Habitrail....

[khelkhet]

At the pet store as I stood there oogling the three cutest little gerbils in the world (they were all mostly black, one had white toes, one had a white stripe under his chin and the other had a white nose) we began investigating cages. With a habitrail, I can get one of the little buggers for free and then will have to pay $16 canadian to buy the other two...After all I don't wanna leave them all alone Anyway, I'm wondering if a habitrail would be OK to use. Yes, part of it is made of plastic, however hamsters gnaw on things as well to break their teeth off, too, and it seems to be suitable for them. I'd prefer to have a habitrail, as it is the safest for rodents...And the makers of habitrail insist that there's no reason why gerbils couldn't live in them just as well as hamsters.

[andrea]

Hi there!,

Welcome to the forum. You will not regret getting gerbils i promise you and you will soon be wanting more and more ;D

As for habitrails, which kind of habitrail are you thinking of getting there are several designs, the main draw back of them is the wire, gerbils like to chew the wires and therefore give themselves very sore and bald noses...

we keep ours in plastic cages, we have the ferplast dunas, i believe that ferplast have stopped making them but there are a few other makes around that are the same. Heres a pic of a savic which is he same but cheaper:



the main thing with plastic is to be very careful there is no opitunity for them to get there teeth into it, a gerbil can chew there way out over night touch wood a problem we have not faced yet.

Most tanks on the market are ok, just try to keep away from the "commercial" type tank like rotastacks etc. Try to avoid wire cages as gerbil tend to think they are spidermen and i have heard of people lossing gerbils as they have climbed up the wires, fallen and broken ther backs.

Anyway good luck, when you get your new gerbs i hope you enjoy them as much as we all do and piccys please ;D

Andrea

[khelkhet]

This is the exact habitrail I have my eye on...It's only $25 bucks at wal-mart, so eh

[andrea]

Hi,

We tried that habitrail once for just weaned pups, they are ok, but a little small for fully grown gerbils, our adult male was not impressed when we put him in it. The wheel in it was great the pups loved it, although we have found that adults grow out of the interest in the wheel.

As I said before the main draw back of them is the wires, they get sore noses from chewing them constantly. How old are the gerbils you have seen, gerbil can get quite big for example our large CP slate male - Sooty would give a sirian hamster a run for its money. also with the wire they will kick the bedding everywhere as gerbil love to dig.

Most people will tell you you need a fish tank, i my opinion that great if you have space and can lift such a thing. the dunas are perfectly fine as long as you are careful.

I am not saying don't get the habitrail i am just saying look around, we have found whats best can vary from gerbil to gerbil and we have found things out by trial and error.

Andrea

[queenofthenile]

For three gerbils, that safari habitrail thing is too small. You need at least 5 gallons for 3 gerbils. So preferably a fifeteen gallon tank with a homemade lid of wire mesh.

[khelkhet]

Okay, I'll keep these things in mind. Safety-wise, will the habitrail be safe for the little guys? I checked out the space between the bars, and am getting one that has the ability to have the bars replaced with 'mouse sized' bars, just in case the opening between the bars is wide enough for them to escape...I don't want my cats getting a gourmet dinner. I've also got those little locks that come on luggage to hold the cage closed as a secondary backup to make sure the cage doesn't open. Heck, I even have lots of gerbil-specific food already, heh. I have until the end of the month before I will have enough money to buy the $25 cage and take my babies home with me, so til then I'll probably be pretty active on here asking questions and stuff

And, with that said: Bedding. One webpage I found says to use Aspen shavings for the cage, another says not to have shavings at all, just have the litter box in the corner (The gerbils at the pet shop are already litter trained), another says to NOT use the rodent bedding at all, just give them toilet paper or paper towel or kleenex and let them make their own bed however they like. Yet another side says that he used a huge 100 gallon tank and filled the bottom half with dirt and he let them burrow. That could be interesting too. What to do for bedding? what has worked for you?

[andrea]

The habitrail should be safe but be prepared that they may grow out of it at a later date.

as for bedding its a bit irrelevent for me to awnser as I am in the UK, i see you are in canada so what will be available to you will be different. I use a product called megazorb - www.megazorb.co.uk this is a horse bedding that is made of paper pulp.

I would say keep away from dirt or peat although a fun idea has its drawbacks. never use sawdust its far to fine and will mak you sneeze and the gerbs. wood shavings is great most people say tio keep away from pine, but again in the uk the woodshavings are not wood percific.

Most things are trial and error and you will soon learn whats best for you little guys, some things that don't work for some may work for you.

Good Luck
Andrea

[queenofthenile]

Another Canadian, cool . I'm way over on the western side of the country (Alberta). As for bedding, I use Aspen. Both pine and cedar shavings contain volatile oils that can aggrevate allergies in gerbils. You can also use carefresh, but I find Aspen is less expensive.

