How To Gather Your Gerbil Supplies

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

When considering taking on a gerbil for a first-time pet, it's important you get all your supplies first before bringing the gerbil into your home. Gerbils should be always homed in pairs or in small groups as they naturally depend on their companionship of their own kind as well as human interaction. First of all, you're going to need to find a suitable cage for your gerbils.

Gerbils should always be housed in large fish tanks like here. You can find large fish tanks in your local pet store or even visit your local recycling centers because many people throw away tanks so you can easily get one of these for free although second hand. You want to ensure that your glass tank has got a large meshed secure lid on top that provide ventilation and security against any predators in the house such as cats or dogs.

So once you've got your cage, then we're going to need to find suitable products to put in the cage. So, bedding for the gerbils, gerbils should always be bedded down on good quality organic soil. Never use wood shavings as this is going to often cause skinny sheers in your gerbils and if you've got any allergies or breathing issues, you may find this irritable.

So, please just stick to good quality organic soil. You can purchase this from many garden centers, so ask around and you'd be able to find something that suits your cost. Secondly, you're going to need bedding for them to take down into their nest area.

The best option is good quality sweet-smelling green hay and this should be meadow type hay. You can either buy this from your local farmer or shop, many pet shops stock a variety of types of hay, so do try out different types because that just adds variety to their diet. They will nibble on this and they'll also take this down into their nest areas, so put a good fresh handful in there everyday.

You then want to consider food. With gerbils, you can find many different types of food on the market in many pet shops. You'll find many of the common bases which are made up of all sorts of cereals and pulses and seeds.

It's a really good idea if you can collect a few different types of foods to make their diet varied and healthy. Avoid colorant foods, foods full of sticky sugary treats and any saltlicks mineral blocks. As long as you're adding the right diet, they're not going to require these.

You can find all sorts of natural herbs and dried products. They can have a small amount of good quality cat mix, dried vegetables, and different again, dried types of herbs and plants such as dandelions and plantain. These all can be available in all pet shops or you could even make this yourself but make sure you have checked out suitable and safe plants.

You don't need to purchase a food bowl for your gerbils. The best option is scattering. Scatter a small handful along the surface of the tank everyday and removing the old each day as well.

This way encourages natural behaviour of them to be able to forage and dig in for their food as they would be doing in the wild. When you go into the shop, you'll also want to look at different types of toys. Toys don't have to be bought.

You could use toilet rolls and cardboard boxes, shoeboxes, are all fine for them to chew and they will love burying them into the soil as well. Products which would be safe which you can get at most per shops are these natural chewed toys in tunnels. These are fantastic for their teeth and they love running through them.

You can also get alfalfa rings which can be hung from the ceiling of the cage and the gerbils will reach up and chew these. And again, it's a really good enrichment, it encourages natural behaviour and it's great for their diets. There are many types of tunnels on the market as well.