Gerbil Constantly Doing Backflips!!!

[minnesota2121]

Thats right, my one year old female mongolian gerbil keeps on doing backflips off of the top of her tank. This may sound kind of cool at first but the problem is, she has been doing this every night for about a month!!! When she hits the top of the tank, it makes this really loud sound and keeps me awake! And...she doesn't just do it once, she does it every 10 seconds or so for almost an hour straight! I cant stand it anymore! I am almost to the point where I think something is wrong with her. If ANYONE has any ideas on how to stop this sort of crazy behavior PLEASE HELP ME!

[gerbillover2000]

sometimes mine do that when they try to get out. they try to cling to the lid. i say give them a good exercise, and wear her down.

[minnesota2121]

But she never stays up there and grabs on. She just hits the top and does it again. This goes on constantly for almost TWO hours straight sometimes!

[AndreaS15]

what else do you have in her tank to keep her occupied?
Does she have a tank mate?

[doomgerbiluk]

Very simply she's bored and/or stressed.
I've seen jirds do this at a show when they're in a small tank without their usual activities.

[Ritzie/Admin]

Well I have had two males who did this. One started the other learned it and started too. They lived in a large tank (surface 40 x 80 cm) and with an artificial burrow, sandbathm, braches, toys, etc.

The wouldn't stop either. I've changed the lid, with gauze with a finer/smaller mesh (don't know if that is the right English word). But gauze with smaller holes in it, so that they couldn't cling to it. After that they stopped this behaviour.

But there might indeed be a cause, like boredom, etc. This must be fixed first if present.

[doomgerbiluk]

Isn't it a stereotypical behaviour? So it is learnt from an activity of a bored aniaml and then when the issue is solved the habit remains, like corner digging.

[ashgerbil]

hmm, maybe! it's like those hammies you see on 'you've been framed' where they just keep doing backflips off the roof of their little plastic house because they were bored mebbe a hamster expert would know if the hamsters (i think they were robos) do this as a stereotypical behaviour?

[minnesota2121]

I don't know how it would be possible for her to be doing this out of bordem... First of all, she is in a very unique set up, but a very good one for gerbils! I have two ten gallon tanks that are connected using a 6 foot piece of PVC Pipe. (I'll try to post a pic.) They go back and forth between the two tanks all day, so they get plenty of excersise that way. She has two other tank mates so she definately is not lonely. I have a wheel, plenty of cardboard and wood for them to chew on. The only difference in this case is that she does not even attempt to grab on to the top...she has never stayed hanging on to the top. And does anyone know why this would only happen at night? It seems like they never sleep at night now and only during the day because once she starts doing her backflip thing during the night, the other two can't sleep anymore and they're out and about all night. Any suggestions?

[minnesota2121]

Here is a pic of my set up... As you can see there are two tanks with a tube that connects them (it goes behind the stand). There seems to be plenty of stuff to do in there (tubes, wheel, cardboard, etc.) and she only seems to do it in the tank on the left.. *sigh*

[doomgerbiluk]

Very nice and means you gerbils behaviour is odd and I'm afraid I have no explanation.
Maybe she just enjoys it :/

Here's a thought, clear more space in one tank (probably the one she backflips in) and give a deep (twice gerbil height at least) layer of hay and woodshavings with buried tubes. Maybe she'll be so busy digging and tunneling she'll feel less like backflipping!!!

[AndreaS15]

Nice set up!

I have a gerbil who will run in her wheel full out, then hang onto the mesh bottom untill she spins up to the top, then to a flip and spin, so she can run the other direction full out again.. she will do this over adn over. At first I had no clue what teh heck shewas doing!
It's really runny to watch, her daughter has now picked up this little stunt, though she's still not half as good as her mom is at it. It's just amazing.
I'm thinking maybe your silly acrobatics gerbil is kind of like my wheel 'flip' gerbil LOL

[lizzy]

I agree with whats been said its possibly because she doesnt have any space to dig. My gerbils make tunnels all the time and they rarely get bored.

[ashgerbil]

wow! you have an amazing tank set up minnesota! ;D i know that i certainly wouldn't be bored if i had a place like that to live in! lol

[Ritzie/Admin]

doomgerbiluk said:

Isn't it a stereotypical behaviour? So it is learnt from an activity of a bored aniaml and then when the issue is solved the habit remains, like corner digging.

Yes it is a steotypical behaviour. Although not always from boredom (often it is). Captivity prevents many natural behaviour, what can result in stereotypic behaviour, thus from frustration you could say. In my tank they had a lot of space and things to do. But they were used to walk around freely for some hours in my living room when they were awake and when I was home. They got used to it, and sometimes somewhat angry frustrated when I did not have time for, or it seems like that they were like that.

What the precise reaseon is for stereotypic behaviour is always difficult to tell. An as most natural enclosure and items to prevent boredom can help.

Animals that start a stereotypic behaviour usually won't stop easily with showing this behaviour. Like you mentioned with corner digging. An artificial burrow can decrease it, but not stop when they have started it before they had one.

Sometimes you need to block or prevent the behaviour by something. I know that they in zoos sometimes change the enclosure (so that they can't walk in the same direction each time) or for example let them reproduce, etc. It is always different.