Not much difference! Boys move a little slower than girls when they're adults and will take a new partner more easily. Girls stay active and quick into old age.
Are pups easier to tame?
Yes and no. If adults haven't been handled much, they might not be as tame as pups. But pups are delicate and quick, so older gerbils can be better for new owners or young children. And like humans, pups' personalities can change, so a tame pup won't stay tame unless you handle it very regularly. A tame adult you choose from a shelter, breeder or pet store will stay tame with how ever much handling it is accustomed to.
If I adopt an older-younger pair, won't I have problems when one passes away?
Gerbils are social animals and need friends, so no matter which two gerbils you adopt, you will have to face re-partnering eventually. Older males are especially easy to introduce. Older females 2+ years old can't have babies, so we usually put an older female with a male. Starting with older gerbils often makes sense if your family includes young children, since a larger, calmer adult will be easier for the children to learn to handle. If you get males, you can promise the kids pups down the road when they've learned how to handle these gerbils.
I have a pair now, can I add a third gerbil?
No. Any bonded group thinks of itself as a clan and will reject (probably kill) any outsider. The only possible introductions are between two single gerbils, and a single adult and two or more young pups.
over-aggressive grooming accompanied by squeaking by the "groomee"
mounting behavior
aggressive posturing, where a gerbil fluffs up his fur and curls sideways, keeping his side facing his opponent (similar to a cat)
chasing around the tank with the victim running away
chasing with the victim leaping in the air
a "ball fight", where two gerbils roll in a ball like in a cartoon
Milder forms of gerbil-to-gerbil aggression can often be diverted with a new toy, box, or tube, or some playtime out of the tank. Overcrowding is a possible cause. Aggression is more likely among groups of three or more. Age can be a factor; fully mature gerbils (6 months) are more likely to become territorial. The scent of a female in heat can provoke aggression between otherwise peaceful males. One gerbil is normally more dominant than the other and this is not a problem for them unless it escalates to the point where someone gets hurt, called a declanning.
Aggression toward humans is highly unusual in gerbils. Gerbils who bite are more likely to be fearful than truly aggressive. See Biting.
The most common allergy in gerbils is a red nose. This section pertains to human allergies.
Anecdotally, gerbils seem to be among the least allergenic pets. In part this is probably because of their housing: a glass aquarium closed on all sides but the top. Generally, people who experience respiratory-type allergies when new gerbils arrive are allergic to the type of bedding or nesting material being used, to the dust crated by the beddding, or to some element in the food. If a family member has a history of allergies, we recommend buying small quantities of everything until you find a combination of products that works for you.
Other important anti-allergy measures are: (1) vacuum often to eliminate dust. Gerbils create a good deal of dust from their chewed-up nesting material. Certain beddings like Carefresh are especially dusty; (2) choose a peanut-free food if family members have peanut allergies. Read labels carefully as ingredients change over time. (3) keep gerbils away from drafty windows, fans, air conditioning return vents and other devices which spread dust all over.
People with allergy concerns are advised to borrow a friends' gerbils for a couple of weeks before committing to adoption. In some cases we can provide "ambassador gerbils" who can live with you while you determine if anyone is allergic.
The American Gerbil Society is a member organization of gerbil enthusiasts committed to high standards in breeding, showing, and caring for domestic gerbils. The AGS website is a definitive source for gerbil care information. Membership in the AGS is highly recommended for those who love their gerbils and wish to know more about them. The AGS sponsors two shows every year.
Barbering describes a nervous habit in which one gerbil chews the hair off the upper part of another gerbil's tail. Barbering rarely leads to actual injury; it is mainly a cosmetic problem. Stress and/or boredom are the usual culprits. Try additional stimulation in the form of chewables, toys and out-of-cage time. If this does not help, move your gerbils to a quieter place, limit handling by children, and eliminate any possible negative interactions with other pets, such as cats "hunting" your gerbils.
Gerbils enjoy a bath in chinchilla dust or sand, available in pet stores. Sand-bathing improves appearance by reducing oils in their fur. It is also a highly enjoyable activity. Bathing gerbils in water is not recommended.
Since gerbils do not appear visibly pregnant until the last few days of pregnancy and typically give birth quietly in the early morning, your first awareness of a pregnancy might be the soft chirp of hungry pink babies. Should you have the privilege of seeing birth take place, observe quietly. It is seldom necessary for a mother gerbil to require assistance.
This excellent photo essay on the birth process covers all the stages of birth through labor, delivery and cleaning up the pups.
If you do observe your female gerbil in labor for a very extended period of time (more than 8 hours) a call to your vet is in order. Labor can be stalled by low calcium levels, which can be boosted by administering a slurry of a ground-up Tums or Rolaids with a bit of water. This is given orally in a syringe. A female truly in danger will require a C-section, which is effectively a spay surgery. It is unlikely that most or any pups will survive a very extended labor, so brace yourself. But do seek help for the mother if she is in pain. This is one of the risks you accept as the owner of a breeding female. The chances of a mother gerbil needing surgery are in my experience less than 1%.
We define biting as an application of a gerbil’s teeth to your body which punctures or nearly punctures the skin or causes lingering discomfort. Nipping is defined as light, but noticeable, use of the teeth on your body with no actual damage or lingering pain. Because the likelihood, causes and treatment of nipping and biting differ, we cover them in separate sections.
Being Bitten
Serious bites from gerbils are quite rare, but very painful. Gerbils generally bite because they are fearful, in pain, smell the scent of an unknown gerbil on your fingers, or because you intervened in a gerbil fight. A gerbil can bite hard enough to be literally hanging off your finger. In this case, grasp the animal firmly with the other hand and open its jaws by squeezing lightly with your thumb and forefinger on either side where the jaws meet, then separate him or her from your hand.
Treating a Bite Wound
If you are bitten, clean the wound well, apply antibiotic ointment, cover and keep clean, and watch for signs of infection. A deep bite may hurt for several days. Indoor gerbils living a conventional lifestyle have a near-zero chance of carrying rabies. However, update your tetanus vaccine if it is not up to date after a serious bite.
Why Gerbils Bite
Most bites happen because of an identifiable cause, such as putting your hand into the tank during a gerbil fight, or picking up a gerbil that is badly stressed due to illness or fright. Occasionally, a gerbil will bite hard if it smells another gerbil on your hands. A gerbil who suddenly becomes a biter may be ill and in pain. If biting persists, especially if accompanied by other symptoms of illness, see a vet.
The rare gerbil who bites frequently was most likely badly mishandled and fears you. The simplest solution is not to handle the gerbil at all. S/he can live happily with a gerbil companion and no human interaction. When it is necessary to handle a serious biter, do so with gloves on.
Rehabilitating a Biter
Biters can be rehabilitated with patient and gentle handling. At first, handle the gerbil only with gloves on, or with your hand hidden inside your sleeve. This way, you will not be hurt and startle your gerbil further if she bites. If she chews on your clothing, puff air gently on her. Try to keep interactions brief and positive. Some biters seem to detest the feel of human skin. You may be able to train such a gerbil to jump on your sleeve and never touch your hand. Over time, your gerbil should come to trust you and will stop biting.
“Up and around” is a term we use loosely here - gerbils are not averse to slipping in frequent short “cat naps” during their busy periods.
Gerbils are neither strictly diurnal nor nocturnal, nor are they “crepuscular”, i.e., awake at dawn and dusk. Rather, gerbils cycle in and out of active and sleeping periods throughout the day and night. We have observed that they do, however, follow a typical day, or circadian rhythm, illustrated left. Pet gerbils are very sensitive to human activity, however, and yours will quickly learn at what times of day they have a better chance of being fed or played with. Their observations of your household routines may cause their patterns to vary.
Clan is a term used when discussing groups of gerbils and has two definitions. The "gerbil view" of clan is the group of gerbils with whom a gerbil lives peacefully. The "people view" of clan can be either the same as the gerbil view, or can mean the group of gerbils owned by an individual.
Examples:
"Wash your hands between handling different clans so you don't get bitten." (gerbil view)
"I am bringing several members of my clan to the next AGS show." (people view)
A coconut makes a snug, inexpensive and durable nest-box. Purchase a large coconut without holes, cracks, or score-marks. Drill a hole in the unindented end and drain the milk. Cut or drill an opening large enough for gerbils to enter. Place the coconut in a 200°F oven for 2 hours or until meat is dry. Chip meat out and wash with warm, soapy water. Let dry. If the coconut retains an odor, fill it with baking soda and let sit for several days, turning daily. Empty and wash again.
