GERBILS - THE LITTLE ESCAPE ARTISTS (Gerbils)

Member Name: moog27

Product:	Gerbils
Date:	15/03/09 (319 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: interesting to watch, cute, generally friendly, playful

Disadvantages: need cleaning out often, are good escape artists !

WHAT IS A GERBIL?
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Im sorry if you think this is stating the obvious but i was recently very suprised at the amount of people who do not know what a gerbil actually is. Gerbils are members of the rodent family, they resemble a mouse although they are slightly larger in size. Most full grown gerbils will be around 4 inches in body length and then their long smooth tail can be up to the same length again.


MY EXPERIENCE
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I started off with four gerbils but they bred and i ended up with 14! They are great little pets though, great fun to watch then dig and play, they are also generally friendly which makes them a good pet for children. Gerbils love to play so creating little assault courses for them is always fun and allowing them access to an old fishtank full of peat is facinating as you can watch them dig their tunnels and running through them (warning - this can be a bit messy though!)

HOW TO CARE FOR GERBILS
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Although they need the obvious care and attention gerbils are not too difficult to look after but they do need regular cleaning out the same as any pet.
Gerbils can get very lonely and depressed if on their own so you should always get at least two and let them live together. Gerbils can be kept in a hamster style cage although this doesnt allow them too dig and can often result in a lot of mess around the cage! The best environment for a gerbil is somewhere they can dig so a large glass tank is ideal although you will need to make a suitable lid as gerbils are little escape artists!! (my own escaped on several occasions to explore the house and eat the sleeves of my parents record collection as well as the contents of the fruit bowl!!!).
Gerbils need feeding daily (you can buy gerbil food from every pet shop) and given fresh water daily. The size of the cage and the number of gerbils living in it will determine how often they will need cleaning out but they should be done at least once a week to keep them clean and healthy.

BREEDING GERBILS
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If you want to breed gerbils you should think long and hard about it first. gerbils breed very quickly and will have a lot of babies so unless you have enough tanks or cages to keep them in or people that want them then its best to be very careful about keeping the males and females apart. Initially we put the two tanks next to each other so that the male gerbils could see the female gerbils and interact with them through the glass. This worked well but on one of th males organised escapes they ventured into the females tank and well you can guess what happened!

SUITABILITY FOR CHILDREN
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Gerbils are great to watch and if you carefully handle them daily they will become quite friendly. As with all pets, children under the age of 13 should not be expected to be the sole carer of their gerbils as the initial enthusiasm for feeding, cleaning and playing with the gerbils will soon fade and many children of that age are not capable of that kind of responsibility. Although if there are children in the house they could really enjoy creating little obsticle courses for the gerbils etc.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS
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The only real problem i had with my gerbils was that they kept breeding as it is hard to separate males from females successfully! Other than that we really enjoyed the company of our little pets as they were very active and facinating to watch.

OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER
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It is also important to consider what you would do with your gerbils if you went on holiday as you need to make sure there is someone that is willing and capable of caring for your gerbils properly while you are away.

RECOMMENDATION?
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As with any pets you should only consider getting gerbils if you have the time and motivation to care for them. Although you can get them used to being handled they are a pet which it is more enjoyable just to sit and watch them on their little adventures. So if you have read this and feel like gerbils would really appeal to you then yes i would definately recommend them.

Summary: a fascinating pet if you are dedicated to caring for them