toys?

[shibby69]

i'm going to set up my gerbil tank tomorrow, ready for monday, is there anything i should get for them to play with. i know they like cardboard tubes, but, anything else?

thankyou

[RitzieAnn]

cereal boxes too... they love cardboard, even if it's not a tube. Also, I have a cat ball (those little things that come from the $1 store (or grocery store) with the bell inside of it) hanging in 2 of my cages. Also, I have 1 dangling bird toy. THey LOVE popsicle sticks too.... it's harder than cardboard, but softer than wood chews. Those are the 3 things my gerbies get to chew on. mine also have glass jars, or cups. You should be able to get a 3 pack of glasses from your local $1 store. (that's where I got mine.)

[firefly]

WC rolls, a coconut with a hole in it, twigs to chew on (make sure you use twigs from fruit trees, willow, birch, hazel, beech, maple-tree), you can make a sandbath for them (use chinchilla or bird-sand) by putting sand in a glass jar wich RitzieAnn just mentioned, little houses of wood or hay (you can get them in your local petstore), an exercise weel (make sure their feed or tail doesn't get trapped, check [ftp]http://home.studenten.net/~petermaas/gerbils/toys.htm#wheel[/ftp] for more information), and of course lots of bedding to digg in. You can also make houses out of a broken flowerpot.

If you look at Peter's website on the 'Interior and Toys-page' You can get a lot of idea's.
( [ftp]http://home.studenten.net/~petermaas/gerbils/toys.htm[/ftp] )

[RyanF]

Also, if you find your gerbils wanting to chew at night, give them egg carton boxes. Make sure they have no egg on them though. When the gerbils chew it, it makes almost no sound at all because of it's softness.

[shibby69]

thanks for the ideas

[gerbilroo]

a previous thread recommended stearing clear of egg cartobns due to the risk of salmonella - I think this may be what finished off my first two gerbils..

Having heard this, I think the risk is too great - even though the shape of an egg box is quite cool to play on...

[GerbilGal]

Cardboard cup holders are quiet and they love them.

[kansascitykennel]

My gerbils get clean cardboard (meaning no ink or glue) I was told anything that had been printed on was bad for them. They get toilet paper tubes, twigs from our walnut tree, do not use apple, I can't remember why but I heard apple wood is bad for them too. They get wood chews but only the kind that are colored with food dye. To test yours drop one in water, if it bleeds into the water turning the water the same color it is food dye if not I don't recomend using it. I use a solid wheel and clean it every three days. I use commercial napkins for nesting material as facial tissue and toilet paper tends to stick to their tounges and are a choking hazard. I give alfalfa cubes instead of loose hay because one of my gerbils got a cut similar to a paper cut while trying to chew some loose hay. I also use tinkle balls, and other similar cat toys. I uses some bird toys as well . . . I think thats all the toys I use.

Kathy