When gerbils were introduced to the US in the 1950's they came in one color only: Agouti. This is the gerbil's natural color, brown with black ticking, black eyes, and a white belly. In the years that followed their introduction, spotted gerbils appeared, followed by black. Today, gerbils come in a rainbow of colors.
The American Gerbil Society provides a complete set of color strips with both photos and descriptions.
Gerbils generally live together peacefully their whole lives. Occasionally, however, a fight will break out among them. This is called declanning.
If two gerbils declan, there is some possibility you can reunite them using the Split Cage Method. If your original group was three, keep the aggressor together with the gerbil that s/he did not fight with. As much as your instinct is to punish the aggressor, it will be much easier to find a new friend for the passive and gentler victim than for the gerbil that started the ruckus.
If you did not see the fight happen, the gerbil with wounds on his back and tail is probably the victim; the one with wounds on his face and neck is the aggressor. If one gerbil is very badly injured, take him to the vet. In any case, clean all wounds with clean, warm water, and apply Neosporin or similar antibiotic cream. Keep injured gerbils safe, warm and on clean, dry, soft bedding until they heal. See also Clan.
Understanding the reasons for the declanning may help you to reunite your gerbils. Some declannings are due to dominance disputes, where a subordinate gerbil suddenly decides he or she should be the boss and the former leader disagrees. These fights often happen as a younger animal reaches full, robust maturity - 6-10 months for males, 4-8 months for females. There may be a period of increasing aggression between the parties. If you have three or more gerbils, one may be the clear victim and one neutral. If a threesome is in the process of declanning, remember to take out the victim, not the aggressor. Leave the difficult-to-partner aggressor with the neutral gerbil and leave the gentler victim to be repartnered with a new friend. Trios and larger groups are generally less stable than pairs.
Fights that break out seemingly from no where with pairs of animals of the same age or those who've had no history of aggression probably result from a gerbil picking up a strange smell. A gerbils is so smell-oriented that she literally would not recognize her own mother if she smelled different. Smell changes can be hard to decipher after the fact but consider these possibilities:
Did you handle one gerbil and not the other, possibly after handling food, another animal, or any strange substance (cleaners, chemicals, ashes, etc.)?
Did you recently change the tank and dispose of all the bedding, not leaving any of the old nest behind?
Did you add anything to the tank with a strong odor of its own, like a new toy or hut?
Did you switch to a new type of bedding?
Is there any strong "background smell" in your home, like a fresh Christmas tree, painting smells, a brand-new carpet?
Did one gerbil get loose for a time, picking up strange smells from his explorations?
If you think a smell is the culprit, try a chinchilla sand or dust bath first. That may give them enough of a common odor to reduce aggressions. Some people dab a bit of vanilla on each gerbil. Separating the warriors into a split cage and switching sides frequently may be enough to re-familiarize them with their shared scent. Moving them from a room with a strong background odor will help.
It is very important to separate warring gerbils before the fight becomes deadly. Having an extra container and water bottle around - wire cage, kritter keeper, extra tank - is sound practice for all gerbil owners in case of a declanning emergency.
Degloving describes an injury in which the fur, skin, and muscle are torn off a gerbil's tail, leaving muscle and bone exposed. It is not uncommon, because gerbils have developed "detachable tails" as a defense mechanism. However, the tail will not grow back.
This type of injury can be painful. Signs of pain include squeaking, hiding, nipping, and carrying the ears back against the head. If your gerbil seems to be in pain, take it to an emergency vet. The vet will amputate the damaged portion of the tail and give the gerbil antibiotics. Your gerbil may need pain relief to recover.
If the gerbil acts normal, you can treat the tail at home and the damaged part will eventually dry up and fall off. To treat: clean wound with warm water and dab on antibiotic ointment a few times a day. Change the gerbil's bedding and use a soft, absorbent bedding that will not stick to the wound (Eco-bedding, Carefresh Ultra, or clean white printer paper shredded in your home shredder). Watch for signs of illness.
Diarrhea is one of the most serious symptoms of illness in gerbils. Normal gerbil stools are small, hard, dry pellets excreted fairly frequently. A stool which does not have a firm shape, smears, and is output more frequently than normal is suspect. The health of you and your family can be affected by illnesses, like salmonella and E. Coli, that cause diarrhea in gerbils. Also, gerbils' small body size and low moisture level means diarrhea can kill a gerbil quickly. Call an emergency vet or start an emergency course of ornacyline.. Wash hands after handling gerbils. If your gerbil dies before you can see a vet, remove the survivor from the tank, dispose of all bedding, and clean tank, water bottle, and any toys in a bleach solution.Quarantine the survivor from other gerbils for at least two weeks or as advised by your vet.
The core of your gerbils’ diet should be a high-quality commercial gerbil food, a breeder-developed formula, or a home recipe from a reliable source. Gerbil food should have 14% protein minimum. Many commercial formulas labeled “Hamster and Gerbil Food” contain less. These formulas are okay for hamsters, but gerbils need heartier fare. You may find better, quite suitable foods sold as "Rat and Mouse Formula". Avoid those with many green alfalfa pellets, which gerbils will ignore.
Patches and Jadis enjoying the evening's vegetable selection, zucchini.
Choose a commercial food that has a mix of grains and seeds, for example, both pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Formulas with a preponderance of millet seed are generally not of very high quality, although gerbils adore an occasional spring of millet spray, which you can purchase in the bird aisle. Corn is considered by some breeders to be second-rate nutrition, but some gerbils do enjoy it.
In addition to seed mix, your gerbil will enjoy and benefit from small amounts of timothy hay, green vegetables, and fruits. Add green foods to your gerbils’ diet gradually; at first, perhaps twice a week, gradually increasing to daily if you wish. Gerbils will happily eat bits and pieces of things intended for the dinner table: raw romaine lettuce, kale, beet greens, swiss chard, or spinach; cooked sweet potato or broccoli; a blueberry, strawberry, or bit of apple; even an occasional piece of cooked pasta, sauce optional. Things to avoid: citrus peels; raw potatoes; apple seeds; raw cabbage.
Save yourself some money and do not buy a bowl. Gerbils will simply fill the bowl with bedding. Dumping the food directly on the bedding means that they will find food when they dig, which is what gerbils do when they are hungry: it's an instinct. Bowls can even lower your standard of care, because it's too easy to just peek in and say, "Oh the bowl's full", when really they've picked out everything they want and hate the rest. Feeding your gerbils twice a day directly on top of the bedding makes you pause a moment, check their water bottle level, and see if anything is up. If you already bought a bowl, take it out put a plant in it.
Good Quality Food
Poor Quality Food
This high quality food features a preponderance of nutritious oats, both whole and milled, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and other small grains like flaxseed and lentils. This is a custom breeder-developed food.
This low quality food has only 10% protein and relies heavily on millet (which simply gets lost in the bedding), corn (low-quality nutrition), highly processed colored “biscuits”, and large pellets which most gerbils will scorn. Probably the only thing your gerbil will eat will be the sunflower seeds, meaning a too-fat diet.
Gerbil coat color is controlled by only six genes whose combinations are fairly well understood. The original (wild) color type was a brown with black ticking and a white belly, also called Agouti. Agouti gerbils have all dominant genes, A* C* E* G* P*. (The * symbol means that the second gene can be either dominant or recessive; its effect is overruled by a dominant first gene.)
Dominant and recessive are like blue and brown eyes. If one parent has brown eyes, you can have brown eyes. But with blue eyes, both parents must have blue eyes for you to have blue eyes. Therefore, blue eyes are recessive and brown eyes are dominant.
In gerbil genetics, capital letters are dominant and lowercase letters recessive. In the Agouti’s pedigree, all the letters are capitals so the Agouti’s genetics are all dominant. When scientists brought gerbils to the United States, breeders bred gerbils together until they saw new colors due to recessive genes. The first recessive seen was aa, which produced a black gerbil.
The table below describes the effects of the different genes on gerbil coat colors.
A, a
The a gene removes the white belly and the yellow from the Agouti’s fur.
C, cb, ch
The cb gene lightens the body, leaving the nose, tail, feet, and ears dark (colorpoint). The ch gene makes the body even lighter. The C gene leaves full color.
