Gerbils without water

[Jamie]

Hi all,

I'm posting this out of guilt and worry and would love some feedback as to whether I should be worried. I recently brought home two gerbils, Zeus and Apollo. They were baby males and seemed so happy in their massive new home. They are friendly and fun. The home they live in has a fish tank glass bottom with a full cage that sits on top with ramps, a sand bath, and all that fun stuff. They even have an entire section to burrow on the bottom. So what's the issue, you ask? Well, before purchasing the top cage piece, I only had the glass aquarium tank bottom, so I bought a water bottle that had a suction side or the ability to screw onto a cage. I assumed I would be using the suction. Then, I had the top piece made to sit on the tank and ended up using the water bottle in that section. It's meant for gerbils and other small creatures. I tried hanging it at different heights, but was noticing the water level not going down at all. I assumed it was because gerbils didn't drink too much water.

I saw Apollo try doing what I thought was drinking. For the last week, I've given them some fresh vegetables every couple of days — cucumber, lettuce, celery, pepper, all of which have water in them or on them, in the case of the lettuce. Yesterday (a week and a day after getting them), I started to get concerned that the water level really hadn't moved at all, so when Apollo was up top, I started to press the water thing to see if he was interested. He came over and I saw him struggling and realized he couldn't figure out the mechanism (and this water bottle had such great reviews!). So I continued to pump the water onto my hand and he started voraciously licking it off. Then, Zeus came up and started to lick Apollo's face where the water had been and my stomach dropped. I quickly grabbed a small dish and filled it with water and put it in their cage. I have never seen animals drink so much. They kept drinking and drinking and I was almost in tears because I realized for the past week they have been deprived of any true form of water. They were behaving fine and are still behaving fine—eating, playing, etc. My question (after far too much explanation): Did I do any damage to these gerbils long term when it comes to their health? I ordered your run of the mill water bottle which will arrive today and left the water dish in their cage in the interim. Poor guys. I love them and hope they're okay.

[beachbumgerbils]

First of all, accidents happen. Don't beat yourself up too much. I had a gerbil that chewed a hole in a corner of his plastic water bottle and drained it completely. He didn't have water for at least 24 hours and got to sit in wet bedding. I'm sure most of us has had a water scare in one form or another.

The good news is that gerbils are desert creatures and have very efficient kidneys. The fresh veggies probably helped to provide a lot of their water needs for those days. It is very unlikely that this did any lasting damage. So take a deep breath and consider leaving the water dish in there long term so that they always have a backup source of water.

[Jamie]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for saying that. It is so reassuring to hear. I seriously could not stop worrying about this and wanted to ask the experts. <3

[yeti218]

Glad to hear they're okay. Animals can be pretty resilient. Theyve probably forgotten all about it by now.

When i first got my gerbils i bought them a water bottle with double ball bearings and they didnt seem to be able to use it. I think the weight of the water and the 2 ball bearings was too much for them. It also had good reviews because it didn't leak.

I bought a different water bottle and they took to it right away. I had a little dish of water in their tank until i confirmed that they both knew how to use the new water bottle. They filled the dish with bedding and id need to clean it out and replace the water often.

[Jamie]

Thanks for that insight as well! You are all so helpful. I've been a cat owner for years and know everything there is to know about cats, but these are my first gerbils. My 7-year-old did so much research on gerbils to the point where she knows what certain stances they do mean, exactly what they needed in their cages, how to be patient with them, which vegetables were safe, etc. It was an amazing amount of work done on her part and later my part, so we took the plunge and I couldn't be happier. We're all girls in the house, including my cat, so it's nice to have our two little boys too. I love them.

[catnut]

sorry to hear that they couldn't work the water bottle, if they seem to be acting okay, they should be fine. Make sure when you get the new bottle, it works with your finger and water does come out of it, sometimes the cheap ones are the best esp. with young gerbils. If you have a water dish and notice they are getting bedding into it, put it on some kind of platform, a rectangle large enough tin for them to stand on, upside down does well and is easy to wash. Welcome to the exciting lives of owning gerbils, they are great little pets. take care, Tammy

[jamsnsamsn]

Thanks so much for the advice, Tammy!

[yeti218]

Dec 8, 2020 12:16:54 GMT -8 Jamie said:

Thanks for that insight as well! You are all so helpful. I've been a cat owner for years and know everything there is to know about cats, but these are my first gerbils. My 7-year-old did so much research on gerbils to the point where she knows what certain stances they do mean, exactly what they needed in their cages, how to be patient with them, which vegetables were safe, etc. It was an amazing amount of work done on her part and later my part, so we took the plunge and I couldn't be happier. We're all girls in the house, including my cat, so it's nice to have our two little boys too. I love them.

Thats really cool that your daughter learned so much about gerbils. Sounds like she could teach me a few things.

They are really charming little rascals.

[Markpd]

Sounds like the plenty of fresh veg you gave them kept them going well , even though they were thirsty, if they'd been badly dehydrated they wouldn't have been running around as normal.

When I 1st got my boys I wasn't entirely sure they'd worked out the water bottle or where they were (I don't know what they had beforehand), 1 was over a barrier down 2 ramps (which took them some days to work out), but the other was directly above their hut so easy to get to. Anyway, exactly a day later I suddenly realised that one of them had been drinking for quite a while, then his brother tried to muscle in and their was some squeaking and pushing, at which point he let him have a drink, which he did for quite sometime! Then the original brother went back on it! It was quite clear to me that they were desperate to get a drink and were very thirsty! Poor beggars (they hadn't had any veg at that time).
Btw I'd bought a 2nd bottle to replace the ancient plastic bottle I have, but ended up keeping both as the (glass) living world one I'd bought had a small number of reviews stating that their pets couldn't get water out and had got badly thirsty! It seemed fine for months, but it does occasionally stop working (I think maybe it gets an air lock?), so I check it daily now as well as keeping that other bottle (which I will have to replace as the rubber stop is cracking up).

[jewels1171]

Actually somebody told me that when they had gerbils, she forgot to give them new water for so long that their eyes were shut! But they were totally fine after she game them water poor things. But we are very careful now.
They should be totally fine

[Markpd]

[mygerbilprince]

Don't be mad at yourself for it because they don't even know you were the person who put in the water bottle. It was really a total accident and it doesn't sound like hurt them at all. The veggies probably helped but just don't give them too much of those now that they are getting water because they would will get diarrhea because they are desert creatures and only have a small amount of water every day or so.