bedding for gerbil

[pedapea]

I was canoeing around on the internet a few mins. ago...reading about gerbils. I'm trying to land on perfect pet for my kids, and one that they or me aren't allergic to. The only problem with the rodent type pet idea is the shavings. I used to have a guinea pig..which they were allergic too..aarrgghh. Then I discovered they were also allergic to the shavings that went in the pig cage. I was going to get a couple of rats, set up tank for rats, filled tank with shavings for new arrivals, kids that were in same room with tank started coughing like crazy. I removed shavings coughing stopped. Brother. No rats. Husband freaked anyway when he discovered I wanted rats. He said he never wants a rat or mouse in the house. He never said anything about gerbils

Anyway, I'm veering off topic. I came across a site about gerbils and it showed a lot of different cage ideas that people have come up with. In one persons site, they filled their gigantic tank with sand. Is this ok? Gerbils are a burrowing type rodent, aren't they? Would they be able to burrow around in sand? Would they be warm enough in the winter? That sand idea, tho, sounds pretty darn good for someone with my allergy prone kids.

Oh, I was also wondering. Are gerbils a fairly clean pet. The piggie I had was disgustingly filthy. She was housed in a 55 gallon tank and peed and pooed everywhere..even in her hidy box. Especially in her hidey box. Gross. The whole tank had to be thoroughly cleaned every 2-3 days. Let me tell you..my kids and me were not impressed. What a pain in the a$$. I know different rodents pick a certain place for bathroom duties and only go in one spot. Are gerbils like this?

Thanx for listening and answering all my questions.

[PJ's Mom]

For our piggies and our bunny, we use Carefresh.

http://www.carefresh.ca/home.html

We started using it because one of our pigs got mites from using pine and cedar and we were told pine and cedar aren't good for them anyway. Iw ould imagine you could use it for a gerbil, too.

[jodi]

I have a paper shredder and started using it for my bunnies. they love it. I got the idea from a bedding material made of old newspapers and decided it was cheaper to make my own than to buy it.

[pedapea]

Carefresh I know about. My pet shop here sells it, but the problem is it's way out of my price range.

The shredded newspaper idea is great. Is newspaper ok tho, I always hear about never using newspaper for your rodents as they chew on it, and can become sick from ingesting the ink. If this is ok, I know of an old newspaper goldmine.

I'm still waiting to find out if gerbils are a stinky little pet or not. And, do they go in one area of their cage or everywhere and anywhere. Thanx.

[IRescue452]

I use a paper shredder for my cockroach, but not newspaper as it has ink in it. When we had gerbils we would clean out their tank completely once a week and then add one or two cup holder cartons from Burger King, the gerbils were allergic to most of the store bought beddings. They had the cartons shredded into bedding within the hour and nobody was allergic. Not only was it cheaper and didn't cause allergy problems, but they got a good amount of activity doing so and also kept their teeth at a good length. Gerbils are not the cleanest animals either and if you are so disgusted by an animal going in their cage and in their tunnels and houses I would recommend a stuffed animal as their is no care needed.

[pedapea]

The cup holder idea is great. Oh, and just a sec. Was that a shot? I think it went like this..."if you are so disgusted by an animal going in their cage and in their tunnels and houses I would recommend a stuffed animal as their is no care needed." Thank you very much for that bit of info needed. Just what I needed to make my day. I injure my back so severely the other day that I can barely move and today I get told to get a stuffed animal. Geez. I really DO NOT appreciate that crack.

Just so I don't have to ever repeat myself again I was born and raised on a farm and shovelling s**t is not new to me. NO. I am not disgusted by animals going in their cages as that is par for the course. I wonder where else they would go if not in their cages. When I was talking about my guinea pig..she really was a disgusting pig. I've had guinea pigs in the past and they were all basically clean animals, going in a certain area of their cages. This one preferred to go everywhere, she would back up her ass to her hanging food dish, lift up her rear and pee and crap in the food. Her fave place to relieve herself was in her hidey box where she slept. She would roll around in her own s**t. Any kind of fruit/veggie you gave her she would promptly pee and crap on, then eat. The ppl in the house that weren't allergic to her could only touch her with rubber gloves as she was always filthy and stunk to high heaven. YOu could have given this animal a bath everyday, but I didn't as it would severly dry out her skin and coat. I'm sorry to all you guinea pig lovers out there. Yes, they are very cute, but I would never get another one as they are one of the dirtiest animals I have ever had. In the years that I had her I had the opportunity to talk to quite a few other ppl who also had piggies and they were of the same opinion as I have.

Once again. Thanx for the shot IRescue452. YOu have once again reaffirmed my belief that some ppl can't just give you an answer without throwing in some snide remark...for good measure. I dunno. I guess ppl feel somehow superior when they do that. Is that your answer to everyone when they ask general questions about some kind of pet...get a stuffed toy. God. Thanks a lot. YOu have ruined my day!!!!