E, e, ef
E means that the ticking is left in the coat. While e reduces the black in the coat. ef reduces the amount of black plus the color of the fur fades as the animal ages.
G, g
G means not gray and g removes yellow from the fur and makes all the black in the fur gray.
P, p
P is black eyes and p means pink eyes.
Sp, sp
Sp means spotted, and sp means not spotted. Gerbils with Sp Sp die in the womb.
People, and even pet books, frequently assume gerbils and hamsters are similar. Hamsters themselves vary considerably, depending on whether you are talking about Syrian hamsters (right), or smaller dwarf (or Campbell's) hamsters.
Some things to consider when deciding between hamsters and gerbils are:
Hamsters are more strictly nocturnal; gerbils are more likely to be active when you are.
Syrian hamsters are strictly solitary animals and must live alone. Dwarf hamsters can live happily with a sibling. Gerbils are social animals and relatively easy to introduce to a new friend.
Syrian hamsters are more slow-moving than dwarf hamsters or gerbils, and may be easier to handle for very young children.
Hamsters produce more urine and need to have their cages changed at least weekly. Gerbils produce little urine and cages can be cleaned every 2-3 weeks.
Timothy hay is a safe and beloved treat for gerbils. They chew it, shred it, eat it, run around carrying it, and add it to their nests. Did you know that pikas, a high-altitude rodent in the Western US, cut and dry their own hay for use all winter?
Purchase high-quality hay bagged for small animals - hay can (rarely) contain straw mites. Inspect it for quality
before using it.
A handful of hay can sometimes be a good pick-me-up to a gerbil that seems a bit "off". Gerbils have highly convoluted digestive tracts that make it easy for a little bit of food to get wedged in and start to grow bacteria. I theorize that a nice dose of roughage pushes any bits of festering crud through. Whether it's truly helpful or just enjoyable and motivating for them, we feed hay regularly for these reasons.
Gerbils may also enjoy other types of hay available at your pet store. Alfalfa hay is a nice but very high in calories and protein. You may wish occasionally to feed alfalfa hay as a meal.
A female gerbil in heat exhibits a stereotypical behavior. She will dash up to her partner (including a female cagemate) and touch or nearly touch the other gerbil with her nose. Then she will dash to the other side of the tank and pause, turning her hindquarters toward the other gerbil, squatting slightly, and flexing the muscles on her back and hindquarters. A male will follow her and mate, whereas a female partner will most likely ignore her. Occasionally, a female partner will mount the female in heat, or the female in heat will lose her patience and mount the other gerbil.
I have read that female gerbils who do not mate will cycle into heat every four days, but I have not observed this pattern consistently among females housed with females. In the rare case where a male-female pair does not mate successfully on the first try, the female does seem to come into heat again in about four days. (Unsuccessful matings are so rare that I have had few chances to observe this!) Heat cycles of females housed together seemingly follow no predictable pattern.
Females in heat will occasionally become aggressive toward a cagemate. Extra toys and diversions may help. If your clan includes tanks of males, try to keep them beyond scent of females in heat, as this can provoke aggression between otherwise harmonious males.
The best housing solution for 2-3 gerbils is a 10 gallon aquarium tank with a lid, except in areas of high humidity, in which case some owners prefer a wire cage with a plastic floor.
If you ask your children or a pet store employee for a recommendation, chances are he or she will recommend one of the cute and elaborate plastic tube structures manufactured by Habitrail or SAM. These are very bad choices for gerbil housing. Wendy of Peeper's Pals Gerbil Adoption in Pearland, TX, explains:
Habitrails are impossible for a kid to clean and move around on their own.
They come apart easily, especially where the bars slide into the
plastic sides which leaves gaps the gerbils can get out of or get
stuck in. The plastic parts often pop off at the slightest touch,
again allowing escape. The gerbils will chew up the soft plastic
platform levels and will relentlessly chew the hard plastic tubing,
usually in the middle of the night and for hours straight despite
your tapping on the tube, bribing with treats or cursing loudly.
Gerbils will pee and poop all over inside the tube systems and these have
to be broken down and scrubbed weekly.
And the biggest issue with the
cages is that they allow way too many hiding places in the tubes
which makes for a shy or aggressive gerbil, especially one in a new
home. While this may not be true for every gerbil, I have
experience with many second and third hand gerbils that were placed
in a Crittertrail/Habitrail and became nippers or hiders after
behaving normally in a tank or wire cage.
My suggestion is to buy a tank with a tube topper if you just have
to have the tubes:
I buy Coast Cages or tank topper cages
and have hung the tubes inside the cages using pipe cleaners.
Crittertrails are more for hamsters or mice that won't chew, ingest
and destroy like gerbils will.
The most common symptoms of illness in gerbils are:
listlessness
change in temperament (e.g., biting, hiding)
diarrhea
weight loss or gain
fur loss, red or scabby skin
In general, assume any of the symptoms above will require your vet’s attention and do not wait. As prey animals, gerbils hide their symptoms as long as possible. By the time you notice they are sick, they are very sick. For more information on illness, see our article. Sick gerbils may require pain relief to recover.
Injuries are most likely to occur in pups. Most often injuries are accidental, involving a fall or being injured by a wheel. Occasionally a careless parent or older sibling can injure a pup.
Adult gerbils are most often injured during handling, or from being dropped.
Dislocations and fractures will cause an animal to favor that leg. Some swelling may be noted.
Splinting is impossible because the patient, or his parents or cage-mates, would simply chew off any split, possibly inflicting worse damage. Allowing nature to heal the injury is the only real option.
When to see the vet: if the animal stops eating or drinking or shows symptoms of illness, it may need pain relief in order to heal. Your vet can provide very effective medications for pain relief. You should also see the vet if any bone is protruding from the break site, or if the limb is twisted very badly such that amputation might be necessary.
Available under many brand names, a Kritter Keeper is a small plastic box with a detachable lid that is excellent for transporting gerbils or holding them briefly while their tank is cleaned. These can be purchased for $6-10 online or in pet stores. It is a purchase that you will eventually find useful, perhaps urgently, and if so you'll pat yourself on the back for having had the foresight to buy one. In additionl to the obvious uses mentioned earlier, Kritter Keepers can be useful for separating two fighting gerbils, or for restricting movement of an injured animal. Since you may well want one just to bring your gerbils home, go ahead and buy one. Buy size medium or larger, as anything smaller is too small for full-grown gerbils.
As with any purchase for pets, a few cautions are in order. Don't lift the Kritter Keeper by the handles, as lids are often difficult to secure and the contents, gerbils included, may crash to the floor. Don't leave gerbils in a Kritter Keeper around cats or dogs for any length of time. By simply shoving this lightweight carrier off a counter, a predator can cause the lid to pop off, freeing your gerbil to meet a tragic fate.
A male and female gerbil left together will, without doubt, mate. A female in heat will signal her receptiveness. The mating ritual usually takes place in the evening. The male will mount the female from behind; if she is receptive, she will raise her hindquarters to assist him. After a few seconds, each will "check" their undersides. Then the male will chase the female around and repeat the performance. This will go on for several hours.
Matings are nearly always successful and about 24 days later, the female will give birth to a litter of 4-8 pups. (If she is nursing pups already, gestation may take 30 days or more.) The male and female will mate again within a few hours of the birth. Do not remove the male right after the birth. Gerbil fathers are nurturing and helpful, and the mother may become distressed and neglect her pups if he is removed. Yes, you will be having a second litter. See Separating Gerbils.
Most medicine prescribed for gerbils will be in oral form to be given with a syringe. Since dosing gerbils is not likely to go smoothly every time, you might want to ask your vet whether it's better to give a little too much or a little too little, in the cases where administration is difficult.
To dose your gerbil, first get a solid grip on him as pictured below, left. Place your index finger across the top of his head with its tip pointing toward its nose, and grip him around the shoulders with your thumb on one side and your middle finger on the other. Your ring and pinkie fingers wrap around his belly. Then quickly flip him over, holding him gently but firmly as pictured right. Put the tip of the syringe in the side of his mounth behind the incisors and squirt the medicine in. If it is a large dose (more than .05cc) try to ease it in so that he doesn't choke. Keep your fingers clear of his teeth for your own safety. It looks difficult but with practice, it will become easy.
