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Post by LN on Feb 18, 2020 19:13:09 GMT -8
Our last pair of males (emotional support animals for our homeschooled child) were a couple months apart in age and they had two 15-gal double-decker bins - one with 8-10 inches bedding and the topper bin was just a half-inch deep bedding and their food, water, house, toys and wheel. They did fine in that setup for around 2 and a half years until they passed (one from stroke, the other a few months later from bad sand in the bath). Since my child was home most of the day, they got played with a lot.
Now we have our 2nd pair of males, they are bros the same age (1 yr old in late March). I trashed the previous bins and started fresh with one 30 gal bin (we moved states and that was the only one that would fit in the car), and they've been in that for several months. For the past couple months though, they give every indication that they are severely bored. The bedding is only about 6 inches and has houses submerged as a blockade cutting off a third of the bin, as that is the only way we've been able to keep the water bottle from continuously getting buried. So they can't tunnel very well. They sleep together when they both sleep, there's some light dominance wrestling occasionally. We make sure to give them treats at the same time otherwise the dominant one will try to steal from the other one, but otherwise they seem to be ok. When they are not lying around listlessly, they are digging at the walls or floor of their bin. They're in good health otherwise - shiny fur, shiny full eyes, not fat, not bony, teeth and claws in good condition. They happily will eat their treats and chew their cardboard/sticks. But that's about all they do. My child is back in school so they don't get played with as much as the last pair were. They also don't like the playpen. About 10-15 minutes after they are in there, they are biting at the bars to be put back in their bin. They're not as pleased to be handled or played with anyway as our previous pair. they seem to prefer being in their bin, but when they're in there, they don't do much and it's worrisome to see them just lying there together, eyes half-open, like their bored out of their furry minds. Also, they startle very easily and are constantly scurrying for what tunnels they have, if anyone in the room with them so much as twitches.
I was thinking of making another double-decker and put another 30 gallon bin on top of the current one. So they'd have an upper floor with just a dusting of bedding and food/water/toys/wheel/house, and the bottom would only be 8-10 inches bedding so they could tunnel freely as much as they like and have good tunnels to feel secure.
I guess it's not realistic to hope for definitive advice, because it seems to be about 50/50 for folks who say that much space would be fine and those who say they might declan and fight over territory.
TL:DR - pair of bros, 11mos old, SO bored, currently in one 30gal bin with not much deep uninterrupted bedding (about 6inches) to avoid water-bottle burying. Good health otherwise. Seem to get along well. Planning to add another 30gal bin topper with 1/2 inch bedding, food/water/wheel/toys/house and make bottom floor 8-10 inches bedding for tunneling. Half folks chiming in say that should be good, half folks say they may declan and fight over territory. Right now they lie around listless most of the time or frantically try to tunnel the walls/corners/floor of current bin.
I'm leaning toward adding the topper, as supposedly a male pair is the most stable, and they've been together since birth, and I'm making sure their bedding that will go in the bottom tunneling bin and the small amount on the food/water/wheel level has been well lived in by them for a few weeks first, so it has their co-mingled scents.
Am I way off base? I'm thinking it's an acceptable risk to add the extra topper floorspace if it will get them the deeper bedding for tunneling, and let them have the wheel in there as well. They currently only access the wheel in the playpen and since they don't like being in the playpen much, they really haven't gotten interested in the wheel yet. Our last pair had one guy madly in love with the last wheel.