[wolfsoul]

Make sure to never use pine or cedar -- they are both very bad, especially cedar. They contain toxins called "phenols" and when inhaled, the phenols ruin the lungs and airways. It causes the animal to become quite sick -- you might notice coughing or sneezing or discharge in the eyes and nose. Cedar is the worst because not only does it have more phenols, but it also has little microscopic barbs that rip and tear the airways and lungs and get stuck in there.

My favourite bedding is hemp shavings. They don't smell, they are absorbant, not too dusty. I don't like Carefresh. I find that it smells really bad and I'm constantly finding it around my house. It must get stuck to clothes really easily. Aspen is okay. It can be dusty, and I find that it's odor control and absorbancy isn't very good.

Gerbils are fairly clean. Their poops are very small and they don't pee very much, plus they spend alot of timegrooming themselves. However, you have to make sure you clean the cage often. A friend of mine had gerbils and they would burrow down and pee inside their tunnels. She decided to clean the cage one day. Inside the shavings was a wood tunnel she had bought ages ago. She didn't even know they still had it. Inside the tunnel was sooo much mold and rot, because the gerbils had peed in it. Gerbils don't pick or choose one place to go n, they just go everywhere. One of the easiest small animals to litter train is a rabbit. Rabbits are also good for older children. My eight year old cousin just got a baby Holland lop, and it is the best pet she could ask for. Remember that most cages should be cleaned atleast once a week.

Good luck!

Edit: Oops, forgot to answer your cage question. I know that rats need ventilation, but I hear that gerbils do alright in tanks. My friend just got a really tall tank and filled it with shavings so that the gerbils could burrow.

[cali]

YES you can use sand. I use sand for my boys and shaving for my girls. I love the sand, however no they cannot burrow in it, not very well anyway, so you will need to give then cradbord to chew up they will chew up so well and use it for a nest, it makes a very warm soft nest for them. make sure you use playground sand, the stuff meant for kids sandboxes, and you will need a screen cover on the tank as gerbils jump lol make sure the screen cover is tight as I had to replace my boys water bottle with a dish because they were using the water bottle to climb up and push open the screen and off they went. they are VERY clever little creatures. they are good for kids as they are neither diaturnal nor nocturnal they simpley sleep when the kids are not playing with them lol and they only bit if they feel threatend. and yes they are very clean critters. I have had gerbils almost my whole life and I used to breed them so if you have any questions feel free to ask

[IRescue452]

I'm sorry. I got a pretty bad impression from the tone of your written words, however they have a tone I don't know, and shouldn't have said that without giving you a chance. I guess years of being pretty blunt working at a humane society with people who dump pets for no good reasons and come in asking for new ones that "don't have this problem" has made me pretty quick to judge people. Anyway, I hope you are able to find a pet suits your needs.

[jodi]

Pedapea,
Wow! I got behind on this thread. I use paper that is either blank or my kids have colored a little on with nontoxic crayons I also use homework that has already been graded, basically anything that I would normally shredd just as long as it doesn't have colored dye in it. I remembered the name of the bedding I saw and it is called "yesterdays news" It is made from recycled newspaper. I hope this answers your questions.
jodi

[pedapea]

Whoa. I have replies to make.

Jodi: I was kind of thinking that's what you meant about the shredded paper, but figured I'd ask anyway. Believe me, I also have a ton of those homework papers. A lot of them I can't bear to part with...as they are SO CUTE...especially from my kindergartener. That's an issue I MUST deal with. The papers that I do get rid of they become grocery list paper.

Cali: Playground sand. Know which one ya mean. Have gotten it for my kids sandbox here and there. It's really nice and soft. That sounds funny, when you are describing sand. Personally, I hate it for the outside sandbox. Because of the texture does it ever stick to their clothing. HOLY CRAP. For the kids anyway, I like the more granular stuff. For gerbils..most excellent. I'm thinking because they couldn't burrow around in it, when it came time to clean the cage it would be really easy to do so, as you wouldn't have any surprises hidden down below...it would basically be on the surface. I'm thinking this is right. Right?? In my searching around on the net I read somewhere ( 1 article) that said when they try to burrow in the sand they damage their noses and faces to the point of bleeding in their determination to dig a burrow. By the sounds of your message you don't have that problem...basically on account of you giving them all that cardboard to munch/shred on. Correct?? Using the water bottle for a jumping board. Smart!! Too smart!! The cover I do know about, tho. It would be a bit of a problem buying one tho, as the tank that I have is 55 gallons. Yah. Huge. I've never seen tank covers made that large. Could be wrong tho. I was thinking to get my carpenter type dad to make me a screen cover. Probably would be cheaper than buying one anyway. A screen cover for a 10 gallon tank is $15. Imagine what a cover for a 55 gallon would be...if they made them. WHOA!!!