My vet prefers to "scruff" a gerbil but I don't find them very "scruffy" and prefer this approach.
Gerbils do molt. The molt from pup to adult sheds out their soft, fuzzy baby fur and replaces it with a smooth and sleek coat. Nutmeg gerbils change color dramatically, from a pumpkin-orange to a brown and black ticked coat. After that, gerbils molt periodically throughout their lives. I have never been able to establish a seasonal or periodic pattern to the molt.
During the molt, a visible molt line appears in the coat and moves as the molt progresses.
Gerbils will instinctively build a nest to sleep and hide in. Without a nest, gerbils feel exposed and stressed. Nest-building promotes bonds between gerbils and is an enjoyable and stress-reducing activity. Provide your gerbil with fresh nesting materials at least once a week. Do not give commercial "fluff" or cotton, or any type of cloth; the fibers can get wrapped around gerbils' toes.
Good nesting materials include:
torn up toilet paper or paper towels
printer paper and junk mail shredded in your home shredder
paper-based commercial bedding materials like Eco-Bedding®
a folded-up piece of paper
small boxes
Some gerbils also appreciate a small wooden house or coconut shell. Avoid plastic hideaways as they will be destroyed by chewing. Some gerbils, however, will only use a house as an "outhouse". Experimentation is the only way to find out what your gerbils prefer.
We define nipping as the application of a gerbil's teeth to your skin in a way that does not puncture the skin or cause lingering pain. Unlike biting, which is dramatic,
painful, and generally traceable to a specific cause, nipping is more of a bad habit that can have many possible causes and requires some retraining of your gerbil, and possibly of yourself.
Sometimes, gerbils will nip you simply because they smell something interesting on your fingers. This sort of nipping is usually preceded by lengthy, focused sniffing. If your gerbil is sniffing up your finger, don't wait around to be nipped! Move your hand away, wipe or wash it, and try again.
If your gerbil has picked up a nipping habit, start with the assumption that he or she is using a nip to express its displeasure. You must respond in two ways. First, puff air sharply on the gerbil's head to let your gerbil know you don't like nipping. Second, change the way you're doing things without rewarding the nipping.
For example, say your practice is to place your hand in the tank and wait for your gerbil to hop in your hand. After several minutes of running about, he gives your finger a nip. His message is probably, "I don't want to jump in your hand. Take it out of here." Answer this nip with a puff of air, and by scooping him up promptly and taking him out. The message: you will come out anyway, and I don't like nipping.
Sometimes a gerbil will nip while she is in your hand, perhaps as a way of saying, "I've had enough handling." Respond to this with a puff of air and by delaying putting her back for several seconds so as not to reward the nip directly with the desired behavior (being put back). But try to look at it from the gerbil's perspective too: are you ignoring her fair warnings that she's had enough? Gerbils will sometimes signal this by digging in your hands or bumping you with their heads - they are trying to dig their way out! Or, is she being handled too roughly, perhaps by an affectionate but clumsy child? A nip needs to be heeded as well as discouraged.
Read our secion on Taming for effective techniques to retrain nippers. Serious and consistent nipping can be rehabilitated in the same manner as biting.
Ornacycline is a tetracycline-based antibiotic available without a prescription, although it has started to become unavailable through some major pet store chains. It is generally sold in pet stores or on the Internet for use in birds. It can be used to treat respiratory infections and other bacterial infections in gerbils, but it should be considered strictly second-class compared to the antibiotics your vet can supply. Ornacycline is of no use in weaning pups with respiratory infections, as they generally are not drinking from the water bottle. It is also not effective with animals so sick that they are not drinking. Since these are the categories of animals most likely to need antibiotics, you will find few if any situations where ornacycline is your best bet.
If you decide to use it anyway, use the dosage for a small bird as described on the package, grinding the pills and mixing in water. Place the water in the gerbil's water bottle and replace every 24 hours. Use for a full 10 days, not 5 days as listed on the package [ full article ].
Severe illness or injury may require pain relief for your gerbil if he or she is going to survive. Being prey animals, rodents instinctively hide when ill or injured. However, this hiding also causes them to stop eating and drinking. For such small animals, even a couple of days of this behavior can render them so weak they die. As in human medicine, pain relief has been slow in coming to veterinary medicine, and it is especially unusual for vets to think about pain relief for small animals.
Gerbils respond very favorably to treatment with Metacam for pain. Metacam is a NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) labeled for use in dogs and cats. You give 1 drop per day of a .5mg/ml solution. You will almost certainly need to ask for this medicine, perhaps even providing the name and dosage for your vet. Insist on pain relief for a gerbil who is hiding and not eating or drinking. You may well save your pet's life. I have had many gerbils, degus and rats who survived illness and injury only because of Metacam.
Placing a litter of babies is generally not all that difficult, particularly if you have children and your children have friends. Be generous about letting your kids' friends visit and hold pups when they are small. Because gerbils need to be placed in pairs, the average litter needs only 1-3 families willing to adopt before you are done finding new homes.
This is somewhat complicated by the fact that the proper way to handle a male-female pair is to allow them to have two litters. (Gerbils mate the same day they give birth, so the female is pregnant again while she nurses her first litter; see Separating Gerbils for information how and when to split a breeding pair.)
Beyond shamelessly pushing gerbils on your kids' friends, here are some other ways to place gerbils, and their pro's and con's.
advertise through free, local, trusted sources such as church, school, day-care and teacher newsletters
online resources such as craigslist.com and www.hoobly.com and the petfinder.com classifieds run lots of animal ads, but beware of people searching for feeder animals or (in the case of larger pets) those looking for "bait" to train fighting dogs. Charge a fee of $5-10 per animal and insist on seeing a complete housing set-up including tank, water bottle, wheel, lid, food and bedding to defer people with less than noble motives.
local pet stores may accept animals, but keep in mind these cautions: not all pet stores understand the importance of introducing gerbils gradually, so animals could be injured; some pet stores give away relinquished rodents for free, making your beloved pups a free meal for someone's snake; and few pet stores insist gerbils be adopted in pairs.
ask the local librarian, dentist's office, pediatrician and others who have lots of young visitors if they have ever considered a tank of gerbils. Gerbils are rarely allergenic, have little odor and are awake during the day.
on a pleasant day, take your gerbils to the playground. They will be the talk of the town!
Sound crazy? Consider this: for $35 or so, you can get a set of shelving that will hold three tanks of gerbils. Get one with at least 15" of vertical space for each shelf - more is preferable so you can open the tanks without moving them. Tanks themselves are inexpensive, and many people have free equipment to give away (advertise on craigslist.com or freecycle.org to find equipment, maybe the shelves too!). You start out with mama and papa and litter #1 on shelf #1; at four and a half weeks or just before mama gives birth again, move dad and the boys to shelf #2, leaving mom and the girls on shelf #1 with litter #2; and five weeks later, move the second set of boys in their own tank to shelf #3. Place whomever you can, and stop worrying - you've got your own tiny gerbil farm!
Gerbil young are called pups. There are usually 4-8 pups in a litter. Pups are often born in overnight or in the early morning. Mother gerbils will generally handle the birth process themselves without difficulty. The father may move out of the nest for a few days following the birth but shortly thereafter will move back and take an active part in raising his children. Even if your litter was a "surprise" that you prefer not to repeat, do not remove the father after the birth of a first litter. You will have an opportunity to do so later on (although not before a second litter is on the way.) See Separating Gerbils. Consult the AGS Gerbil Care Manual for excellent advice on raising pups.
The first thought of the recently-bitten is "could I get rabies from my gerbil?" While technically any mammal can be a vector species for rabies, the chances of your gerbil being a carrier are diminutively small. Assuming your gerbil is a normal pet-store or breeder-raised animal who has lived indoors in a cage its whole life, it could only have contracted rabies if a rabid animal entered its home, broke into its cage, and bit it without killing it. Your chances of finding a winning lottery ticket on the ground are probably better. Ask your doctor if you continue to be worried, but your risk is very small. Updating your tetanus shot is a more practical response.
Some gerbils develop a red and irritated nose. Sometimes, the fur around the nose is also lost. The nose can get crusty, and may bother the gerbil so that she wipes or itches at it, making it worse. Light-colored or red-eyed gerbils, like blue-eyed blond people, often have the most sensitive skin.