With that safari cage, you can always attach a ten gallon to it using either habitrail pipe, or aluminum dryer exhaust pipe (I've connected 2 ten gallons this way). Then you wouldn't have to worry about space. You can also make your own lid for the ten gallon by making a rectangle out of scrap wood and stapling wire mesh to the top.

About the gerbils at the pet shop, I would only buy a pair. Groups larger than two can wind up fighting once they hit sexual maturity. This is especially problematic with female gerbils. So unless you are leaving a lone gerbil at the store, I would only buy two.

[sweetie]

Hey,
I use the Hartz cages. They are great for our gerbils. I have a picture of them in a different thread under housing: show me your set up. They like it. I have used aspen and carefresh. Carefresh is supposed to be better but I found (like Andrea said) that it is irritating them. I am going to go back to the aspen. Also there are more threads on bedding in the Housing section. The habitrail does look a little small for three gerbils. If they are too confined as Queenie said, the gerbils will get stressed and you may see more aggression.

Welcom to the Forum. It is a great place for inforamtion. Andrea is also right about you will want more!!!!

[crazycritter]

I have that safari cage. My gerbil Thorne was climbing the bars when he lived in it, and I came home to find him hanging upside down from the bars by his back leg with a VERY swollen foot!
The cage was WAY to small for him even by himself and you couldn't fit cardboard boxes or anything in it. He got very bored. He also chewed the little ladder to shreds, and the platform is half gone. Don't get it! It's a bad cage. They fall apart very easily as well and are hard to clean.

Get a ten gallon tank for your two gerbils. They're cheap from Petcetera and Petsmart.

[RyanF]

I just switched from pine to aspen, because one of my gerbs was allergic. Aspen is much better, and I highly recommend it.

[j]

ANY of the Habitrail cages are way too small. Same with Crittertrails. Especially for 3. (Some of HARTZ brand isn't bad, but they're hard to find)

To connect enough of them so it would be big enough would be expensive. And then on top of that, you'll have fights because they tend to 'stake out territory' by fighting over tubes, blocking eachother, kicking eachother out.. you could have 3 gerbils hiding out in 3 different connections.

Not safe either, they'll chew the bars and just get red/raw noses.
Habitrails are more like eye candy for people, especially little kids. Does nothing for the animals. They can't dig and burrow, which is natural for them. Messy too, because they'll kick the bedding up and out of it.

Cheapest/best/safest/most natural thing to do is just by an aquariam. 10gallon tanks are only about $10 at Walmart (Probably like $15 canadian) Covers you can make yourself really cheap.

[sweetie]

J,
Did you see my set up in the thread "show me your set up". I have enough space and yes it was expensive!! I wish I had done my research before I bought it at the shelter. I did not know they where going to steak out territory. Thanks for the info. So far there have been no issues but now that I am aware of it I will pay attention!! Thanks Again. You are also right when you say they are hard to find.

If I could suggest that a tank is probably better for the gerbils and the owners. You also are able to enjoy them a lot more since you can "see" them. Picture taking is also a lot easier.

[canadianknight]

I used to have that exact cage....plus several accessory rooms. I've since gotten rid of it and replaced it with glass aquariums.

Several reasons.

1. The bars and gnawing.
2. Space
3. Litter getting kicked out & daily vacuuming.
4. No chance for the gerbs to dig
5. We can SEE the gerbils better through the glass

I'm also in Canada, and I also use aspen. Works great.

Smaller glass aquariums can usually be found for cheap. Especially if stores sell ones that simply aren't water-tight for terrariums. Add a water bottle, wire lid, and a nice tail-safe wheel, and you are in business.

[khelkhet]

I've got several aquariums from my 'yay lets breed betta splendens' days, I just need to find the proper cover...I know it's here somewhere, my room is a mess.

I've decided what Imma do is get the habitrail temporarily, which is where they'll live until I get the 10 gallon tank set up. I've got to shop cheap cause my finances are very low and the prices in Nova Scotia tend to be stupidhigh...thank god for Wal-Mart

Now, one of the pet stores--the other became VERY offended when I offered--has agreed that if I will breed gerbils that they'll take them off my hands, all they ask is that I separate them into male and female because they don't know how to tell the difference. So shortly after I pick up my babies I'll have to start doing research on the genetics and whatnot, cause I want to make sure I'm not going to be breeding sick critters.

I've just now found another tank that I used to use when I had my rats...After I find the cover I'll use my digital to snap a picture and then will post it here, and ask for feedback on whether or not that is a Good Thing to keep adults and baby gerbils in.

Bah, why'd they have to be so cute....The pet store offered to put two albinos on hold for me too. I can see this getting expensive, hehe!