Nocturnal?

[aquamarinegerbil]

Hi, 

I always thought that gerbils were NOT nocturnal, but mine always seem to sleep a ton during the day and then they are active just as I'm trying to go to bed. 

So I guess my question is, are gerbils nocturnal? If they are not why are mine acting like it? 

Thanks!! 

[johanne]

Gerbils are generally awake at various times of the day and night. They come up with their own schedule according to what they think is best in their surroundings. They don't sleep for really long periods like we do.

[PurpleSheep]

I've read gerbils are crepuscular, ie active mostly at dawn and dusk, with dusk being their most active time. As Johanne said, they also have much shorter cycles, I think it's something like 4 hours awake, 4 hours sleep? This seems be consistent with our gerbils' behaviour. There is a definite difference to our Syrian hamster, who is properly nocturnal, so we see much less of him.

How long have you had your gerbils? They may still be wary of the new sounds and smells if they are new, and may be more active once they get used to their new environments. Also, just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they are asleep - they may be doing stuff underground or in their nests rather than hanging out on the surface.

[Shooting Star]

Wild gerbils are crepuscular, partly because they live in an environment with temperature extremes during both day and night. Dusk and dawn are the best times to be outside their burrows. I think our pet gerbils have pretty much abandoned this system.

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[ninestone]

Sept 4, 2015 10:16:33 GMT -8 Shooting Star said:

Wild gerbils are crepuscular, partly because they live in an environment with temperature extremes during both day and night. Dusk and dawn are the best times to be outside their burrows. I think our pet gerbils have pretty much abandoned this system.

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What she said

In captivity, our gerbils seem to keep a very irregular schedule. They don't even seem to be active at the same times from day to day. Sometimes, they'll be up all afternoon, other times they seem to sleep all day. Some nights they're up a lot, others they spend it mostly sleeping. Having said that, we are mostly likely to see them up in the morning and the evening, which are their natural awake times.

Basically, pet gerbils aren't nocturnal, they're not crepuscular, they're whatever.

[aquamarinegerbil]

Thanks so much for all your replies, I understand now