Red nose is usually caused by a bedding allergy. Carefresh is the worst offender, but gerbils can be allergic to any type of bedding, or other nest materials, like toilet paper. Allergies may develop over time, so even if you've been using a bedding forever, a red nose means you need to try a new brand.
To treat the nose itself, put a thin film of Neosporin on the end of a Q-tip and wipe the ointment on the gerbil's nose, trying not to block the nostrils. She will probably wipe it right off, but keep applying it twice a day. Change the bedding immediately. Corncob bedding and shredded printer paper or Eco-bedding are good non-allergic alternatives. It may take a couple of weeks to clear up a badly irritated nose.
A badly irritated nose that will not respond to the above treatment and bedding changes may need antibiotics from your vet. This is a very uncomfortable condition for your gerbil, so don't scrimp on seeing the vet if home treatment doesn not help. Any vet, even one with little experience in rodents, will have the right drugs on hand to treat this.
Respiratory infections are most common in pups around weaning time (3-4 weeks) but can occur at other ages. The most obvious symptom is a "clicking" noise made by the gerbil as it breathes; it sounds like someone breathing through a stuffy nose. Other symptoms include labored breathing, listlessness, puffy fur, and reddened skin. Respiratory infections can be fatal, especially in pups.
There are two treatment routes. The recommended approach is to see your vet for an exam and antibiotics. The self-care approach involves treating the gerbil with ornacycline, an antibiotic available over the counter for birds. Additionally, warm one corner of the tank, make sure the tank is clean and odor-free, provide extra bedding material, and watch to be sure your gerbil is still eating and drinking.
The scent gland is a bald spot in the middle of a gerbil's tummy. It is more prominent in males than females and gets larger as the gerbil matures. Gerbils rub their scent gland across surfaces (or other gerbils) to mark them with their scent. If you see a gerbil dragging his belly along the ground, or mounting another gerbil from behind, you may be seeing scent-marking behavior. (Mounting can also be an aggressive action, or part of mating.) The scent left behind is imperceptible to humans.
Scent glands are susceptible to tumors, both benign and malignant. Often these can be removed simply by the vet. Deal with them early before they have a chance to metastasize.
Yes, gerbils do get seizures too. Just as epilepsy occurs in humans, it shows up from time to time in gerbils. The most often cases of it are very mild, though. Have you ever noticed that if you severely startle a gerbil in some way, like swooping down on a not hand-tame gerbil or taking a picture of a skittish one, your gerbil might seem to stop moving? Some gerbils remain stiffly upright, while others fall onto their sides. If you have seen this happening with your gerbil, it is probably having a seizure. Now, don't panic. Gerbils who experience mild seizures suffer no ill effects from them. Just try not to startle your gerbil too badly, but if you do, put it gently down inside its nest or wooden house in its tank. If you hold or stroke or kiss a gerbil during a seizure, it is extremely frightening to it. It feels like you might take advantage of its vulnerable state and gobble it up any second. Even though we would never do something like this, your gerbil doesn't know that. Putting your gerbil in its nest or house gives it shelter and makes it feel more secure.
Some gerbils, however, suffer from severe epilepsy. In all the years that I've been gerbiling, I have only seen one case of it. It's pretty rare, as I've only had my one case and heard of a few others. In severe cases of epilepsy in gerbils, your gerbil will frequently fall on its side, eyes staring and legs moving as if running. If this happens to you, stay calm. Your gerbil will be able to sense your tension if you start screaming or something. Pick it up gently (with gloves, just in case) and put it in its tank. Wait for a while. Most likely, your gerbil will come out of its state and stand up groggily. It will begin to resume its normal activities within, at the most, ten minutes of the seizure. Gerbils are very hardy animals. If your gerbil begins to show signs of epilepsy, don't worry. Gerbils who have seizures are basically just the same as regular gerbils. They run and play just like any other animal, and they are just as friendly as others. With the proper food, care, and taming, you won't even be able to tell the difference at a glance from a normal gerbil and one that has seizures.
when instructed by your vet due to contagious illness
you are separating a breeding male and female with a weaning litter
For the first two situations, read the referenced sections. If your vet has instructed you to separate the gerbils, you should do so. Ask if they can be in a split cage to facilitate re-introduction. In all other situations, leave happy gerbils together. They love and need each other.
A picture's worth a thousand words on this topic. Visit The National Gerbil Society website for a photo essay on sexing gerbils. Here's a terrific photo essay with a unique method of sexing pups.
Gerbil shows are like cat shows, but with gerbils. The American Gerbil Society hosts two gerbil shows a year: the Northeast/New England show and the Midwest show. Gerbils can be entered in the show, and are judged by color, conformation, and temperament. The gerbils are awarded first, second, and third place ribbons. Also, there are "Best in Show" and "Best of Opposite Sex" ribbons awarded to two first place winning gerbils.
In addition to the judging, there are other activities: the pet class, the raffle, and tables with gerbils and equipment to buy. The pet class is a place for kids to enter their gerbils in a fun, noncompetitive class. Everyone is a winner! The raffle is a fundraiser where people donate gerbil-related items to raffle off. And last, but not least, the tables are set up by breeders who have gerbils or items to sell or show off. They are all very friendly, and will be glad to help you. The gerbil show is a great place for gerbil people to congregate!
Pro's. The American Gerbil Society is the only US national organization for gerbil breeders and enthusiasts. AGS breeders agree to a code of ethics and have access to an expert community to help them maintain the highest standards of care. Should you be fortunate enough to live near an AGS breeder, it is unlikely you will find any other source as knowledgable and dedicated to gerbils and their care. Breeders, especially those that show their animals, should be able to tell you the parentage of the animals you are considering, their birth date, genetics, and family history. Ideally, breeders will be available to support you in the case your gerbils become ill, declan, or are left bereaved. Talk to breeders about what post-adoption support they can provide.
Some AGS members also rescue gerbils, so if you are inclined toward saving a life, you may be able to accomplish that goal as well.
Con's. AGS breeders are distributed sparsely across the country, so you may need to travel some distance to adopt from one. Distance might demand that you arrange a meeting-place outside the breeder's facility, which does not give you a chance to see how your pets were raised. While the AGS asks members to abide by a code of ethics, it is mainly a virtual organization which does not inspect, certify or guarantee any individual.
Not all breeders are affiliated with an organization. Anyone can declare themselves a gerbil breeder and advertise available animals online. Due diligence is important. With any breeder, try to meet your new gerbils in the breeder's home so you can see the conditions that they were raised in. You are entitled to skepticism about any breeder who refuses to show you his or her facility. Likewise, be cautious about a breeder who cannot convincingly tell you the names, ages, and lineage or history of the animals you are considering. Breeders who don't know their own animals may be having trouble keeping order in their kennels, which could be a red flag for health, care and socialization as well. A good breeder should talk about his or her gerbils like they are family members, because they are. A bad breeder, who has too many animals or breeds haphazardly, is as bad a source than the worst pet store, and even less regulated.
Few people even realize that gerbils end up in shelters, but they do, and often, mostly due to unintended breeding. Municipal animal control organizations also end up with gerbils that are confiscated during an animal hording or neglect case, or when they are abandoned by vacating tenants. Shelter gerbils represent a valuable and underrecognized source. You can easily locate gerbils up for adoption in your area on petfinder.org.
Pro's. Shelter pets will have been screened by a knowledgeable staff member and quite likely by a veterinarian. During their stay, they will be monitored for health and socialized by volunteers. They will be regularly cleaned, fed and watered. The level of attention and care in the shelter means your future pet will be a "known quantity" by the time you adopt it. Because unintended breeding is such a common reason for relinquishment, both young animals and adults are available. And there is no doubt you do the world a service in adopting an animal from a shelter, as it makes room for the next needy pet.
Con's. Supply is haphazard so pets may not be available when you want them. While gerbils are resilient creatures, animals in shelters may have been in some substandard situation that led to their relinquishment. For gerbils, the problems you are most likely to encounter are lack of socialization and lack of information about age. Inbred, "oops" litters of gerbils may lack color variety. Since some shelters deal with gerbils infrequently, their fees may seem out of line with prevailing prices. (Don't be afraid to bring this up - it is probably negotiable.)
Pro's. Pet stores are ubiquitous, even in rural areas and generally offer good color variety. There will be staff members available to consult (but see Con's on this topic). You should be able to get all your supplies and your animals in one stop. Pet stores will offer you the most flexibility, asking no questions and making the purchase as easy as possible.
