I have a beautiful little male albino gerbil called Marvin he is about 9 months old now and is full of charm and character he looks just like a mini bull terrier with red eyes he is such a looker, after my mice died I really felt our family was incomplete so after a month or so had passed we was in the pet shop buying dog food and I saw this little white head and pink eyes peering out of a little house at me he was in the adoptiion part of the store when we asked why they told us it was because he is albino and that people tend to go for the ones without red eyes so that was it we had the cage at home we adopted him right there, it took him awhile to settle in but once he had he came out of his shell. They tend not to drink alot but will eat plenty Marvins fav treat is nuts, he takes one from our hand every morning.
They are incredibly intelligent animals and love attention, they love to burrow so I really would suggest a glass topped virarium as you will end up with sawdust everywhere, they also require a dust bath as this is how they keep clean and without one will become grubby and have dull fur, Marvin just loves to roll around in his bath and it is so amusing to watch, they are very quick animals so dont let them out unless you are absolutely certain you can get them back again, they are very active and will get bored quickly if not kept occupied make sure you get plenty of chews as they love to gnaw on things avoid placing anything plastic in with your Gerbil they will bite through it (they have incredibly strong teeth) if they swallow the plastic it can be harmful to them, Gerbils are also quite active throughout the day and night unlike hamsters and mice who tend to be most active at night,but they love to be handled if you have small children make sure they dont squeeze them as they are fragile little creatures, I find that they dont smell at all which is amazing and are very clean animals, they are great for all the family and I am so very glad that we saved little Marvin.