Thirsty gerbils?

[kiki]

Just wondering if I should be concerned? I've only had my gerbils for a few days so am not that familiar with them, but I thought I'd read that gerbils in general do not require that much water? The 2 gerbils I have seem to go and drink from the water bottle quite frequently and for long periods of time. I've checked and rechecked to make sure the water is flowing out of the bottle. How often and long do gerbils usually drink from a water bottle?

[pepandmax]

It varies by the animal. I have one who I have seen drink perhaps a half dozen times since he has come to live with me (back in March or so). I have one old male who will spend well over a minute sucking at the bottle, sending streams of bubbles up the tube.

In general, I believe that the *average* gerbil drinks about a teaspoonful of water per day. If your gerbil appears lethargic or dehydrated, that is cause to worry; otherwise, I wouldn't be concerned.

If you want to do a little experiment to find out how much he is drinking, add a known amount of water to their bottle (say, 1.5 cup) and mark the water level of the bottle with a dry-erase marker. Forty-eight hours later, mark the new water level with the dry-erase marker. Dump the remaining water into a measuring cup or a beaker, if you have one, to determine the amount. Subtract that amount from the starting amount, divide by two (because it was over the course of two days), and finally divide by the number of gerbils in the tank. This will give you the approximate amount per day that the gerbils are drinking.

[griselle]

I was wondering the same thing.. I dont think my girls go to the water bottle often but when they do it seems as though they're there forever .. and I know its working properly cause i've checked it and the water level goes down.. maybe she just drinks alot once a day.

[kiki]

Thanks, maybe I'll try out that experiment so I can really figure it out. I guess my biggest concern is if this could be an early sign of a disease, in which case I'd like to know now as the petstore I bought them from guarantees pet health for a set period of time.

[deana]

I read that they don't drink water much either, but all of my gerbils drink it alot. and can take up to a minutes at times. I know they are drinking it because it has to be refilled every several days. I thought mine drank more because I live in Arizona Hugs Deana

[angielouise]

Rocky drinks about 10-15ml in 2 days (I have a bottle with measurements on the side). Sometimes it's hardly moved and other times it's done down to about 15ml. He does seem to spend a lonnggg time at the bottle though - I think maybe it just takes a while to get enough out if it's a spring-loaded ball in the water bottle. He seems to push the ball in with his teeth, then lick the ball, then do that over and over again for about a minute or more.

[caz]

That's about the same amount for each of my girls too Angie!

It's the only way I know they're drinking - when I hear the ball 'clicking' ;D

It's not the fact that they don't drink very much Kiki, it's that they need to have a constant fresh supply each one will only drink as much as it needs, which will vary from gerbil to gerbil

Caroline
Caroline

[christinamarieuk]

My gerbils are the same. It may be that they drink more in captivity because the food mix is drier.

[doomgerbiluk]

A few things about water.
Gerbils in the wild make use of dew in the mornings and evenings (remember they are crepuscular). Yes they also make use of the water in their food but if you look at Eds site www.gerbilshowsuk.org and read the nutrition pages you'll see how limited that would that be.
Gerbils also have a very neat trick, in a drought they can metabolise water, that is they can use water created by their own bodies) to survive. But obviously this only provides the minimum for survival. It is not adequate for an animal to thrive.

In tanks dew is not available. We give food that is even drier than their wild diet. So we substitute a bottle.

The amount they drink will vary from individual to individual but also on their diet, the weather/temperature and sometimes for no reason at all!!

It's not really an issue though as long as they always have access to clean water!!

[kiki]

Aha! Now I get it. Doomgerbiluk, thanks for the detailed explanation, that certainly makes sense about the differences in wild and captive gerbils.