How To Choose Gerbils Cages

Hi, my name's Marie. I'm the deputy manager of the Small Animal Department at Wood Green Animal Shelters. I'm going to tell you how to care for gerbils.

I'm going to tell you how to choose gerbil cages. By far, the best option is a large glass aquarium to house your gerbils in. Hamster cages with the metal bars and plastic ones are never suitable for gerbils.

The hamster type of metal bars can often be quite dangerous as gerbils do like to dig burrows and they can often catch their legs and their tails in them and of course, they're quite nasty injuries. The plastic type cages such as Rotastak and many of the different hamster cages or plastic bases will often be destroyed very quickly by gerbils. They are king chewers and will often chew the plastic tunnels down very very quickly so they're not secure.

The best option as I mentioned is a large glass tank. Ideally, aim for tank around 3 to 4 feet in length and this should be filled with organic soil. As you can see here, currently, it's only around a few inches.

But ideally as you fill up the tank, fill it about halfway, pat it all down and this way, the gerbils can really create lots of tunnels and maces underneath the ground. Gerbils naturally burrow and dig and do live underground so this way, they are able to express their natural behaviour as these gerbils have a little dig around here. What you need to do is you will need to clean them out, the soil out, around every 2 to 3 weeks.

However, please make sure everyday that you do remove any soiled bedding and old food from the top each day and top it off with fresh toys such as toilet rolls, cardboard boxes and any natural treats as well. Also with your glass tank, it's really important that you have a suitable mesh top. This will protect them from any predators, cats and dogs in the home, from getting in the tank but also provide plenty of ventilation in the tank as well.

Never use a glass lid with this setup. Make sure it's always mesh. You'll also need with this type of setup a hanging water bottle.

You need a water bottle with a top on the end like that so it can be hung in the cage. You can't place a bottle completely into the cage, again, because gerbils will chew it. The best option is to hang it from the middle so they can't get a grip on it.

But always have a spare water bottle as there is a chance they are going to chew it at some point. Make sure you're cleaning your water bottles out every week to prevent building up of any bacteria and lastly, never feed your gerbils by a bowl. Always scatter feed.

Again, this encourages natural behaviour so they can forage for their food. It can be a mixture of different types of gerbil dry mix and also all sorts of dried herbs, small amounts of cat biscuit and even fruit tree branches. So keep their setup as natural and as fun as you possibly can and you have happy gerbils.

And that's how to choose a gerbil cage. .