We went to the pet store yesterday, just to take a peek, and they had 3 really cute ones. A rust one, a light grey one..never seen that color before, and a black and white one..again, never saw that color before either. I've always seen the regular colored ones...meaning that dark brown color...agouti I think it's called?? This pet store handles their pets quite a bit so these girls were friendly, but really nervous. When you put your hand down they would sit on your hand and try to run up your arm, then dash away. Are they always that nervous, or when you get them home, after a while, do they begin to calm down and you can actually hold them in your hand for a certain length of time. You see, that's something that my littler kids want..something to hold onto and stroke. While we were sitting there touching them my 5 year old says.."mommy my nose is itchy" aaahhhh. I'm kind of hoping it was from the shavings they were in (aspen) that was causing the problem. Did they ever stink tho. From what you say, that's not the norm, unless you neglect to clean the tank in a while. The tank they were in was FULL of turds, so I'm assuming they had lots of pee buried beneath their ton of shavings...hence the eye burning smell. That's one of the reasons I'm really concerned with a rodents smell. The piggie (Daisy) we used to have stunk up the house so bad it was unbelievable. For me yah the smell was yucky, but it wasn't something that would ruin my day. The problem is " the husband" This is a guy who HATES all animals. Seriously. I've never known anyone like that. That's not normal. Even when her tank was just cleaned he would complain. She resided in the 55 gallon tank, which was thoroughly cleaned/washed every 2-3 days. Seriously, if you have really stinky pets in a house with 4 kids, I'm sorry, but that's just not kosher. And with the husband I have it just makes things difficult.

Wolfsoul: The pine and cedar I most definately know about, thanx. What I didn't know is about the barbs on the cedar. My goodness. That is interesting. I should mention that to the ppl I see hefting those cedar bags in the store. Hemp shavings?? Have never seen those. The downsides of carefresh I found out about thru reading on this site. The comment you made about aspen...maybe that's why the 3 gerbils I saw in the store smelled so bad...on the other hand it could also be that they don't clean as much as they should. Your friend sounds like she got the shock of her life. Eeeeewwwww. Bet she was totally grossed out. Meanwhile she was probably cleaning and afterwards going..'why does it still smell funny" Hopefully her gerbils didn't get sickly from their tunnel. That was gross. One of my daughters just got a rabbit a little while ago and she brought it over here the other day. Talk about cute. It was a Rex. The fur is almost chinchilla like. A black one, too. It was in the house for maybe 20 minutes and it must have pooed all over the carpet 50X. Obviously, husband was not impressed and preferred to stay out of room. Didn't even want to touch it. The younger kids would much prefer a bunny, but a bunny would be more time consuming. Yes, I know all pets are time consuming, but with a couple of gerbils, if the kids wanted to go for a bike ride or to a friends house I'm thinking the gerbils wouldn't care. With a bunny, you need to give it a lot of attention on a daily basis. There would really be no such thing as "I don't feel like playing with bunny today...I want to go here or there" Do you see what I'm getting at. Actually, no pet would be the best thing at my house, to tell you the truth. That's why I'm looking for something that even if the kids ignore it once in a while, the pet wouldn't be, like, scarred for life. You know what I mean?

IRescue452: You really have to take it down a notch and read some other posts by the person before you jump to conclusions. In my case, I'm in a quandry as to what type of pet to get...one that will not cause allergic reactions, one that doesn't stink to high heaven as a general rule, can it do without shavings (another allergy trigger at my house) will it be ok if it's ignored once in a while (fresh food/water/bedding not included here) and last but not least, can I get it by my husband with a minimum of fighting. We all would like rats, really, but my husband is so scared of them that's not an option...unless I'm REALLY nice to him and I can change his mind Personally, I don't handle sideways comments very well, as I don't give them to other people, unless they really and truly deserve them. The husband constantly gives the kids/me snide remarks/sarcasm/insults and just plain ignorant/stupid remarks on a daily basis. He figures he's funny and knows everything about everything I think not.

Oh Cali. I forgot to ask. What is the smell level with the sand, how much do you put in your tank, and how often do you clean?

Whoa this is a novel. Thanx for all the great info.

