*sigh* Bratty little rodents.

[Demonic Hope]

I spent the night at my sisters the other day. I left about 5pm and got home about 7pm the next day. So just over 24 hours alone for my guys. Now before I left everyone got a nice clean tank, fresh food, and two bottles of water just to be safe. 3 bottles in my tanks with multiple mice.

My bottles do not leak. I don't remember the last time I had on actually do more then drip a touch when I first put them in. So I figured everything would be fine. Boy was I wrong.

I have 8 tanks if you count my permanent split. I come home tonight only to find that 4 of the tanks were flooded. Jassie pushed all her bedding against her spout and poured everything out to soak both her side of the split and Nico's. Chloe ate through her very expensive Lixit water bottle I just bought two weeks ago. Still trying to figure out how she got around the metal holder... Calypso, Abby, and Angel Chloe's daughter and sisters managed to push bedding against their spout, another flood, and my buck Lee managed to not only knock his water bottle off its holder but he also managed to knock his heavy ceramic bowl off its shelf and flip it so he couldn't get any food. I've never even seen him attempt to move that thing.

So I got home to some very mad little rodents. Honestly. How can such tiny things make such a huge mess.


Have any of your babies pulled something like this?

[Jazzable]

Wow, that's incredible (and annoying)! My gerbs' most impressive feat was when they destroyed their old bin cage. I'd cut a hole in the side so that I could attach other cage parts using rotastak tubes, but then had changed my mind so there was just one of the plastic plugs in the hole. I left the house for only a few *hours* (I went out mid-afternoon, came back mid-evening), and in that time they managed to push out the plug, and chew at the edge of the hole until it was about five times the size: a massive hole going halfway down to the bottom of the box. Amazingly, they had all decided to stay in the box so at least I didn't have to deal with an escape. Now I have them in one giant box with no holes or weak points.

[rhianna]

I've had similar water bottle problems before. The first being back about 2 years ago, when I was still new to gerbils, and mine were living in one of those multi-level hamster/mouse cages. They had one of those round chew proof bottles that hangs from the top of their cage. Well, one morning I woke up and they had not only knocked it over, but somehow managed to completely chew it to shreds. The bottom of the cage was flooded and they had chewed plastic bits everywhere. I also didn't have a spare water bottle at the time. So, I had to clean out the cage, and have my mom run to the store to pick up a new water bottle. I was late for school that day and my mom wasn't happy (needless to say I wasn't complaining on that part).

Another thing they did one time was back even before that when they were kept in a Crittertrail cage, when I first got my trio. I'd had them in it for about a week, and my mom and I were going out of town for the weekend. I left my brother to take care of the animals. Well, about 10 hours into our trip, we got a phonecall from my brother. It turns out he was in the bathroom and Alvin just showed up behind the toilet. He went into my room and saw that they'd chewed their way out of the cage and all of them were missing (this is one huge reason you should never use these cages for gerbils). My brother ended up finding Simon later that evening. We didn't actually find Theodore until about 4 days later. This little adventure resulted in lots of chewed wires and other things in my room.

I think that they sense when we leave the house and get angry about it. It's kind of funny how they are (but not at the time when you're cleaning up after them, of course).

[crittercrazy]

Sounds like quite a day for you!
I don't know that I've had anything that dramatic, but I've had several escapes. (Peanut and now Minty are masters of all things I don't want them to do) And I have had them chew their water bottles, and thoroughly soak all their bedding. I've probably had. . . oh I don't know but a lot of water bottles since getting Peanut. Now I have a metal holder that completely covers one water bottle, and for whatever reason they've left the other one alone.
There was one time when I left town for awhile, leaving Peanut (didn't have a friend at the time) at home for a few days with plenty of food and water. Came back to find basically everything moveable flipped over, but her water bottle did stay where it belonged at least so no flooding.
Sometimes I can't decide whether to be annoyed with them or just laugh at how silly they are.

[wolfgirl]

I've had a few water bottle mishaps where I would go to bed and come back in the morning to find it completely drained thanks to Dusty covering it with bedding, he also chewed through the holder and then cap on his original bottle. and then there are the escapes! Dusty has gotten out 3 times in the year that I've had him, once by jumping and knocking open the door on his tank roof! so now we keep heavy objects on there to keep him in. its always nerve wracking because we also have a cat and my biggest fear is dusty will go under the door and into the rest of the house. Koda managed to open the door on the ball he was in a week after we got him and decided to explore the closet. he found one of D's yearbooks and made a nest out of it that we discovered last month.

[nzcage]

Fang (pre-intro) used to do it any time I was away overnight, even when my flatmate would look in on him. Never went near the bottle (except for a drink) any other time! Always had to dump half his substrate, wee bugger!

[sparky]

That's a lot of cleaning up to do! I've had soggy bedding when they've pushed it up against the spout of the bottle, but that's not happened in a while. Sprogley once chewed up her water bottle over night soaking her bedding. I don't use that brand of water bottle now. Edgar, Allan or Poe (I suspect Allan) chewed up the lid of their water bottle a couple of weeks ago but with this design they can chew the lid without getting through to the water. I've now put their bottle in an oasis waterguard and someone has still chewed the tiny bit of plastic that surrounds the spout They've not chewed their other water bottle at all though.

[riley]

I have three gerbils now bu0t used to have another one who liked to "rearrange her cage" I would wake up in the morning with her wheel tipped over and her cage flooded all the time I don't really understand why they do it but I just dealt with it everyday.

[ignacia]

Aww these stories are so cute! (Afterwards, I can perfectly imagine how it felt *at* the time of the "event"... Lol)
So after reading them it seems many of these happen when you've left home.... Does that mean they actually like our company?? :'D (I mean it in a personal, REALLY bonded and concious level, not the typical "gerbils are super social pets..." thing)
My two girls live in my room and when I leave for the weekend my mom tells me they act different, I'd thought she was exaggerating or maybe their routine changes just a little. I know my girls know me and are used to my presence and voice, but I didn't know they actually really enjoy and acknowledge my company... That maybe they LOVE me too! (I love them with all my heeaaaartttttt)

[snowballandnugget]

I've only ever experienced one true "holy crow!" moment with our gerbils. It was the second day with them and I was getting ready to leave for work. I went to their cage to say good bye, and the cage was empty!! I went upstairs to wake my husband so that he could help me find the wee buggers. Nugget luckily stayed on the main floor however Snowball managed to get all the way into the basement!That is about 15 stairstairs to jump down!! It turned out that the mesh screen we had on the front of their cage was slightly too large and they happily squeezed themselves through! The "best" part of that morning was having to call my work to explain why I would be arriving late!!

[qtoffer]

I had a gerbil escape from her play area during out-of-tank-time. She got behind my desk and chewed up the some wires - taking out my phone and internet! Fortunately, I was able to lure her into a cardboard box and I had a replacement phone wire hardy.