This section will provide information on:

The Water bottle
Quarantine
Bathing - Sand Baths
Tank Cleaning
How I clean my tanks

 

The Water Bottle!

This can often be a site of arguments, especially when water has ran out unknowingly and you refill it... The gerbils then realise that water is back and WHAM!! All hell breaks loose.

*laughing*

Ok, so hell doesn't break loose, but you end up with a number of gerbils all fighting over the water bottle. In some tanks, the Gerbils just crowd round, and I can have three all drinking from the same bottle... However, there's one tank, namely Siena's tank there this just doesn't happen. Perhaps it's because the bottle is hanging from a holder, I'm not sure...

Anyway, here are some fun photos of the Gerbies arguing over their water...

Saffie takes the more direct approach and literally forces Siena out of the way.

Check out the drop of water on Nairobi's head!

Quarantine

It is very important that, if you have any other animals, or gerbils that you must quarantine any new gerbils for 2 to 3 weeks before introducing them to your pet room, or area where your other gerbil/hamster/mice etc are and they must be housed at least 2 doors away. This is because the new Gerbils could be carrying some sort of bacteria or mite. You must also practice excellent hygiene, by washing hands etc in between handling of any pets, it is best to use an antibacterial wash or an alcohol based disinfectant spray.

I understand that not everyone is a breeder, and should not worry too much about any problems, but if you have more than one tank/cage of animals then you must do this. I use an alcohol based spray each time I handle any pets including the hamsters, which kills E.Coli, Salmonella and other dangerous bacteria, it is used by nurses in hospitals in between patients and it dries within seconds.

Any breeders who acquire a new breeding pair from a petshop/breeder must also practice quarantine, not only for three weeks, but for the first two litters. If any pups suffer from Diarrhoea, then they should be taken to the vets and swab samples taken for E.Coli Even the pups that show no signs of illness, must be treated as it is easy to be a carrier, as some gerbils can build a resistance to the bacteria but still carry it in their gut and therefore pass it on through their faeces.

Bathing - Sand baths

Occasionally you may notice that your Gerbils are looking greasy or their fur is looking dull - this is the time to give them a sand bath, the sand to use is Chinchilla sand - not the Chinchilla dust, this can be too dusty and cause breathing problems. You can also use children's play sand, but this is more coarse and can damage the fur if used too often. The Children's play sand will also have to be baked first before use, as it may contain mites or other bugs.

Chinchilla sand is usually available from most pet shops, you can use it whenever you feel they need it. I tend to let my gerbils bathe quite often, usually every other day, or every day as they are show animals the sand helps keep their fur shiny and sleek, but this is not needed if you do not want to give it every week.

You may also hear of people keeping gerbils on sand, well I currently house Miette on Chinchilla sand, this is because it is suspected that the dips may have allergies to shavings as it seems to be running in the lines. Now, I would advise against using children's play sand as a permanent bedding substrate. This is because most children's play sand contains silica, which is known to be cacogenic and can be dangerous if used for prolonged periods. If you do wish to keep your gerbils on sand, make sure it is safe - usually reptile sands are silica free but more expensive. Sand is also cold to live on, it does not retain heat well and so extra warm bedding is needed.

I put the sand in a plain old dog food bowl, some people use empty biscuit tins, flower pots, bowls etc.

 

 

Tank cleaning

Depending on the home you have for your gerbils, they will need cleaning out more or less often. If you have a cage, then it is likely they will need cleaning out every 1-2 weeks. If you have a tank with little bedding in, then again, they will need 1-2 weeks, however if you're like me and give the tanks between 15-20cm of bedding, they can go a month without cleaning - I do do spot cleans, like taking out bedding as the amount of card they chew can add A LOT of extra depth, I will also keep providing plain paper and toilet tissue for their nests.

As for bedding material, it all depends on your own preferences... If you're in the US, then you may very well wish to steer clear of pine or cedar shavings. Some people have problems with their gerbils being allergic to the phenols secreted by pine and cedar. This results in a gerbil with a red nose and watery eyes, they may even have difficulty breathing, and young pups can get respiratory infections which need treating with Baytril from the vets.
Thus, a lot of people prefer to use corncob, carefresh, carefresh ultra or Aspen bedding. However, allergies to these beddings have also been known!

In terms of breeding, if you have ANY gerbils suffering from an allergy or respiratory infection you MUST stop breeding from them, this is because it is likely a genetic predisposition, just like humans having hay fever or asthma - this often runs in families. If people don't breed from animals that have these problems then it is not passed on and therefore all gerbils are healthy. After all, that IS what you're breeding for!! HEALTHY animals!

