The Mongolian Gerbil is the most popular type of gerbil for pet owners. These cute little rodents can make great pets. They are full of energy, fun to watch, friendly, and active day and night.
As a whole, gerbils are not hard to take care of. They come with low maintenance. The daily chores include feeding, changing the water, and cleaning the sand bath with a sieve. Deep-cleaning the cage is only necessary every 2 to 3 months. Plus gerbils make great pets for beginners.
Gerbils have furry tails with a bushy tip that is almost as long as the rest of the body. Gerbils in the wild are ocher-colored to reddish-brown, with a lighter belly. Nowadays it is possible to find all kinds of coloring due to breeding. Gerbils can be found in black, white, grey, and all shades of brown.
Just like most other animals, gerbils need food, fresh water, and shelter to survive.
Feeding Gerbils
Gerbils should be fed every day with some dry gerbil food from the pet store and some fresh food. You can feed your gerbils many different kinds of vegetables and fruits. They also love most nuts, and insects such as mealworms or waxworms every now and then as a treat.
Giving Gerbils Water
They should have access to water at all times. You can offer them a water bottle, a water bowl, or both. Some gerbils prefer the bottle, others prefer the bowl, but they will all get used to either one, so don’t worry about that.
Shelter for Your Gerbils
The shelter for gerbils is their underground nests. They build tunnels in the bedding and don’t necessarily need any extra housing. You can put some wooden houses or structures such as bridges under the bedding and the gerbils will find them while digging. They might use these structures for their nests if they feel like it.
Companions for Your Gerbil
Besides the basics to survive, gerbils also need friends. Gerbils are often kept in pairs or groups of three. Without their gerbil friends, they will become very lonely and even sick.
Cleaning Gerbils
Gerbils don’t like a clean cage. They highly depend on their sense of smell, and once the cage is completely clean, they will be confused because all their smell marks are gone.
This is why the cage should not be cleaned too often, which makes it even easier to take care of them. Deep-cleaning the cage is only necessary every 2 to 3 months, depending on the number of gerbils you own, and how dirty the cage is. As long as you clean the sand bath regularly, and make sure that food leftovers are removed, the rest of the cage will stay relatively clean for a long time.
And that’s about it with the regular chores. As you can see, there is not much to take care of, and gerbils are really low-maintenance pets that are great for beginners. They might not be the cuddliest pets, but it is absolutely possible to tame them, hold them, play with them, and have a great time together.
Lisa is one of the two founders of Animal-Knowledge. She has been very interested in animals and insects from a very young age and has owned different kinds of pets such as snails, ants, fish, turtles, mice, rats, hamsters, rabbits, a dog, … you get the idea 🙂