I can relate to this one-first hand. I work with a lot of animals and I
would never come up with the idea to put the gerbils outside. I do have many
cages outside. I rehabilitate wildlife and I can tell you first hand, cages
must be built to specifications as wildlife has a state and federal report on
each one you take in and escaping out of your cage is definantly not what you
want to go on this report. Many cages must be built up off the ground for
safety of the young animal as well as a clean factor. These animals must be
cleaned more often due to animal waste along with weather elements (wet
bedding etc...) Cages built outside can be quite expensive. I have all of
my cages outside covered in hardware cloth (small wire) which here is
expensive by the roll. I have some cages which are doubly covered in this
cloth. Some small animals I work with have high stress factors and animals
that roam around in the wild in the middle of the night can cause these caged
animals instant death just from the stress of them being outside. Gerbils
are not what I would deem as being adaptable to being an outside animal in
our environment. Hawks, Foxes, Raccoons, Snakes, these are all animals that
are well know for getting into cages that you think may be built well but
find out aren't. We are trained by wildlife experts for the safety of these
small animals we get in to rehabilitate. As we are mother to them when they
are in outside cages we can not be there all the time so therefore must
ensure their safety in other ways. Please consider this before you place
your gerbils outside, I wouldn't if it were me. Regards, Ginny, State and
Federal Wildlife Rehabilitator from Virginia
