>I think that my gerbils are not eating enough. To me it seems like they eat
>very little. Do you think that they don't like their food?
If you are offering an ounce to an ounce and a half per animal
per day, they are getting enough to eat. What do you feed? A
good grain mix (not just pellets) offered every day, and they will
attack it as they feel like. <g>
>They have also attacked more of a plastic ladder. Is this through boredom?
Gerbils chew everything. Cardboard is not enough to keep their
teeth worn down either. They need a chunk of apple or pear wood,
or white pine. In apple or pear, I used peeled branches about an
inch thick, and pieces about 4" long. In white pine, I use dimensional
lumber (2x4 chunks) that are clean-no surface treatment, paint, or
pressure treating. I remove slivers and offer a piece about 3-4" long.
>They have cardboard in with them the whole time, but sometimes they finish
>it before I get back from work and so they start on the ladder.
Gerbils gnaw voraciously. If it is in the cage they will gnaw on it.
You will probably have to replace that ladder with something metal
(metal cage ladder from a pet supply place). If they are damaging
the plastic one, you should replace it before the break off a chunk
of plastic and ingest it.
>I know all about how to clip their claws (thin red vein on claw) but I
can't
>hold them still to see if they need doing. How do I do this? How do I know
>when they need doing?
I use the 'playbox' method of trimming animal nails. This works for
hamsters AND gerbils.
Take a cardboard box about 18" on a side and at least a few feet
deep (.5m x .5m x .6m works good). At the bottom ON THE SIDES
attach 220 grit sandpaper all the way around. I stand the 8x10 sheets
going the long way, edge to edge, all the way around. I attach them
with wood glue to the cardboard.
Also take a few scraps of 2x4, and cover them over like you are
making a sanding block.
Put some bedding, a few handfuls, in the playbox, along with various
toys and things for the animal to explore. Put the covered sanding
blocks on the floor of the box.
Put the animal in. If it is a gerbil you may have to cover the top of
the box with screening so they can't jump out.
WITH SUPERVISION THE WHOLE TIME. Allow the animal to play,
and you can play with them, give them treats, etc. For about twenty
minutes.
They will probably 'dance' along the sides a few times, and also
scamper over the sandpaper covered blocks.
A session like this weekly, will give them a chance to wear off their
nails without being difficult, and you get to give them something new
and exciting too.
You do not cover the floor of the box as that gets to be too rough
for the footpads and can hurt the animal.
The box is easy to clean out, and do clean it out and put in fresh
bedding between animals, especially gerbils. Gerbils go by scent,
and a different scent can cause problems. If you keep hamsters
AND gerbils, I find I have less problems with the gerbils and scents
from other gerbils; if I alternate and put a hamster in the box between
gerbils. The smell of a hamster seems not to bother a gerbil like that
of another not-my-clan gerbil. If you have a cage with a pair or trio
of gerbils, you can put them all in at the same time to play....
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch.
