How To Weigh Your Gerbil

[ashgerbil]

How To Weigh Your Gerbil

Weighing you gerbil regularly is extremely important, and should ideally happen every 2-4 weeks. In addition to your daily health checks (see this guide here), it can give you the early warning signs of an illness and can help you assess whether the gerbil's diet is correct.

How do I do this?

First you'll need some regular kitchen weighing scales. Even if you don't have them, you can pick them up from a supermarket for around £5-£8.


If you have a wriggly gerbil who you know will jump out of the weighing tub, put the gerbil in a small carry case like the one below, or you could use an ice cream tub with holes in the lid.


Set the scales to nought after placing the tub/carry case on the scales, and then put the gerbil in the tub to be weighed


Read the weight off the scales as you normally would. As we can see here, Felix weighs around 120g.


Repeat the same steps for all your gerbils. Then remember to record the weights so that you can compare them for the next time that you weigh your gerbils.

Regular Gerbil Weights

Adult female = 70-110g

Adult male = 80-120g


Younger gerbils (up until the age of around 9-12 months) will gain weight as they are growing to their adult size.

Elderly gerbils (2 years +) will usually stay within the adult weight range. Some adult gerbils will gain weight as they become elderly (as they sleep more and generally do less). Large fluctuations of weight are not good, and you'll have to find out the reason for the weight loss/gain and take action.

What do I do now?

Remember: The weight ranges above are merely guidelines. Like humans, gerbils weights can differ according to how big they are in structure, their metabolism rates etc. A big gerbil (as in structure) is obviously going to weigh more than a smaller gerbil. It doesn't matter that much if your gerbil is hitting the lower or higher end of the scale (or even if the weight deviates by around 5 grams), all gerbils are different.

If your gerbil is overweight, you may want to consider adjusting the diet to include less fatty foods. This could mean cutting down on the treats and checking that their food has all the right %'s (look at this guide here) and giving them more exercise and stimulation. An overweight or obese gerbil could experience the same problems that an overweight human could have - increased chance of heart disease, tiredness, high blood pressure etc. So it is important that you keep your gerbil a healthy weight.


With a gerbil that is underweight, you'll probably want to make sure that their diet includes more high-energy foods, and again, check that they are receiving the necessary amounts of nutrients (as above, check this guide here). An underweight gerbil could be suffering from an underlying illness, so check for other symptoms of illness (see this guide here).

Weight +/-
Fluctuations in weight are important to monitor. Small fluctuations in weight (by around 5 grams) are fine, but large fluctuations in weight (of 15-20 grams or more) will need more attention, especially if this is a weight loss. You'll need to find the cause for this weight loss/gain (this may (for example) be teeth problems for a weight loss or (for example) too much fat in the diet for weight gain), and then take the appropriate course of action (this could be seeking veterinary attention, adjusting gerbil diet/exercise etc).