Taming Advice

[yuzername]

Hey so I'm retaming my gerbils as you know (or don't know I have no idea), so I'm trying to get them to come into my hands and when they finally do they just go "I'm never doing that again" and I just want to know what makes a gerbil like being out of it's cage and played with because Alfredo and Julio are just flat-out refusing to let me pick them up.

[Thea]

There's a few simple things that help a lot with taming for me, and they might do for you.

- Obviously putting my hand in regularly. They get used to the feeling of being in my hand and this works really well.

- Giving them treats and then stroking their heads while they're eating it. This way they get used to being stroked more and won't freak out when you do.

- Rubbing my hands in the bedding. This gets them used to my smell and therefore they don't mind being handled as much.
- Free roaming. You can scoop them up in some kind of cup and let them roam around a room freely, of course checking there are no ways they can escape the room, no wires, nothing you would mind them chewing, and nowhere they can get stuck.

Hope this helped!

[yuzername]

Thanks! I will try to do all of these, I haven't thought of the petting them while they're eating treats thing but I'm going to right now.

[Markpd]

Also if you get a long tube or box with a tube and offer it to them, they're likely to climb in, they can't resist! lol . Easy way to catch them, although they can grow wise to it, especially if used often/ Perhaps using a few different items might avoid that??

[yuzername]

These are working a lot but before I tame them that much I need to know why gerbils like being with their owners. I've tried giving them cuddles but they don't really like it. They usually refuse to take treats from me because they are trying to escape my hands (even though they were the ones who climbed onto my hands) so I just want to have any idea what to do when I'm holding them that will make them want to play with me again.

[Thea]

Normally mine just like sitting in my hands while I stroke them, but if they don't like doing just that there are a couple of things you an do. My new girls Pippa and Mali like it when I put on hand in front of the other so they can run across my hands. They also love climbing up my sleeves and back down again. My girls aren't confident enough to do this yet but my past gerbils climbed up my arms and onto my shoulders and sat there. They also liked to sit on my lap sometimes! Just let them explore you properly, not just your hands, and they'll probably want to be held more.

[gerbilord]

Short but often to handle them works well so they don’t get too stressed and get used to it. Don’t chase them round the cage but let them come to you, or corner them in a little part of the cage to scoop them up. Little boxes and tubes are definitely good for catching them in, less stress all round.
I don’t really ‘handle’ them too much, once I’ve got them I just put them on my lap, let them run around a bit, then put them back. Feed them treats while they’re out and they’ll associate you with the good stuff.

[yuzername]

ok I will try this thank you

[Markpd]

My boys don't like staying on my hand for longer than a few seconds!

[Thea]

Neither do Pippa and Mali right now, but they are a lot younger! That's just how some gerbils are and there's no problem with that (although I'm sure you'd like a gerbil cuddle). I'm sure they'll get more relaxed as time goes on, they are lovely boys

[yuzername]

Thanks for the support and the telling me they aren't like shadow the rats' rats. I just always see people talking about how their gerbils sleep next to them and I feel like "HEY, YOU SOLD ME BROKEN GERBILS! THEY MOVE WHEN I WANT THEM TO SLEEP NEXT TO ME!"

[Thea]

I've never actually heard of gerbils sleeping next to you, unless of course they're ill (Rolo slept on my lap on the last day of her life), that's no way gerbil behaviour. I've occasionally seen pictures of gerbils asleep on people's sofas or whatever, but that's very unusual. Gerbils are energetic animals so aren't really meant to do those things most of the time!

[gerbilord]

My gerbils have very seldom slept on me - last spring it was warm and I had them in the conservatory, they relaxed after about 20 minutes and fell asleep on my lap, listening to the birds. (Bear in mind I already had them for a year at this point and they were very well trained/tamed.) That happened... once or twice? Never happened since.

They do fall asleep on my desk where they have a little shelf to hide under and it's quiet, but that's about it. The rest of the time, gerbils are running, jumping, burrowing animals that don't sit still for longer than 2 milliseconds. Especially with new owners they aren't completely comfortable with.

I agree that if a gerbil is falling asleep next to you, like most prey animals they're probably ill.

[yuzername]

I've heard of like one person but yeah there is no way 99% of gerbils would ever do that

[Markpd]

Gerbilord
2milliseconds, as long as that!?
(ok aside from when my Blake stares into space! )