Con's. It is easy and common to beat up on pet stores, and we don't wish to simply join the ganging, but pet stores have earned their bad reputation for a reason. Here are the major issues with buying from pet stores:
Lack of knowledge. The quality of staff in pet stores varies wildly, and most employees will act knowledgeable even if they know nothing about gerbils. Pet store employees usually do not know how to sex gerbils properly, meaning you may well take home a boy and a girl with the obvious consequences. As a rescuer, I have dealt with literally hundreds of animals who started as a pet store clerk's mistake. Likewise, they may know little about food, appropriate partnerings, socialization, need for companionship, bedding, suitable housing and supplies.. in short, they are likely to give you all the wrong advice and send you home with a lot of trouble. You may be able to spot imposters right away by how they pick up the gerbils: those who pick up gerbils by the tail literally do not know the first thing about them.
Some large chain pet stores have dealt with the sexing problem by selling animals of only one gender in each store and requiring distributors to do the sorting. While this is safer for the consumer than in-store sexing, it is by no means foolproof. And if you do relinquish unintended babies to the pet store later, they cannot be sold and must be give away for adoption - sometimes free - making them a prime candidate for a snake's dinner.
Health problems. Gerbils are fairly hardly creatures and are less likely to die shortly after purchase than a rat, guinea pig, mouse or hamster. Still, both the store and the pet distribution system, which takes animals from multiple sources and congregates them in dubious conditions, promotes the transmission of contagious illness (respiratory infections, salmonella) and parasites. Your eyes and ears should help you here, though: look for signs of illness such as puffy fur, half-shut eyes, wet bottoms, smeared feces in the tank, foul odors, missing or thin fur, or excessive scratching. And you must look beyond just the gerbil tank. If the mice or hamsters in the store look sick, those same germs are being passed by staff members between animals. No animal should be bought from a store where even one sick animal has been left on the showroom floor. The failure to notice the illness and quarantine the animal speaks volumes to the store's lack of knowledge and/or ethics. Tip: Check the feeder rats and mice especially!
Injuries. Managing gerbils' social needs can be inconvenient for pet stores. Those who don't know or don't care will carelessly mix new animals into established clans, resulting in fights and injuries. If you see gerbils with wounds or missing fur, who limp or have partial tails, or if you see mad chasing and running going on in the tank, this pet store does not know how to manage gerbil clans. Report the issue, then go elsewhere.
Lack of socialization. Animals in pet stores can come from any number of original sources, and many of those sources raise animals commercially, which means pups are not handled during their critical periods for becoming tame. Ask the pet store clerk to let you put your hand (or his, if you aren't allowed) flat on the bottom of the tank and see how the animals react. If they run in terror or nip you, decline. A well-socialized gerbil should at least calmly inspect your hand, maybe leaping over it to scent-mark you; at best, it will jump right in or climb up your arm!
No pups. For the animals' sake, it is better that they aren't sold in pet stores at 6-8 weeks; the average pet store gerbil is more likely to be 3-6 months old, regardless of what you are told. Very young pups could not withstand the rigors of distribution and would probably die anyway. But if you do want very young animals, you will not generally find them in a pet store.
Profit first. Some stores cut corners in ways that make it obvious they either don't know or don't care enough to give gerbils what they need. Look for these problems: too large water bottles (gerbils can't always move the ball in a 16 or 32 oz bottle); pine or cedar bedding; no nest box or wheel for exercise; overly crowded conditions; nursing mothers mixed in with animals other than her own female teen-age pups; poor quality food (all millet and sunflower seeds).
Supporting the Problem. When you buy pets in a pet store, you perpetuate the systems which lead to animals being sickened and injured in pet stores. Sadly it is that simple. If you do decide to buy in a store, buy in one where you can feel confident that you are paying for and promoting good care for animals.
Myth: Mom-and-pop is better than chain. I wish it were that simple, but I have been in independent pet stores so filthy and disgusting I wanted to cry (or call the police), and I've been in chain pet stores where by luck or good management, there are knowledgeable and caring staff members who actually stay a while. There just is no black and white; each store must be assessed on its own merits, and frequently, as staff, management and even ownership change.
Finding a Good Pet Store
Ask where the pet stores get their animals. Favor those who breed their own or say they get animals from local breeders rather than distributors.
Call local veterinarians, especially those who are reocmmended by gerbil-owning friends. Since a vet sees the sick animals, he or she will know how responsible and responsive a pet store owner is. Don't be satisfied by a sign hanging in the pet store - it is often required by state law. Find the store that a vet recommends.
Craigslist and similar sites have revolutionized the world of person-to-person transactions, and gerbils are no exception. These sites can be an excellent way to find animals at a great price - probably including their equipment - and help out someone who finds themselves unable to keep their pets. Do not even think about shipping gerbils - the cost of shipping legally by air freight is prohibitive and few people will do it correctly. Look only at local sources.
Pro's. Cost and the neighborliness of taking over unwanted pets are the main advantages.
Con's. Pets that are up for adoption may have already experienced a period of neglect, culminating in someone finally throwing up their hands and putting out an ad to place them. They may be undersocialized, in poor health, have mites, or be quite elderly. If you are good at reading people, you may be able to decipher how much of what you are told is truthful, but for the rest of us, you'll need to be able to size up what you are getting. Have some clue about sexing gerbils yourself especially if you are adopting pups from an "oops" litter - if the former owner couldn't sex the parents, he or she probably can't sex the pups either. Check the teeth; very old gerbils may have whiter rather than yellow teeth, the teeth may be too long or growing in strange shapes (malocclusion) which will lead to severe and immediate health problems. It can be very hard to walk into someone's home and then reject the animals based on what you see; you may also find conditions which upset you enough that you can't in good conscience leave them behind. Be prepared for all these eventualities before pursuing a private adoption.
Gerbils who do not know each other must be gradually introduced or they will fight, possibly to the death. The split cage method is a way to safely and gradually introduce two gerbils. The basic process is:
create two separate living areas within a tank, so that gerbils can see and smell but not touch each other
transfer the gerbils back and forth between sides 1-2 times per day for 3-7 days
when no further aggressive behavior is observed, remove the barrier and watch them fixedly until they sleep in the same nest.
Split cages can be constructed out of hardware cloth. If your intro is likely to be an easy one (like a pup and an adult male) you can try a simple and cheap but not-so-sturdy split cage like this one: [ article ]. If you are doing a harder intro, like any mature female to anyone else, you need a really reliable split cage. You can make a very good one this way. Remember you will need a split lid, too. Or you can purchase a “Coast Cages Mouse Condo” (right) [ from Coast Cages - the small one is very snug but does fit in a 10 gallon tank ]. Remove the plastic bottom and place the wire directly on the glass tank bottom with no bedding in the way as pictured.
When Are They Ready?
Side ways arching like a cat is an aggressive posture.
Building a split cage and finding a suitable companion are straight-forward and well-documented tasks. But judging the readiness of two or more gerbils for a successful introduction is somewhat more of an art. Your gerbils are hinting they may be ready when:
one or both gerbils sleep close to the divider
there is successively less scent-marking and agitation when gerbils switch sides
they show general disinterest in the other party
In a ball fight, two gerbils grab each other and roll about like cartoon characters. Not funny, though - this will be a fight to the death unless you intervene.
The best next step is a limited "walk-by" in a neutral area, like a clean tank or the bathtub. With heavy leather gloves at the ready, place both gerbils in the neutral space and watch their reaction. A casual sniff followed by exploring the environment is a good sign. Extended side-to-side sniffing in a "cat arch" position is a sign they are not ready, and things may quickly devolve into a ball fight. Chasing or mounting are also aggressive gestures. Try to anticipate a hostile situation and remove the gerbils back to their split cage before things go badly. If the first walk-by does not end nicely, do not despair. Just continue the split cage process of switching sides, with a walk-by every day or whenever you can manage it.
Once you've had a seemingly innocuous walk-by and the gerbils seem to be calm around each other, it is probably time to try an introduction. Choose a day when you can be home for several hours. You must supervise the gerbils closely until they sleep together in the same nest. If your schedule allows it, start your introduction in late morning or shortly before a time when your gerbils typically nap. Their natural rhythms will propel them toward nesting and sleeping, which will bond them. An evening introduction can go on for hours since gerbils are more frisky then.