As for the UK, common wood shavings are fine, as they are often made from spruce, a much less aromatic and slower growing wood. It is also thought that they are not treated and so do not have as strong smell as that of US products. In the UK, it is also much more difficult to get hold of things like carefresh, it is expensive for a tiny bag and, for me it is too dusty and so I use it in little amounts and I usually give it to the hamsters. Corncob and Aspen are also just about nonexistant, I recently bought some corncob off an internet website, it was £9!!!! and wasn't even a very big bag... I'm yet to use it, as I haven't used up the wood shavings yet. But I doubt I will use it for all the tanks, as it simply isn't soft enough.. But we'll see.

By far the best bedding around in the UK, is megazorb, this is a paper based horse bedding. However it is very difficult to get hold of too, and I still haven't managed to get some. I know a place that does sell it but it's about 20 miles away... Just need my mum to take me there, buy a few sacks so I don't need to go too often. However, the supermarket, Morrisons sells a paper based cat litter, which is exactly the same as megazorb, so I'll be off to buy myself some of that and see how things go.

Aubiose

I recently tried out a type of horse bedding, called Aubiose. It is hemp based, and made from the young shoots of the plant, I have been reading excellent reviews from the mouse forums, and this rather than being green as most hemp bedding is, it is actually white and so does not stain your gerbils at all.

So I have tried it out, and so far it seems fine, my only problem with it, is that it does not smell as fresh or as 'nice' as basic wood shavings do. So we still add a small layer on top of the Aubiose to give it a nicer smell.

Here we can see the two different layers, Aubiose is on the bottom.

Aubiose in the nest chamber.

In all I would not advise against Aubiose, and in the future I may return to it again, but I think for my next bedding I'll buy, I will be trying out easibed, which again is a horse bedding, meant for both horses and small animals. It is wood and has been kiln dried and dust extracted, so it should not cause any problems... I'll see how that goes, as it is cheaper than the Aubiose and I think it comes in a bigger sack. The Aubiose is £7, and the Easibed is I think £5 or £6.

After using the Aubiose for a few weeks until next change I'm of the opinion that I won't be using it again, this is mainly because;

a) It's pretty dusty, and seems to be fibrous, this I think is what's causing my allergies to start up when handling the bedding

b) It doesn't seem to hold the urine well enough and really stinks!!! Like, really bad!! So this smell becomes all fusty and compost like, really not nice. And even with my mountains of bedding I give, it does not last as long as wood shavings, so I am having to clean tanks more frequently, costing more.

It does however seem to be fine for the hamsters and perhaps other animals that do not dig too much, I noticed it was only the Gerbil tanks that ended up with a mountain of dust on the top, where as the hamsters didn't have that problem because they generally do not dig. So for gerbils it's a no-go but hamsters, mice etc it is probably fine.

Easibed

I've now used Easibed in the tanks I have cleaned most recently, so far things are going well and it's not dusty at all (dust extracted) it has a nicer smell, like that of wood shavings compared to the composty smell of the Aubiose. Hopefully it will last the same as wood shavings and it will not reek. I guess I'll have to see how things go, and if it doesn't last as long then I will have to try a wood shaving from the horse centre.

 

How I clean my tanks:

Now, when I clean the tank I put the Gerbils somewhere to sleep like a carrier, I also put some of their old bedding in the carrier to allow them to sleep whilst I clean out the tank... The old bedding also serves another purpose as I will mention later on.

Next step is to struggle downstairs with the massive tank!

*laughing*

You can always empty all shavings into a large bag, bin liner etc, a good tip is to then vacuum out the dust left by the substrate, I then use a small animal antibacterial spray. This is to hopefully kill off any bacteria or other nasties that might be in the tank. I then wet a kitchen towel and wipe down the tank to get rid of any residue from the antibacterial spray and leave to dry and air for a little while, meanwhile cleaning the water bottle, and any other things that need doing for the tank.

Now it's time to add in the furniture for the tank...

 

In the above photo you can see the basic structure of the tank, there is also old bedding left in there... Well the reason for this is because Gerbils have been known to fight right after their tank was cleaned, this is due to things not smelling right, so by keeping old bedding in there you keep the scent of the colony!

After, the fresh substrate is added in, and voila you have a beautiful environment for your gerbils to dig and build tunnels in!