[pedapea]

Wolfsoul, you mentioned the bunny being real easy to litter train. I know you can litter train easily so they go in it in the cage BUT does that also extend to being out of the cage? I know their turds don't stink or stick to anything it's just, really, kind of gross when they are all over the carpet and you have to watch wherever you put your foot down, and hey, we all know if kids drop some food on the floor they will pick it up and eat it. What does my oldest say? Something about bouncing only once or something like that...which is why it can still be picked up That would most definately change if their was bunny turds everywhere. The husband would absolutely freak. My oldest saw one of the lop eared varieties in best west one day and she wanted one like that. Do you know if the lop eared varieties are more prone to ear trouble than the sticky up eared varieties?? I'm comparing the lop eared bunnies with dogs with floppy ears. I used to work in an animal hospital and wouldn't you know it practically every dog that came in with floppy ears had some kind of infection or another.

The little rex bunny we had at the house the other day caused my nose to itch and eyes felt itchy and puffy. Probably was that fine baby soft hair as I don't recall ever getting a reaction like that from a bunny with the regular type of short fur.

[wolfsoul]

Yes, you can litter train one outside of it's cage. Infact many people don't even cage their bunnies. Alot of rabbits get ful-run of the house. It's alot easier to start out by keeping the rabbit in the cage with the litter box for the first few weeks. The litter box is best put in a corner as that is where bunnies usually like to go.

Yes, lop-eared rabbits are more prone to ear infections because it is a warm, moist environment, exactly like with dogs. I believe that a lop-eared rabbit needs to have his ears cleaned on a regular basis by a vet, though I'm not too sure on the details of that.

I, myself, am allergic to rabbits...so I know what you mean about the itchiness lol. It's always my nose that gets itchy though. But I want to have a flemish giant rabbit one day anyways. I'm allergic to cats and dogs and have those, might as well get a rabbit. Maybe that's one way to wear the allergies down, who knows!

[pedapea]

Full run of the house!!?? No WAY. And the owners don't wake up to a ton of bunnie marbles....everywhere?? That is totally amazing. That would mean that the bunny is almost like a cat...in a sense. Cool.

So, what you're saying is that you can have 1 litterbox, placed somewhere...hopefully not in the blasted living room, and the bunny will use it for everything?? I read somewhere that they will get used to using it all the time, but just for peeing...forget about the turds, they will always leave turds everywhere they go.

A flemish giant. Whoa. That's a lot of bunny. That's a good size bunny for kids, tho. There is no possible way that they could be picking it up and lugging it around, possible injuring it in some way by their "loving" mauling. The bunny would be doing the mauling.

I like your thinking. Wear the allergies down. That's funny. I don't know about that tho. Can you see yourself becoming an antihistamine junkie If I take those for my allergies they knock me right over on my butt. It's not a plan to be snoozing all the time. I try to veer away from my allergies. Wait until your hear my main allergy. Remember me mentioning before that I come from a farm?? I'm allergic to the dust generated from grain. Yup. You heard right. When I go into a grainery I can feel my chest tightening almost immediately, and forget about combining season in the fall. HOLY CRAP. Just kill me and be done with it. To a certain degree that also applies to house dust. RATS. If I get too lazy with the dusting I'm sneezing like crazy.

Back to the bunnies, tho. This guy that I talked to..who has a lot of bunnies and also shows his bunnies, says that the bigger the bun the better they are for kids. The smaller ones have a tendancy to be a bit more on the tempermental side. Not all of them mind you, but a lot of them he said. He has some mini rexes that he says are great, but, again, the big ones he says are extremely laid back. There again, not a 100% guarantee as I'm sure you can also get some attitudinal big ones as well. Whoa. Can you imagine having a cranky 15 lb bunny. Don't make any sudden moves, and back away slowly.

[cali]

I'm thinking because they couldn't burrow around in it, when it came time to clean the cage it would be really easy to do so, as you wouldn't have any surprises hidden down below...it would basically be on the surface. I'm thinking this is right. Right?? In my searching around on the net I read somewhere ( 1 article) that said when they try to burrow in the sand they damage their noses and faces to the point of bleeding in their determination to dig a burrow. By the sounds of your message you don't have that problem...basically on account of you giving them all that cardboard to munch/shred on. Correct??

it does NOT damage there noses and faces lol, 2 of my boys are allergic to all regular kinds of bedding so sand is all I can use. for digging I place a jar in their cage, they dig inthe jar not the sand. for cleaning I just use a strainer, sand falls through, poops and clumps from pee stay in the strainer, its really easy cleaning. 2 of my boys are going on 4 years old now, and they have never had a problem as a result of sand, and a healthy gerbils coat is very sleek so the sand slides right off

I have 1 solid agoutie male, 2 white spotted agouti females, a spotted black male and a mottled black male.
these are my 2 oldest boys, scriibles is the spotted black and doodles is the mottled black


this is Cinder, a solid agoutie male


here is one of my spotted agoutie girls, they are intentical exept that sniffles has a full tail and stubby came to me with only half a tail(defence mechinism the end of their tail comes off, so when you hold the tail you have to hold close to the body)