Overweigh Gerbil Advice

**nsweezie** · 05-17-2004, 03:44 PM

Hello!
We have two male gerbils, both about 9 months old. They share a cage, and get along quite well.
One of them, Al, is quite fat! He is now noticebly larger than the other gerbil Sam. He needs to lose weight, but I am at a loss as to how to do this. As both gerbils are sharing the same cage, and are eating from the same food dish, how is it possible to control how much food each gerbil is getting? Al can be very aggresive when it comes to food, and I fear that if I limited the food, he would just take his share as well as Sams, and Sam would go hungry.
I have tried installing a wheel for exercise, but Al ignored it.
Any advice would be great!

** Thought I should mention as well, they are definatly both male, so it isn't an issue of gaining weight for pregnancy!!!

**Vermontcat** · 05-17-2004, 06:00 PM

I have two gerbils also but mine are both females, their names are Chocolate and Brownie.
I have had them for 6 months now so they are just a bit younger than your gerbils.
What I found works really well is to have them run in exercise balls outside the cage.
Just give Al more time in the ball than Sam and he should slim down as he runs around more.
My gerbils never liked their exercise wheel in the cage either so this works really well for my gerbils.
Here is a photo of them both rolling around in their balls.

I found one of the balls at Petsmart and the other one at Petco.
Do you have either of those stores near where you live?

I would love to see photos of your gerbils if you have them and good luck in getting Al to slim down.

**nsweezie** · 05-18-2004, 03:42 AM

Hello!
I've only got a picture of Al, pre weight gain, but I will attach it.
I'm going to buy a ball today, I think this might be the trick! I'll keep everyone posted.
I've resized the photo too, as the original photos was about 10 times the size of Al!

**cloverfdx** · 05-18-2004, 10:34 AM

Awww Al is a cutie

Good luck with the weight loss, and please keep us updated on any progress.

**My Peanuts** · 05-18-2004, 01:17 PM

OMG! When I was little I had a gerbil named Al and she (yes "she" and Peg was a boy, which I learned later on) was overweight too. I suggest using the ball and cutting back on sunflower seeds.

P.S. looking at your picture of Al makes me want another gerbil!

**nsweezie** · 05-25-2004, 05:16 PM

Hello again!
I bought the gerbil ball. Now I have another question.
Sam really took to it, and had no problems running around in it.
However, Al refuses to do much besides just sit in the ball. How can I encourage him to run around in it? He almost looks like he is scared to move when he is in the ball.
Thanks for any advice!
Louise

**cali** · 05-25-2004, 05:39 PM

there is not a whole lot you can do, out of a total of 58 gerbils(past and present) I have only had 2 that were willing to run in the ball, that was speedy and bart. everyone else just sat there and they would sit there for hours on end.

**Vermontcat** · 05-26-2004, 12:05 PM

First I want to say that Al is a cutie! Is he an albino?

Now about the exercise ball, I say keep trying!
Brownie is my lazy gerbil who doesn't like to run in the ball much either.
Sometimes just give the ball a gentle nudge to get it started.
Also try putting Al in the ball at different times of the day.
I found that Brownie will run more in the morning in the ball instead of in the afternoon or evening.
I also find that if my cat is watching the gerbils roll around in the balls that it motivates the gerbils to run over her toes!
Just make sure that you supervise other pets with your gerbils when they are running in their balls.
Good luck and keep trying!