Sandbathing

[jadetigress]

I've put a bowl of sand in my gerbils' cage, but they aren't quite getting the whole 'bathing' concept. They'll kinda sit in there and paw at the sand, or they'll eat it. Is this something they'll figure out with time, or can I teach them somehow?

[pepandmax]

Some gerbils like to sand bathe, some don't.

One thing, though--in what type of container is the sand? I originally put the sand in a bowl, and my gerbils hopped in it, pawed in it, peed in it, and that's all. Once I put it into a flatter, shallower pie plate, they went nuts. It appears that they must have enough space to really flip around well.

So, I'd recommend a pie plate, it worked very well for me.

[jyrenze]

I think its just an instinct. Only one of my gerbils likes to roll around in the sand, the other I have to sprinkle sand on top of him to make him groom himself, otherwsie he will only paw around it then try to escape

[ashgerbil]

the gerbils should get it pretty easily, but as pepandmax and jyrenze have said, some gerbs just don't like taking a bath! ;D lol
Suki loves bathing and has at least 3 baths every night, while Dusty hardly ever bathes, she usually just sits in it and tries to annoy her sister
my newest boys took a few days to get used to the sand bath, at first they just ate the sand and dug around in it, but they soon learnt how to bathe and now love their sand bath ;D