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Post by sandybadlands on Feb 19, 2020 7:38:04 GMT -8
My first thought is that it might be easier to raise the water bottle than to add another floor to their home. Could you hang it horizontally from the lid? I attach mine to the tank lids using bottle guards and twist-ties so there's room for more bedding. I don't have an argument for or against giving them an extra bin, but it might be an issue of personality or upbringing more than habitat. It sounds like these guys are more nervous than your previous gerbs, so maybe they're just doing what makes them feel safe. And some gerbils are more active than others—my current ones always bury their huts and half of them don't know what to do with a wheel and have never even attempted to tunnel. I just try to do what makes them happy, which usually involves cardboard tubes or running around under a blanket on the couch.  |
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Feb 19, 2020 16:27:39 GMT -8
I had a similar issue with the water bottles getting buried (and also one of the gerbils destroying them), so I now have the water bottle sitting on top of my tank, with the spout poking in through the bars. This might not be possible for you depending on the size of the wire mesh or the shape of the water bottle.  Some people section off an area of deep bedding using bendy bridges, which means you can have a shallower area for the water bottle and possibly a wheel. Have you consider getting a longer bin which would allow you to create a larger digging area while still having a shallow area for the water bottle? This is much less risky than having two bins stacked, as this would create two separate areas which can cause issues. I think a topper is a good option, lots of people have them without any issues. Years ago I had a male pair, and my brother had a female pair and a male pair. They were all in tanks with toppers without any problems. As said before, two bins stacked would actually be more risky. You can limit the risk of problems occurring by having a wide enough ramp for two gerbils to use, or by having two ramps, or even having the bedding high enough that you don't need a ramp at all. If you do notice problems after adding a topper, you can always remove it. I hope you can find a solution for your gerbils. One of my gerbils also suffers from regular boredom, but in her case it manifests as her destroying everything in sight and making as much noise as she can. |
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Post by gracesu on Mar 1, 2020 10:57:29 GMT -8
My gerbils also go through stages of boredom and it can get so bad that one of them started chewing on the bars of the cage while the other scratches as the glass. My advice would be to enrich their enclosure with items such as hideouts, chew toys, and puzzle toys. A couple I've used are listed below. Not every gerbil is the same, so when selecting toys for your gerbils, its going to require a lot of testing out items. For my gerbils, I notice they really like cardboard items (toilet paper rolls, cut out amazon boxes, and tissue boxes), timothy hay items (sticks, apples, and other chew toys), and edible tunnels. In general gerbils love anything they can chew on! However, this won't fully solve the boredom problem, I think its still a good idea to let them play a while in the playpen. 10-15 minutes seems like a enough time to be in unmarked territory. if you haven't already done so, definitely add a wheel, a sand bath and some toys in the play pen to have them investigate stuff while in their new surrounds. I hope this helps!
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Post by jal on Mar 2, 2020 8:36:12 GMT -8
I added a topper and think it does help to prevent boredom. It also makes it easy to place a water bottle and wheel and they seem to like the interaction. I've made sure there are two ways up and down using a bendy ladder and a grassy tunnel as a step. I scatter feed so the dominant gerbil can't "guard" the food, which can lead to de-clanning. Joining tanks or separate compartments is far more risky. I made this mistake myself years ago, long before I knew about de-clanning! I had to separate females, never males, but probably risky for males too. The females were pairs of littermates who I'd had since they were babies so it doesn't only happen with trios or unrelated gerbils unfortunately.
Not as cheap as cardboard but my gerbils love different textures to chew. They especially love loofah. The larger pieces work out cheaper and can be cut into smaller pieces. Rabbit size grass mats are also good and can be cut into 2 or 3 pieces. They love shredding it and adding it to their bedding. This keeps them busy for some time! Timothy hay or oat hay (they love the seed heads) can also keep them occupied.
They may feel a bit exposed in the playpen so lots of cardboard boxes or tubes they can hide in if they get scared may help.
The little wooden houses covered in bark connected with a tube are a favourite. They like to chew the bark but I wouldn't put it in their tank as some people say it has nails in it, though I'm fairly sure mine hasn't. There are several different versions.I got mine from ebay in the UK for £12.99. Make sure it's not made from cedar wood. Some are apparently. It should be okay as it's solid wood but I'm not sure about the bark (which one of mine eats)! The version I have is a pale wood and has no smell. I tried to post a link for a version in the US but it didn't work! It's the Niteangel natural living tunnel system on Amazon.
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