holes as much as they want. The gerbil’s bathing sand should be disinfected, or the gerbil can be washed, sterilized and dried in a microwave oven, and mixed with talcum powder to make bathing sand for use. It is better not to use talcum powder directly because it is too irritating and can easily hurt the gerbil’s eyes.

How big should a gerbil cage be: Running Wheel

Most of the cages come with a running wheel, because wild gerbils have to run 20km a day, so a moderate amount of exercise is very important for gerbils, without enough exercise, gerbils will be stressed and fight with each other, bite the cage and other behaviors. So careful owners should give their gerbils a running wheel. At the same time, because nowadays the owners give their gerbils very good nutrition, they tend to make the gerbils over-obese, which can easily make the gerbils get cardiovascular diseases as well, so even the gerbils should have a normal and healthy body shape. Be careful when buying, you should choose a running wheel with no seams so that the gerbil will not be easily injured.

How big should a gerbil cage be: Wood shavings

Many materials are available for gerbil cage bedding, but most people choose wood shavings because they are cleaner and easier to get. Be careful when using paper bedding, do not use printed paper, the ink is toxic and gerbils can be poisoned.

How big should a gerbil cage be: Teething stones or sticks

Gerbils’ teeth will continue to grow, so a teething stick will be needed to grind down overgrown teeth.

How big should a gerbil cage be: Hutches

There are ceramic, wooden, grass, plastic huts, gerbils love them all, because gerbils are animals that love to live in holes, if you have the conditions, you should give gerbils a hut.

Gerbil food

1. Please don’t look at the gerbil too cute, give too much sunflower seeds or high calorie food, gerbils are easy to get fat, nutritional imbalance. Gerbils that are too fat are prone to heatstroke in summer, have excessively thick skin fat, and are prone to hair loss.
2. Sunflower seeds are sufficient for a Tuesday to four pieces! It can be used as a reward food for training gerbils.
3. Please do not think that gerbils do not need to drink water! Water must be supplied and changed once every two to three days.
4. Please do not feed too much fruits and vegetables at one time, as it may cause death by diarrhea. Most fruits and vegetables contain pesticides, so please wash them with water and wipe them dry before feeding.
5. Match the snacks with the main food, increase the number of snacks and decrease the number of main food. Don’t give too many snacks, as fat gerbils are prone to illness.
6. Please keep the feed and snacks in a sealed jar, or in the refrigerator, and discard any food that breeds insects and ants.

Edible Foods

Vegetables Green vegetables (e.g., green river vegetables), carrots, squash (green and yellow vegetables are preferred) Seeds Sunflower seeds, peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts (don’t give too much) Fruits Apples, strawberries, cherries, bananas, grapes (please don’t give too much because there is a lot of sugar) Grains Feed for chickens, feed for turtles, feed for birds, wheat, corn, millet Plants Clover, dandelions, kudzu, plantain Animal proteins Beef, chicken, boiled egg white, cheese, milk, yogurt, worms, dried fish for pets.

Amount of food to be fed

It is easy to supply gerbils with more or less food because gerbils have a habit of storing food and will get upset if there is less food. Therefore, if you find the food bowl is always empty every time you add food it means the food is added too little, and you should also pay attention to clean up the uneaten food in time, especially the fruits and other things with moisture to prevent spoilage.

Gerbils can be kept in a 50 cm square tank used for keeping tropical fish, with a cover made of wire mesh on top (it is easy to swelter in summer, so care should be taken). When using a wire cage, the gerbil grabs the wire and climbs upwards, risking a fall, so it is best if the cage is not very high and the wire at the bottom of the cage is removed and used.

Line the bottom of the cage with straw, hay, sawdust or strips of fine newspaper. Feeding tubes can be made of earthenware, preferably heavier. Some twigs can be provided for gnawing to prevent the teeth from growing too long. Nest boxes can be made of wood or paper, etc. Bird nest boxes can be utilized in addition to those that come with the cage. Line the nest box with hay, sawdust, newspaper, rags, etc.

Sinks do not scrape feet, but they tend to accumulate moisture, so be careful to keep them dry. Also, the sink is deep enough to put in plenty of straw, hay, and other cage substrate that will allow gerbils to dive in, put in dirt, and top with hay. Create a very natural environment where gerbils can dig holes for nests.

Drinking water can be done with a water feeder, mounted at an easy-to-drink height, and adding water to a vessel-type pitcher. Gerbils can be allowed to play with water in the summer, but don’t get the cage too wet. Gerbils have the habit of defecating in a fixed place. Put a litter box in the place where it often defecates and put urine or feces in it to make the litter box smell bad, so it will use it as a toilet. Don’t force the gerbil to use the toilet if it doesn’t need it, just clean the cage regularly.