Ask The Gerbils

Dear Herman,

I have two cats, one dog, and a fish. I was thinking of asking for a gerbil for Christmas. Would my gerbils be okay to these animals, or should I wait? My cats are indoor/outdoor and are usually outside, but my dog is inside most of the time, but she does have a VERY GOOD temperament.

Please help me,

Sam

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Dear Sam,

I’m glad that you’re thinking about these things before you get your gerbils!

Gerbils can live safely in a home with other pets, but you need to be careful and protect your gerbils from the other animals.

First, make sure that your gerbils live in a safe home that will not tip over, break, or have parts fall off. I suggest a glass fish tank with a screen lid and lid clamps to keep the lid on. (You can find a screen lid and the lid clamps in the reptile aisle of your pet store.)

Don’t get a plastic home or cage with tubes. These are very light and easy for a larger pet like a dog or cat to knock over. Also, the plastic tubes can break or fall off, letting your gerbils escape. This is very dangerous if you have other pets in the house.

Next, make sure that you keep your door shut when you aren’t in the room with your gerbils so that the other pets can’t get to your gerbils.

Finally, when you play with your gerbils, make sure the other pets aren’t in the room and that the door to the room is shut.

If you make sure that your other pets can’t get to your gerbils and that your gerbils can’t escape, your pets should be able to all live peacefully in the same house.

What’s most important is that you are careful to keep them apart and that you have enough time to take care of and play with all of your pets.

From your buddy,
Herman

Hi Hallie,

I recently got a female gerbil to go with the other that I already had. The new one is 4 or 5 months old and the older one is a year old. We used the split cage method and then had them together everyday for about 30 minutes. When they finally started to be extremely nice to each other we put them in a new cage together. (The crittertrail pink/crittertrail dazzle combinded with tubes) After a month of putting them together the new gerbil had a black outline on one side of its nose that wasn't there before. Do you know what this could be from?

P.S. I use carefresh bedding and my gerbils don't seem to fight.

Sincerely,
M.

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Hi M.!

I’m so excited. You’re the first person who wrote to me! Thank you so much for your letter! :)

You mentioned that your gerbils live in a Crittertrail home. Those have cage bars on them, right? I bet what’s happening is that your gerbil is chewing on the bars of the cage, and they’re either staining her fur or rubbing a little bit of the fur off her nose so that darker skin underneath is showing through? Is she chewing on the bars a lot?

If you think it is chewing on the bars that is causing the marks on the side of her nose, you might want to move your gerbils to a glass fish tank, like my sister Liza and I live in. (You can see a photo of us in our home to the left.)

We have lots of toys in our tank: an exercise wheel, a large wooden toy to play in and chew on (we buried it under the bedding before Kylee took our picture!), a small coconut hut, and a glass jar to dig in. We also get lots of cardboard to chew. We just finished destroying a cardboard box right before our photo was taken! :)

If your gerbils live in a glass tank, make sure they have a screen lid (which you can get in the reptile aisle at the pet store) and a set of lid clamps to hold the lid in place (also found in the reptile aisle of the pet store).

There are some other reasons why we like glass tanks best. You can read about them in the Ideal Gerbil Homes tip.

If you want to move your gerbils to a glass tank but still want your gerbils to have time to play in their Crittertrail cage, they could spend time there while you clean their tank. (Or they could spend some play time inside the Crittertrail each day as out-of-tank time.)

I hope that helps and that your gerbil’s nose gets better soon. Please tell your gerbils hello from both me and my grandpa Herman!

From your friend,
Hallie

Dear Herman,

I am 10 years old, and I was wondering if it is a good idea to put cat litter in my gerbil’s cage? My aunt has a hamster, and she puts it in there, so is it safe for my gerbils?

Sincerely,

Tyler

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Dear Tyler,

Thank you for writing to me! My granddaughter Hallie is going to help me answer your question. :)

We don’t know exactly what type of cat litter your aunt uses, but we would guess that it wouldn’t be very good for your gerbils.

When cats use a litter box, it can smell pretty strong, so usually cat litter has stuff in it to cover up the “cat smell.” A lot of times, the stuff they put in the cat litter can hurt our little gerbil lungs.

It’s best to use a nice, safe bedding for your gerbils. Our favorite type of bedding is corncob bedding, which you get in the bird aisle at the pet store. Other good beddings are Carefresh Ultra or aspen shavings.

Please tell your gerbils hello!

Your friends,

Herman & Hallie

Hello, everyone!

This is Herman here. I have an important announcement! My granddaughter Hallie recently moved to Twin Squeaks, and my aunt Nellie (who used to answer letters with me) spent a lot of time teaching Hallie everything about answering letters. Hallie is now ready to help me answer your letters!

I'm so excited about working with my granddaughter to answer your gerbil questions! We both look forward to reading your letters, and we’ve made some changes that will make it easier for us to get online and answer your letters, too. :)

Please join me in welcoming Hallie!


Your pal,

Herman the Gerbil