New Litter Born January 6, 2010!

Aquariums are the most widely used cage for gerbils. When you go to the pet store to purchase your cage you will find many choices. You will see lots of wire cages, colorful plastic cages, and combinations of plastic and wire. While some of those cages may look fun, and could work out ok for a short time, you will soon realize that maybe they weren't the smartest choice for gerbils. Wire cages are a definite no no if they have a wire bottom. Little gerbil feet cannot walk on wire bottoms because they could get sores on their feet or even get a leg caught and broken. Wire cages also let in drafts so you must be careful when deciding where to put the cage. If the cage has a solid bottom and a wire top it may be ok but gerbils have a tendency to chew on the wires and can start to rub the fur off of their noses and annoy their human companions. Those colorful plastic cages will work for a VERY short time. Gerbils are voracious chewers and will reduce that colorful cage to a pile of colorful plastic dust in no time. This brings us back to aquariums. Gerbils sure can't chew their way out of them, they don't let in drafts, and have solid bottoms. They also let you see clearly into your gerbil's cage to watch them in action. You will need to purchase a lid for your aquarium. You will want to purchase a sturdy mesh lid with locks. You can usually find these in the reptile section of your local pet store. The general rule of thumb is that you need 5 gallons per gerbil with the minimum size of a 10 gallon tank. We like to use 20 gallon long tanks.