Hello Gerbil

My aim is to bring the most up-to-date information to gerbil keepers worldwide. This information is sourced from breeders, animal welfare orgs, veterinarians, and zoologists. Unless otherwise states, assume all posts refer to mongolian gerbils ( Meriones unguiculatus).

[moko-oxygen]

モフモフモーフ / Blanket

[giulialibard]

[germangerbs-blog]

Rennmaus / Gerbil: Artgerechte Haltung / Species Appropriate Care

A creative way to make your aquarium gerbil home bigger...take off the side glass panels and add another!

[germangerbs-blog]

Platform Inspiration

I wanted to show some photos of retail platforms available to me as inspiration for the DIYers. All of these are also available on amazon.com, but being sold from Europe, the products have huge shipping fees. It’d be much cheaper to recreate these on your own (but hey, you do you with your money).

From left to right:

Elmato Rodent Shelter Assembly Set 

Getzoo Corner Platform

Trixie Natural Living Stand

Getzoo Racetrack

As you can see, a platform really is just a board in any shape and size with legs. It is said that round legs are harder to chew, but there is no hard evidence for it. Aim for legs about 1x1in, with a 1in diameter, or a bit larger as many gerbils do end up chewing on them regardless of size (this is a good thing, nothing in a gerbil habitat lasts forever besides metal, ceramic, and glass, chewing wood helps wear down their ever-growing teeth!). Legs should also be as long as your bedding is high, so at least 25cm (9-10in).

[germangerbs-blog]

Food...

I am having a really hard time finding food in the US that I would feed my gerbils. Either the protein is too high, or the fiber is too high, OR, it’s junk with nothing but a few seed types and fruit in it. The fact that they almost all seem to be marketed as “Hamster and Gerbil” combo foods is telling that they’re not really suitable for either. There are however some snacks that I would buy, and they’re found in the bird section. Millet sprays and dried mealworms are excellent and healthy snacks. 

The search for a base food continues though, I will keep you updated. 

If you would like to see an example of what I feed:

In the terracotta bowl: dried dandelion roots, dried edible flower mix, dried edible leaf mix

Top grey bowl: Seed mix (~20 various seeds), cucumber seeds, dried veggie mix, dried insect mix, a single dried goji berry

Bottom grey bowl: fresh cucumber

This is for a single gerb otherwise the seed and fresh portions would be doubled (his friend passed this past Wednesday). Everything but the cucumber gets scattered all over the bedding and furniture. Everything but the seed mix also gets swapped for other things day-to-day (and even the seed mix gets swapped for other seed mixes every couple months) since variety is so important.

[germangerbs-blog]

[germangerbs-blog]