On introduction day, prepare a new neutral tank if you have one. If you don't, start the intro in the bathtub or other safe area, sending a helper off to pull the split cage out of the tank only after you decide things look promising. (Here's where the Coast Cages divider is a great friend - easily taken out and just as easily returned.) Watch the gerbils carefully with your gloves on for the first few minutes. There will probably be a good deal of sniffing, some of it fairly rude by human standards, but as long as neither party objects, stay out of it. If the introduction degrades to chasing, mounting or a ball fight, separate them immediately.
Seeing your gerbils happy again is the reward for your patience.
Gradually add a few diversions to the introducing couple to give them something to think about except the scent of each others's behinds. A folded over piece of cardboard or paper cup to chew can allow gerbils to dissipate nervous energy. Avoid a tube or box where a gerbil can hide. Later, try reintroducing the wheel, but watch out that it doesn't become a bone of contention. As things settle down, add nesting material. Keep the room peaceful and avoid startling noises.
Once the gerbils take their first nap together, you should be home free. Still it's good to check on your new pair frequently for the first 24 hours to be sure no issues arise later. And consider giving them a "honeymoon suite" away from other animals and household commotion, perhaps in your bedroom overnight where you can hear the sounds of any scuffle that could break out.
It happens all the time. You went to the pet store, or responded to an ad in the paper. You brought home two cute boys or two adorable girls, and they spent a few weeks snuggling together and charming your family. All of a sudden, one morning, you hear an odd, tiny chirping sound and see a flash of pink in the tank. Yes, you've got pups! Now you have a lot of questions. Here you will find answers.
A full, white milk belly as shown by the arrow means mom is doing her job, even if she's busy around the house much of the time.
First, take a deep breath. Gerbils are wonderful parents and have excellent instincts. All they need from you is: some quiet time with their babies; a nice warm nest; plenty of food and clean water. Tear up some toilet paper and toss it in. This will encourage their nesting instincts. If they seem nervous and jumpy, you can move them to another part of the house, but generally it's best to leave everything as it was except as noted below. It is very hard not to check them frequently, but try to give them some privacy, especially from children. Perhaps decide on a family viewing twice a day, leaving mom & dad to do the work of raising babies mainly uninterrupted for the next 5 days.
The one disruptive but useful thing to do is to take out the water bottle and give it a thorough but quick cleaning. Wash it in the sink with dishwashing soap, using a bottle brush if possible. Take out the rubber washer and clean off any gunk with your fingers. Use a pipe cleaner to clean the spout. Rinse thoroughly and fill with cool water. And then do not let it run dry - ever during the nursing period. Gerbil parents almost never turn on their young, but a lack of water is one reason they will do it.
Consult the AGS Gerbil Care Manual for excellent advice on raising pups. It will explain everything you need to know about caring for pups, handling them, and what to expect as they mature.
Seems like a stupid question. You must have a boy and a girl, right? Probably. But not always. If you bought your gerbils in a pet store or even from a breeder, it's possible your new mother could have gotten pregnant by someone else, then placed with another female. So the next step is to sex your gerbils. The National Gerbil Society has an excellent article on sexing gerbils of different ages, or read this special photo essay on sexing pups.
If you adopted a single adult female who you now know was pregnant, plan to let her raise her litter and keep one or two daughters for her to live with afterward. Gerbils do not like to live alone anyway, so the pups have saved you the problem of getting their mother a companion. See placing gerbils for ideas on how to find homes for other babies.
If You Have Two or More Adult Females
It isn't a miracle. Your female got pregnant before you bought her. This happens often as young gerbils can be difficult to sex.
The non-mother could be a danger to the pups unless the two females are both quite young. If they were housed together where you got them, chances are good the non-mother will be a mother soon too. Consider splitting the family from the other female using a split cage.
If You Have a Trio or larger
These are complicated situations. Assume any other females are pregnant. If there is more than one male and only one female, the trio might be okay, but watch for fighting between the males the night after the birth, when the female will be in heat again. Contact us for help on the next step.
Superdad Young Sam builds a nest for his babies. Sam raised these babies alone from 3 weeks on after their mother rejected them.
Gerbil breeders universally advise: do not remove the father. Gerbil fathers are loving and helpful. They sit on babies to keep them warm and protect them while mom is out. They wash the babies and fetch them when they run off. They provide important emotional support and full-body massages to mom. There is just one downside to leaving dad in: he will mate with mom again the night she gives birth.
Most likely by the time you read this, it is too late - Dad has done his thing and Mom is pregnant again. So stop worrying, and leave Dad with his family to enjoy raising his babies.
As you have read elsewhere, your female will be pregnant again the day after she gives birth, so a second litter is on the way while the first is growing up. To get off the gerbil-breeding train, you will separate the male and female when their current litter is about 4 to 4½ weeks old. Watch the mother carefully from the babies' 4 week birthday. About 2-4 days before birth, she will finally look pregnant. This might be a gentle and attractive pot belly, or a larger pear-shape. Some mothers will look like they swallowed a bag of marbles. You will also notice that instead of laying in the nest with the babies nursing, she will lie down on her belly next to them, effectively cutting off the milk supply. At that point, separate the father and his sons into one tank, and leave the mother and at least one daughter in the other. The daughters will help their mother raise the next litter.
Even if you think you know for sure who was boys and who was girls among the pups, check again before you separate them. See Sexing for a link to helpful photos. You don't want to leave a boy with his mother and sisters and start the whole process again!
So you went to the pet store and picked out a cute pair of gerbils from the
pet store clerk who handled them so easily. Now you get them home, and rather
than happily come out to play, they run away from your hand in the tank, maybe
even give it a nip. You are going to need to tame your gerbil.
Making the transition from "will approach the hand" to "will jump in
the hand" can be very, very hard with a gerbil who was not well
socialized. To solve this problem you first must understand a basic fact of
gerbil motivation: gerbils are motivated more strongly by time out of their tanks
than they are by food rewards. While offering food treats to your gerbil may help boost your gerbil's opinion of you,
it is rarely enough to tame a gerbil. You will need to get them out of the tank and having fun
for them to become truly tame.
If you are a good gerbil wrangler and can lift a gerbil out quickly and unstressfully with
a two-handed "scoop", use that technique. If you can't, though, don't resort to chasing the gerbil around the tank.
This will make your gerbil less, not more, tame.
With very shy gerbils it is sometimes
actually better to just begin taking them out unstressfully, such as by lifting them out inside a box or tube.
Fast-forward Taming
Gerbils that approach the hand, super-sniff it, then nip it, are the
perfect candidate for this fast-forward taming approach. I think they
are basically saying, "Gosh I'd love to trust you that much, but I
don't, so please take that thing out of here."
Start by taking your gerbil out as unstressfully as possible.
Sit on the floor right next to the tank. Let her run around on you as much as
she does, or doesn't, want. She may try to leap
back into the tank. Let her. Then take her out again.
Repeat, using as short a cycle as she
is comfortable with. You will almost see the lightbulb go on - "gee,
this is fun, and I can go back in the tank whenever I want!" She might
jump in, turn around and stand up on her hind legs as if to say,
"Again!" See if you can work it so that on one return to tank rather
than leap back in, she runs back down your arm into the tank. Then leave
the arm in and see if she'll climb up. This will teach her she can have complete
control of this in-and-out pattern by using your arm as a ladder.
Be sensitive to the signals that she wants to be put back. Digging in the palm of your hand is
her way of asking for a return. Since it's a relatively polite way to ask, put her back when she does this. A nip is
a less polite way of asking. Give her a puff of air on the back of the head and say "No!" sharply. Hold her another
several seconds so that you are not rewarding the nip with a return to the tank. Then put her back.
I have seen untame gerbils learn
how to climb the arm tentatively in one extended session of this activity, and
with daily repetition, go from untame to tame and begging to come out in
just a few days. Not all gerbils learn to trust that fast, but gerbils are quick learners. Good luck!
