sleeping in the day?

[tasha]

I was wondering if your gerbils sleep a lot during the day? I know that they are supposed to be active in the day and at night, but mine seem to only come out for a couple of minutes a few times during the day. They are most active early in the morning and in the late evening. I would love to interact with them during the day since I work at home, and have them sleep more at night. Would it be bad for me to try to keep them awake a little longer during the day to switch their sleeping patterns a bit?

Thanks for any comments. Tasha.

[doomgerbiluk]

Tasha talk to them regularly, get them out, play with them, sing to them
your gerbils will adapt to your timetable
if you give themlots af attention they will love it
and gerbils dont mind being woken up either

[tasha]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try to play with them more during the day. The problem I'm finding is that they are MUCH more skittish and nervous in the middle of the day and dive into their tunnels when I put my hand in their tank. In the evening, they jump right onto my hand and run up to my shoulders. They are like two different sets of critters!

I'll try to bribe them during the day I guess.

[j]

Let them come to you instead of putting your hands in the tank after them.. even if it works during the night. I think they see differently during the day and night too because of the way their eyes are.
And yeah, get them used to your voice so they won't freak out and you can just kind of call them out when you want them.

Try holding sunflower kernells over their tank.. that almost always wakes them up and they come out sniffing

I noticed the same with mine though. THey sleep more in the day and are way more active during the night. I think it's the light or something because temp doesn't change much, noise level is about the same.. Seems like around 10am and 6pm is their 'active" times during the day..and nothing really different happens around that time. 5 different tanks and they gave themselves that schedule, i had nothing to do with it.

[doomgerbiluk]

if light is part of it why not draw the curtains or somethign similar?
Reduce the light levels when you play with them at first and i'm sure they will come round

[tasha]

I'll try that. Thanks. ;D