Steven K. Maldonado <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>
>1st question regarding chinchilla dust.
>
>I am using the Super Pet brand of chinchilla dust. It is composed purely of
>super
>low dust volcanic mountain pumice. When the gerbils frolic and have their
>gerbilarian follies in the sand, is it common for them to put the stuff in
>their
>mouth and crunch on it? Are they attempting to grind their teeth down?
>Afterwards, they head over to the water bottle for a drink, and return.
>
It is pretty normal for gerbils to chew on anything. As for why they
crunch on chinchilla dust I don't know.It is harmless though.
>2nd question.
>
>You guys think a 20 gal tank is too small to have a half-side sand
>and half-side carefresh bedding setup? I thought about having 3 inches
>on the left
>with a lexan wall to hold the sand in and the other side carefresh bedding.
For how many gerbils? For a pair this should be fine.
>
>3rd question.
>
>Another gerbil behavior curiosity. I read many pages on gerbil behavior.
>They all
>mention stereotypical digging thought to be associated with
>burrowing instincts. This indeed appears to be an obvious truth, but what
>about
>digging attributed to line-of-sight? The gerbil views the ground, sees a
>clean spot
>he just made directly in front of him, and perceives this as the beginning
>of the
>borrow that leads deeper? (Just a brain-fart) ;-)
>
I don't think there is any "thought" about it. Gerbils raised in simple
burrow systems do not do this -
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/burrow.htm
--
Julian
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
National Gerbil Society
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
