Gerbil toilet habits

[haxted]

After researching, we bought two female gerbils as our childrens' first pets. They were supposed to be remarkably un-smelly. However, one (maybe the other too but I haven't actually spotted her in action) has selected the corner of one of the raised ledges of their cage to wee. It then dries and smells even though cleaned with pet-disinfectant daily. We have tried (i) a pet loo - they ate it (ii) a jam-jar wiped inside with their wee - they wee'd outside it (iii) extra wood-shavings on ledge - they simply scrabbled/burrowed till it had all fallen off. Any ideas?

[gilby]

gerbils will do what they want when they want. There is no way to stop them. I had gerbils for years and they are such funny animals. Whatever you put in the cage, they will eat it. All i can suggest is that you dont have them in a cage with bars as they will get their tails stuck. I had mine in a Rotastack, you can make it as big as you like by adding rooms. Also you can put a good inch of sawdust down to soak up any mess.

[camille79]

I had gerbils as a child and always kept them in a an old fish tank with a lid made from chicken wire! You half fill the tank with compost and wood-shavings/saw dust and then just clear the whole thing out every couple of months - I guarantee no nasty smells. Gerbils are burrowing animals and the kids get to see all the tunnels and, if they're lucky, the fantastic underground nest their pets will build (mine always chose to build it right against the glass for some reason. They will choose a "toilet spot" but the earth/sawdust will stop any nasty smells. Just remember to give them lots of tissues, toilet rolls etc to make a nest from and some sticks from the garden to keep their teeth down.

As a kid, my favourite bit was when the gerbils would bury their stash of sunflower seeds. They would germinate in the compost and little shoots would appear, which the gerbils would delicately nibble!

[clair3934]

I agree with Camille79, gerbils like to live in burrows that they dig themselves so a nice size fish tank mine was 4 feet long, and fill it with sawdust and tubes etc and they will just love it! you can get water bottles from petshops that hang from the lids of tanks all you have to do is keep and eye on them to make sure that the little furries don't chuck the sawdust up to the nozzle of the bottle as this will flood the cage