Hi Lian,
Monday, June 04, 2001, 4:46:51 PM, you wrote:
> I have heard that a mix of clay-based soil and sand will work, because
> it
> will stick together and become firm once it dries. Does anyone know
> anything about this method? Thanks!
We used to have all our gerbils in dirt set-ups.
We only gave it up, because we heard that legionnaire's
disease can be transmitted through gardening soil.
We used the simplest organic soil (none of those little
foamy things), mixed with a little peat moss and straw.
The dirt was baked in our oven on trays to sterilize it, and
we sprayed it every few days to keep it a little moist,
after it initially dried off.
The gerbils absolutely loved it and it never smelled. W
didn't have to clean it for months, and they dug all sorts
of tunnels, rearranging their environment all the time.
We gave them fresh straw every few days and we never had an
accident with collapsing tunnels.
We didn't have any breeding pairs, though. With pups I
wouldn't have used dirt, just in case. They wouldn't have
been able to dig their way out.
The only drawback was the black dust on out furniture <g>.
But with Aspen we have just as much dust, just not black.
I recently searched the net and now I can't find any of the
articles linking soil and Legionaire's disease anymore, for
some reason.
I wonder if it was a false alarm?
--
Best regards,
Susanne mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
