How often should we clean?

[jimbugalee]

We've just bought 2 little gerbils ..... they have a 2 ft tank with a cage on top (home made!) and I was wondering how often I should clean them out.

I think they probably go to the loo on the top bit of their cage which is useful because I can take that out and clean as and when. When do we need to change the sawdust?

If it's a long time should we disturb the tank i.e. make it more interesting or is it better to leave?

Thank in advance

[SilverGerbil]

Sawdust? Or do you mean wood shavings?

It depends, i change every 3-4 weeks. Gerbils are very clean animals, so they need less cleaning than hamsters for instance.

My girls go in one place for the toilet Cyd in her bowl, and my other 2 on their top shelf. Which again makes it easier to clean, as you can clean out their toilet every day or so so the pee and poo's dont mount up

x

[twitchmm]

yeah I clean mine every 3-4 weeks aswell

[qtoffer]

I replace the bedding and wipe down the tank once a month. I leave the old bedding in their nest box-I've heard that replacing all the bedding can stress some gerbils. The cage topper floors gets wiped down once a week- that's generally where they pee.

Every few days, I'll pull out the cardboard that they've chewed up and give them new toys. Sometimes I'll toss in some timothy hay. It keeps things interesting for me and the gerbils!

[SilverGerbil]

! Qtoffer - Same here, i HATE destroying Cyd's nests! She creates these fabulous constructions that are sturdy enough for me to pick up, move for cleaning and then replace so she keeps her lovely nest !

Also, i often (when money is tight) do part changes, i pull out a good could of hand fulls and re-top up their tanks, so instead of changing it all i change roughly a quarter. So the bedding goes further and lasts longer.

x

[david]

I hate destroying my gerbils tunnels too. They can be a bit silly/lazy sometimes with them though. They use those cardboard chube things to make them sturdier. I put the chubes on the second floor of the gerbilarium so it's easier for them to build their tunnels with them (there is some sense in doing this! lol).

They often use two of the chubes to make a "double decker" tunnel, so there is one chube on top of another. If I don't put the chubes on the second floor, they still manage to do it it, so it's easier this way.

But they got a bit silly and tried to make it into a triple decker tunnel. They removed the third chube in the end though. Also, they often put them in a slanted position, so they are like a little chute/slide. They use mineral stones, bedding or toys to hold their slides up in the slanted position, which seems a lot for a gerbil to think of and do - maybe they just love sliding down it or something?! ;D

And in an old cage I used to have them in, there wasn't really anywhere to put the water bottle without tunnels covering it. But I discovered they'd made a little gap in the tunnels they made for the spout, so they could still get their water.

[Powerpuffgerbils]

I usually change out a couple handfuls of bedding whenever it stinks in between bedding changes. I usually completely change the bedding every 2-3 weeks. They usually don't make the best tunnels though. Their bedding gets compressed so it doesn't tunnel as well as I would like... Not only that but they are pretty lazy. xD

[menlor]

I clean them every 2 -3 weeks, but i sometimes add or remove old bedding in between, some parts, just so they have something new to play in, then they play in it for some time, just because it's new
But what i find so easy is this: Hamster toilet: www.ter.nl/webwinkel/images/hamster%20toilet.jpg
I don't know how they know it, but they only go to the toilet in there, ( sometimes in the bedding but mostly in the toilet ) It's very easy to clean and there is no smell in the cage. I clean this toilet every 2-3 days depends on how frequently they used it

And indeed gerbils are very clean

[prolinker]

I clean my tank every end of the month but sometimes after 6 weeks. They don't smell at all.

[jfserama]

I clean the tank about once a month or when it starts to smell (which is almost never). I hate to clean it, though, as I use carefresh, and it has just become nice and decompressed when it is time to clean, so I often just clean half of it and leave the other half for him to tunnel/nest with.

[Deleted]

I clean about every 4 weeks. I don't keep any of the bedding with their smell on it to put back in but I do keep a lot of their cardboard that has their smell on it and put that back in. It works for mine.

Uhura

[smokey]

i clean when they start smelling or gets dusty from 2 much cardboard. im then same though i hate to clean it out when they have got so many cool tunnels they've made but had to clean last time as it got the point of like 95% was chewed carboard and that got a little bit dusty so changed it.

[sfmoneymarket]

I usually clean every 2 weeks. I'm just a neat freak though..

[fayezie]

I clean mine every 2 weeks as they start to smell and their cage looks messy from all the cupboard tubes they've chewed!!

[genie]

i clean mine every 6 weeks ish. i try to stagger them, as i have 5 tanks, as well as a hamster and a gecko and some fish. So, it takes a lot of time have to make a note on calender lol. Someone else on here used to use post it notes on the sides of the tank with the date it was cleaned on, i thought that was a nifty idea