Like all rodents, gerbils’ teeth grow throughout their lives. A young gerbil with plenty of cardboard and wood to gnaw on will probably have few tooth problems. However, tooth problems can appear if a gerbil’s teeth become too long, from insufficient chewing, or too short, from chewing on metal. Tooth problems are most often noticed when weight loss occurs. It is advisable to check your gerbil’s teeth fairly often. The bottom teeth should be fairly short and the top teeth longer. If the bottom teeth appear to be growing apart in a V shape, or if the gerbil cannot close its mouth fully, take your gerbil to the vet for a tooth clipping. Some vets allow technicians to perform this procedure at low cost.
If your gerbil is experiencing weight loss due to tooth problems, feed him or her a soft diet until the vet can make repairs or nature solves the problem. You can feed your gerbil many foods right from your table: cooked vegetables or meat, bits of toast, applesauce and blueberries are favorites. Avoid sugary foods.
Gerbils thump, or loudly stamp their feet, (1) as an alarm to other gerbils ("danger!"), (2) as an aggressive gesture ("stand back, stranger!"), or (3) when sexually excited. If there is more than one tank of gerbils present, the thumping may begin with one gerbil and spread to other tanks, who "send along" the message when they hear it. In each tank, one gerbil usually thumps while the others listen and/or hide.
This advanced scent gland tumor is scabby because the gerbil is biting at it.
While gerbils are not as prone to tumors as rats, they are not uncommon. The most common type of external tumor is a scent gland tumor, which begins as a small lump or skin flap on the scent gland but over time and with the gerbil picking at it, will probably grow to a large, crusty mass. You should have your vet examine any growth on the scent gland. Small tumors can often be removed, preventing metastasis. Some growths can start benign but turn malignant.
A rarer type of external tumor is a melanoma, pictured below.
It appears as a hairless bump, not weepy or irritated, but it will grow. The melanoma pictured was removed by amputating the tail in order to prevent its spreading.
Melanoma on tail. Photo courtesy Ben Bowers
Internal tumors are not uncommon in mid-aged to older animals (1½ years or later). Sometimes, a lump can be felt or seen in the gerbil's abdomen. More often, it is not noticed until the animal's general health has declined. Animals with internal tumors will lose considerable weight and gradually weaken until they cannot move around or care for themselves. At this point, humane euthanasia should be considered.
Occasionally a gerbil will seem to gain weight rapidly; this can be a tumor or an ovarian cyst. In some cases, a cyst will correct itself and the animal will recover.
When and whether to see a vet is one of the most common questions we hear. Here are what we consider honest and
realistics views on taking your gerbils to the vet.
Do Gerbils Need Vets?
In keeping with their easy-to-keep, low-cost natures, gerbils do not need routine vet care such as shots or checkups. However, every living animal can get sick, and when sick, feel poorly. Gerbil owners, like all pet owners, may face the need to seek veterinary care.
Seeing the Vet
Gerbils are very small and the medical issues that can be treated are limited. However, vets can often very successfully treat intestinal or respiratory infections with antibiotics. A very severe tail degloving may require surgery, but broken bones cannot be set. However, gerbils and other rodents do recover much better from injuries when they receive pain relief. If a bodily injury is causing your animal to hide, nip or stop eating, visit the vet and insist on pain relief, such as Metacam. Small tumors on the skin, ears or scent gland can be removed and can lengthen your gerbil's life. Abdominal tumors are generally inoperable or realistically, too expensive to treat. Some vets will not operate on older or infirm gerbils due to anesthesia risks. Gerbils are lingerers, so a very sick gerbil may need euthanasia in order to avoid extended suffering. See Finding a Vet.
Not Seeing the Vet
There are some good reasons not to see a vet, as we've listed above. Here is a VERY BAD REASON for not seeing a vet:
I can't see spending money on taking a gerbil to the vet when there are people [ starving / dying / without health care] in [ any location in the world ].
The problem with this view is that it is just as injust as the wrongs you claim to deplore. No matter where you place the responsibility for those in the world who suffer or hunger, only you have responsibility for your pet. Your pet's suffering will not make the world a better place, nor will it set a good example for your children, who will see right through your rhetoric to the fact that while Midnight is painfully dying, the world is not getting noticeably better. I would argue that you are making it worse by callously allowing suffering that you could prevent.
If you feel that someone must sacrifice in order to improve the lot of others, let it be you who sacrifices, not your pet. Pack your lunch for a month instead of eating out. Walk, bike or take the bus to work instead of filling your tank. Clip some coupons. Postpone clothes-buying. Cancel Cable TV. Make the sacrifice on behalf of other people come out of your hide, not your gerbil's.
Any commercially available 4-8 ounce bottle should work for gerbils. Gerbils housed in an aquarium will also need a metal holder from which the bottle will hang. The main considerations are size and material. The trade-off on size is that a smaller bottle is better if it will encourage you to change it more often. A larger bottle is better if you know you will not get around to it. The most important thing is that it not run dry.
Some gerbils are relentless water-bottle chewers. If one of your gerbils is a water-bottle chewer, position toys so that the gerbil cannot use them to climb up. Keep the water bottle high enough the she cannot sit on top of it (but low enough that she can drink). You may be forced to move up to more indestructible bottles and holders. See our article on choosing a bottle. If you have a water-bottle chewer, keep an extra bottle on hand so that a destroyed bottle is not an emergency. In a pinch, a soy-sauce bottle (carefully washed) will hold a water-bottle spout and fit in an 8 oz. holder perfectly.
Gerbils love wheels, but they can be dangerous if you don't know what to look for. The criteria is simple: the wheel has to be solid plastic or mesh. (see picture) This is so the gerbil's tail doesn't get caught in the slats. If it does, it will break off. That's very painful for the gerbil and expensive for you to get it fixed!
People also often get the wrong size wheel. You should get an 8-inch wheel, not a 4-inch wheel. 4-inch wheel is designed for mice, not gerbils. Even though it may look like the right size for baby gerbils, your gerbils will soon outgrow it.
Gerbils enjoy a bath in chinchilla dust or sand, available in pet stores. Sand-bathing improves appearance by reducing oils in their fur. It is also a highly enjoyable activity. Bathing gerbils in water is not recommended.
When gerbils were introduced to the US in the 1950's they came in one color only: Agouti. This is the gerbil's natural color, brown with black ticking, black eyes, and a white belly. In the years that followed their introduction, spotted gerbils appeared, followed by black. Today, gerbils come in a rainbow of colors.
Degloving describes an injury in which the fur, skin, and muscle are torn off a gerbil's tail, leaving muscle and bone exposed. It is not uncommon, because gerbils have developed "detachable tails" as a defense mechanism. However, the tail will not grow back.
People, and even pet books, frequently assume gerbils and hamsters are similar. Hamsters themselves vary considerably, depending on whether you are talking about Syrian hamsters (right), or smaller dwarf (or Campbell's) hamsters.
A male and female gerbil left together will, without doubt, mate. A female in 
Gerbils do molt. The molt from pup to adult sheds out their soft, fuzzy baby fur and replaces it with a smooth and sleek coat. Nutmeg gerbils change color dramatically, from a pumpkin-orange to a brown and black ticked coat. After that, gerbils molt periodically throughout their lives. I have never been able to establish a seasonal or periodic pattern to the molt.
Ornacycline is a tetracycline-based antibiotic available without a prescription, although it has started to become unavailable through some major pet store chains. It is generally sold in pet stores or on the Internet for use in birds. It can be used to treat 
This is somewhat complicated by the fact that the proper way to handle a male-female pair is to allow them to have two litters. (Gerbils mate the same day they give birth, so the female is pregnant again while she nurses her first litter; see 
Gerbil young are called pups. There are usually 4-8 pups in a litter. Pups are often born in overnight or in the early morning. Mother gerbils will generally handle the 
The scent gland is a bald spot in the middle of a gerbil's tummy. It is more prominent in males than females and gets larger as the gerbil matures. Gerbils rub their scent gland across surfaces (or other gerbils) to mark them with their scent. If you see a gerbil dragging his belly along the ground, or mounting another gerbil from behind, you may be seeing scent-marking behavior. (Mounting can also be an 
Gerbils who do not know each other must be gradually introduced or they will fight, possibly to the death. The split cage method is a way to safely and gradually introduce two gerbils. The basic process is:
Gerbils love wheels, but they can be dangerous if you don't know what to look for. The criteria is simple: the wheel has to be solid plastic or mesh. (see picture) This is so the gerbil's tail doesn't get caught in the slats. If it does, it will break off. That's very painful for the gerbil and expensive for you to get it fixed!