Toys

The best type of Gerbil toy is anything other than plastic. I know most shops sell plastic things for small rodents but the sad truth is that they're really no good for a Gerbil. Most plastic toys have no chance against a Gerbil, they will just chew away at it and will aslo even eat the plastic, which could cause serious damage and internal blockage resulting in death...

I usually give them wooden things to chew on so their teeth don't get too long, plus they can also scratch at it, which will also keep their nails down a little.

Plenty of wooden things for the Gerbils to chew and scratch at.

Cardboard boxes and toilet roll tubes are fine. If you are going to give them a box it is best to use a box that has no print on it, or a human food box as the inks should not be toxic. So things like cereal boxes are fine.

Dakota chewing on some paper

Wheels are also an excellent form of fun for the Gerbils, it gives them plenty to do as well as keeping them nice and fit. You may notice that I don't have any wheels in my tanks. Well this is generally due to there not being enough room in there. So instead I have to take the Gerbils out and let them run around for an hour or so every night on the bed while I watch TV during the night and sometimes the day. I like to give my Gerbils plenty of bedding for them to dig in, this hopefully makes their home as close to the wild as possible.

For example, look at the picture of the tank below;

They quickly learn how to form tunnels using objects in the tank by digging under them. I feel only putting a small amount of bedding in, like a couple of centimetres simply isn't enough. But if you prefer to use less bedding and have a wheel in there instead then that's fine too. It is possible to hang a wheel upside down from the roof of the tank, so that is always an option, but as you can see in the image the boys have piled the bedding so high that even that isn't really an option for me.

Most people would advise against giving Gerbils any materials or cloth as they could easily choke on the fibres, especially if you have any pups. Paper is also a possible to give to your Gerbils, as well as toilet paper. A lot of people use toilet paper as bedding, just the really cheap stuff as you don't want the really soft type as they might have chemicals on that could cause your Gerbils illness and you also want paper that isn't very dusty. I often give the Gerbils a tissue for their bedding or a sheet of uncoloured paper.

For example here is Dakota chewing up some tissue for his nest:

You can also hang things in your tank... I hang cardboard tubes, using wire, the gerbils often jump into these:

Here is Roma and Dakota exploring a new canary basket I put in their tank... It didn't last long before they chewed, it but it wasn't expensive and it gave them something to do for a few days!

Tubes and wooden log bridges

Using wooden log bridges or some sort of tube can really help give your Gerbils something to form their tunnels around, in most tanks they have either a metal sprial tube and/or a wooden log bridge, where they will nest etc. The metal spiral tubes come with the Gabbers, and are meant to connect to a plastic shelf they supply - I remove this plastic as it is not safe as the Gerbils will just chew at it and if they were to ingest the plastic it could cause serious problems. The wooden log bridges are made by different companies, I have bought them from superpets, called fiddlesticks and from living world where they are called logs. Superpets make the crittertrail series of cages, and living world makes the space stations, and safari park cages (not sure if they are the same company or not though).