Make an Aquarium Into a Gerbil Cage
Contrary to hamsters, gerbils thrive much better if they live in a glass aquarium that most people use to keep their pet fish in. Because gerbils love digging in their wood chips, glass aquariums keep all of the wood chips inside instead of having them spill out like they would if your gerbils live in wire cages. Glass aquariums can work for both fish and gerbils!
Contents
Steps
Choosing the aquarium
- Buy or clean out your aquarium. If you do not own an aquarium, you'll need to buy one or acquire one somehow. You could ask a family member, friend, or neighbor if they have an old fish tank they're not using, or you could go to garage sales to find an Save Money on Your Gerbil Supplies one. You could also look on-line on websites such as Ebay or Craigslist. Finally, you could simply go to a pet store and pay retail price for a brand-new aquarium.
- If you've owned fish previously and have kept the aquarium, clean it out using some bleach or cleaner. Make sure to rinse out the cage very well afterwards to avoid leaving bleach residue or residue of other chemicals that may be harmful to your gerbils. Finally, make sure to dry out the cage very well.
- Distilled White Vinegar is also safe and can remove any lingering smells from the previous tenants.
- Get the right sized aquarium for your gerbils:
- 10 gallon (38 Litre) tank for 1 or 2 gerbils
- 15 gallon (57 Litre) tank for 3 gerbils
- 20 gallon (76 Litre) tank for 4 gerbils
- 30 gallon (114 Litre) tank for 6 gerbils.
- Buy or acquire a lid for your aquarium. Obviously, unless you want your gerbils to Catch Your Gerbil, having a lid on your aquarium is a must. You can't use those bulky plastic lids that usually come with fish tanks, as your gerbils won't be able to breathe. Instead, buy or acquire a wire or mesh lid for your aquarium. If possible, it should have a removable "door" so that you can reach in and Give Your Gerbil Treats your gerbils. These lids are also frequently used on aquariums containing snakes. You could also attach chicken wire or mesh to a wooden frame that is the correct size for you tank.
Adding levels
This works best for a 10 gallon tank but experiment with larger sizes.
- Acquire a large piece of plexiglass.
- Cut the glass so that it fits like a shelf in one side of the tank. Cut as many pieces as you want to use for shelves. Get help if you've never cut glass before; it is easy to hurt yourself if you don't know what you're doing. Also use a sharp cutter; blunt cutters are dangerous.
- Squirt a line of aquarium sealant or silicone where you wish to have a level. Push the newly cut glass shelf on the line. Press and hold until it is in place. Let dry.
- Add another line of the sealant on top. This will secure the shelf well. Let dry.
- Repeat with additional shelves as needed.
Bedding
- Buy some bedding. Gerbil bedding is usually simply wood chips, however there is also pellet-style bedding available. Gerbil's feces do not have a strong odor, so there is no need for perfumed bedding.
- If you're buying wood chip bedding, it is strongly recommended to use Aspen wood chips.
- Do not use pine or cedar bedding. Cedar bedding is prickly and cuts your gerbil's feet, and when it's urinated on, it releases bad chemicals. Pine is soft, but also releases bad chemicals. Both pine and cedar bedding may cause respiratory problems as well as liver damage in gerbils.
- Never use shredded newspaper as bedding, except for nesting material.
Water and food
- Add a water bottle and a holder. In order to hydrate themselves and have something to drink, you'll need to buy your gerbils a water bottle and a water bottle holder. These are sold at every pet store in various sizes. You do not need to buy one specifically made for gerbils - ones made for hamsters, rats, or mice work just as well. Also, because you're using an aquarium, you'll need to buy a water bottle holder/shield to go inside your gerbil cage in order to keep it up. These are also found at most pet stores. There are two ways to attach a water bottle to a tank - a suction cup to side or a wire through the lid.
- Put in a food dish. You can buy a food dish for your gerbils or simply use a small dish you have at home. Make sure to wash it out before putting it in the cage. Use a glass, ceramic, or metal dish, as your gerbils will chew through a plastic one. Some people like to play up a gerbil's natural foraging behavior by just scattering the food around the tank.
Entertainment
- Add something fun! Gerbils are very active creatures, and will love having some type of entertainment to Play With Gerbils with. Again, avoid anything plastic as they will chew it up. The most popular gerbil toy is the wheel. When buying a wheel, make sure to buy a mesh one and not one with metal rungs. Wheels with metal rungs are easy for your gerbil's tail to get stuck it and pulled off, which you don't want to happen but mesh wheels can cause your hamster to get bumble foot and this is very painful to them. You can also buy gerbil Choose Toys for Your Gerbil and Spoil Your Gerbils from pet stores.
Tips
- Clean a Gerbil Cage the cage every 2 weeks unless it starts to smell or is Know when Your Gerbil Cage Is Dirty. Some older males (over two years old) need to have their tanks cleaned once a week instead of every two weeks.
- Other benefits to using aquariums instead of wire cages include:
- In aquariums, gerbils' tails can't get caught in between the bars and get pulled off
- If gerbils chew on the wire bars in wire cages, it could lead to brain damage as well as broken teeth, which are easily prevented by using an aquarium
- Using an aquarium will make it harder for gerbils to Catch Your Gerbil their cages.
Warnings
- Gerbils will most likely chew off the insulation of your fish tank, meaning that once you've used an aquarium for your gerbils, it cannot be used again for fish, unless resealed along the edges to waterproof.
Things You'll Need
- A glass aquarium
- A wire or mesh lid
- Bedding
- A water bottle
- A water bottle holder
- A food dish
- Gerbil food
- Wheel/gerbil toys
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