Tips on housing

[marmosetparadiso]

I will be getting my gerbils in December or so, so I'm prepairing to see what I'll need for the housing.

I decided that I would get a tank (20-25 gallons/75-100 litres) since it seems to be the best option from what I've read. I'm not sure which exact size I'll get, but I'll see. I have some other questions.

Firstly, what kind of bedding would be good? Unfortunately, I don't live in the States so buying Aspen or Carefresh online would be quite expensive. There are some wood shavings in the pet store, though. I think this thing is good, but I can't seem to find the trees used unfortunately. Also, what nesting material is good?

Secondly, since I am getting a glass tank, I need to find a way to hang the bottle. I don't know if they have it in the store, so could somebody send me an ebay link or an alternative way of hanging?

Also what toys should I put for them to play with?

Thank you.

[betty]

I tend to go for the large bales of treated pine shavings from the local garden centres (sometimes packaged for horses). These are what the stores themselves use for their pets in store.

Similar shavings are available in a large clear bag with a yellow imagine on it - but I can't remember the name? They are usually about £5 a bag and can fill a large tank several times each bag (they also make great cleaning out bags too instead of bin bags).

I have used the Carefresh Bedding (and other similar brands in certain instances but I don't like the way it sits in the tank and on the shelves. (And it is really expensive to boot).

Aspen is available cheaply in large sacks from good large pet stores who have a reptile section. Rather than the jazzed up fancy small bags aimed at cute fluffy animal owners, you can get sacks of the stuff for reptiles at a really good weight for weight price. Same with most other beddings.

Nesting-wise - I use shredded paper, the wide threads of SafeBed (long white tagliatelle-looking soft paper with pink writing on the packaging - again bulk buying this makes it really cheap) also different hays and straws.

Toys-wise - anything made of cardboard, ceramic or safe woods is a winner. There are plenty of threads on this, so I won't go about listing them all again, but you can use things from many different animal sections, so look in rodents, rabbits, pet birds and some wild bird things. Avoid anything that isn't natural like sparkly cat toys, painted anything, or plastics and you should be fine...

[aj2013]

For hanging the water bottle - I use water bottle holders with sort of a long metal strip of the back. You can bend the metal so that it will hang over the edge of the cage. If you can't find something like this, I might suggest getting a water bottle with a flat back and attaching it to the glass with some Velcro or something like that.
I would also like to add - be careful if you give your gerbils the hard cardboard tubes that come in the middle of plastic wrap rolls and things like that. One of my gerbils got her head really stuck in on of those and it took us 15-20 minutes to get her out.

[marmosetparadiso]

Nov 16, 2015 10:18:49 GMT -8 betty said:

I tend to go for the large bales of treated pine shavings from the local garden centres (sometimes packaged for horses). These are what the stores themselves use for their pets in store.

Similar shavings are available in a large clear bag with a yellow imagine on it - but I can't remember the name? They are usually about £5 a bag and can fill a large tank several times each bag (they also make great cleaning out bags too instead of bin bags).

I have used the Carefresh Bedding (and other similar brands in certain instances but I don't like the way it sits in the tank and on the shelves. (And it is really expensive to boot).

Aspen is available cheaply in large sacks from good large pet stores who have a reptile section. Rather than the jazzed up fancy small bags aimed at cute fluffy animal owners, you can get sacks of the stuff for reptiles at a really good weight for weight price. Same with most other beddings.

Nesting-wise - I use shredded paper, the wide threads of SafeBed (long white tagliatelle-looking soft paper with pink writing on the packaging - again bulk buying this makes it really cheap) also different hays and straws.

Toys-wise - anything made of cardboard, ceramic or safe woods is a winner. There are plenty of threads on this, so I won't go about listing them all again, but you can use things from many different animal sections, so look in rodents, rabbits, pet birds and some wild bird things. Avoid anything that isn't natural like sparkly cat toys, painted anything, or plastics and you should be fine...

So treated pine is fine, unlike the regular? Good to know.
Also, I can use aspen for reptiles? Sweet!

[blanknote]

I recently came across this post that mentions why even kiln dried pine isn't necessarily safe for hamsters/gerbils: hamsterhideout.com/forum/topic/76284-unsafe-hamster-bedding/

Here is a bit of it "One argument in favor of kiln-dried pine being safe is anecdotal evidence. That is, "I've been keeping hamsters on pine for years and years, and they've always been fine." This is not a particularly strong argument, because it's extraordinarily rare for owners to get their animals necropsied after death. In reality, most people don't actually know what their hamster died of. How does a person making this claim know for a fact that the hamster didn't die of a respiratory issue or liver issue related to pine bedding? This isn't to claim that all hamsters living on pine will die of a pine-related issue, because we have no way of determining that. But if someone is claiming that their hamster died of reasons unrelated to pine, the burden is on them to prove that via necropsy. They don't, which renders this claim invalid."

Gives some food for thought!

If you live in the UK, I would recommend checking out Fitch bedding, I have found it to great, and it lasts for ages!

[betty]

Good point raised, but unfortunately this is the case with virtually everything, just because people have done something for years doesn't mean it is the best. However, if we take your example just because it is here, until someone can prove that hamsters living on a different bedding never die of any bedding-related illnesses, why should everybody change to another bedding that hasn't been proved toxin safe into old age either.

It is a very difficult thing to know the safest bedding without having extended studies done on all of them, so if you stick with what everyone else uses until proven otherwise you will be no worse off, and you will know that you won't be switching to something that may actually be worse?

Carefresh was the bees knees when it came out, now it is anecdotally agreed to be not so good for gerbils, triggering respiratory problems in many instances.

This will always be a hot topic.

[chelseam]

Betty, the reason carefresh causes issues where it hasn't before is due to the massive amounts of baking soda added to it. I don't think that that is an accurate comparison because of that reason. Carefresh has changed, whereas the pine hasn't at all.

[roobininski]

You sound like you've got the right idea, I'd recommend getting some kind of tank topper- even if its just the top of a cheap hamster cage and cable tied on, because it gives them more space for toys and food, then you can fit a water bottle on also. Wood shavings are alright, not the best, but as long as they're dust extracted they won't be damaging to your gerbies respiratory systems, just check they're not scented as these are too harsh.

Toy wise, loo rolls, popsicle stick constructions (use non-toxic PVA) and tissue boxes will absolutely delight them, just don't get any of that plastic tunnel stuff- they'll make their own, and they're only going to nibble on it.

well done on your decision, expecting pics now!