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Freddie the Gerbil is here!

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MommaPiggy

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This is his new home! I went and spent £50 today and bought him this snazzy new home! Along with woodshavings and food! He seems alright but he's still determined to try and scratch his way out...Is that normal? He hasn't even attempted to burrow, I thought Gerbils liked burrowing?
Oh...This is so strange, I know nothing!

Freddie008.jpg


Freddie001.jpg


Nomnom
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"Mummy, I am trying to eat here!"
Freddie006.jpg


Poor guy has like...Never been handled. I'm going to give him a few days to settle in and then I'm going to try taming him :{ I'm so nervous! I've seen the way he tears into his food...I do not want to be on the wrong side of those teeth!

Also, how does his cage look? If there's anything wrong, please tell me :{ I'm VERY new to this!
And what kind of treats can they have? Do I need to give them anything other than muesli and water?

I'm going to try and get him a wooden house tomorrow or something...I'd rather him have a proper house or hidey...Instead of just fiddle sticks.
 
Hello Freddie isnt he a sweetie? x)

I found a gerbil forum on the tinternet a while ago before i got the boys its helpful and friendly....with lots of reviews and whatnot, might be helpful:
http://gerbilforum.proboards.com/index.cgi

Otherwise he looks very happy in his new home, hes beautiful good luck with the care for him i dont have any experience with gerbils so sorry!

Beautiful photos, hope you continue to upload photos of him and keep us updated...ooo btw will you be keeping his name? :)
 
Beautiful photos, hope you continue to upload photos of him and keep us updated...ooo btw will you be keeping his name? :)

I want to change it but my friend is all "You can't!" So I think he'll be keeping his name.

Thank you for the link! I'll have a look =)
 
I want to change it but my friend is all "You can't!" So I think he'll be keeping his name.

Thank you for the link! I'll have a look =)

Awwwww hehe Freddie is a nice name anywhoos! :))
 
My dad REALLY hates him! :x They had a staring match earlier and my dad called him a "pest" when he was on the phone with my step mum.

Yup...Hate at first sight.

I hope he can at least warm to Freddie a little.. rolleyes
 
Nice cage. They love to trash stuff so put some old cardboard boxes on the mesh floors and it will protect his feet as well. He will probably destroy the plastic wheel in the end, but avoid ones with spokes as they can catch their feet and tails.

Give him a little while to settle in before trying to handle him. The best bet is to get him coming to the bars for little bits of veg (fingernail sized) and you will eventually get him to come out of the door onto your hand.

Try to be strict about not filling his bowl until he has eaten all of his food - even the bits he doesn't like much or he will live on sunflower seeds and get fat and potentially not get all the vits he needs.

Well done for giving an unloved little fella a home - he won't know that your dad doesn't like him.

Paula
 
Nice cage. They love to trash stuff so put some old cardboard boxes on the mesh floors and it will protect his feet as well. He will probably destroy the plastic wheel in the end, but avoid ones with spokes as they can catch their feet and tails.

Give him a little while to settle in before trying to handle him. The best bet is to get him coming to the bars for little bits of veg (fingernail sized) and you will eventually get him to come out of the door onto your hand.

Try to be strict about not filling his bowl until he has eaten all of his food - even the bits he doesn't like much or he will live on sunflower seeds and get fat and potentially not get all the vits he needs.

Well done for giving an unloved little fella a home - he won't know that your dad doesn't like him.

Paula

Ah! That was it! Niki here mentioned cardboard, too!
I've got some cardboard that I was going to throw out, I can give it to Freddie instead! Thank you.

I heard they love sunflower seeds, so I took them out of his food and I gave him 2 as a "treat" earlier to get him to come closer. xx>>>
 
Hello!

I have had gerbils forever! They are great little critters. :)

I currently only have one gerbil. Her name is Pie. She loves loo roll tubes, and lots of shredded papper to make a bed. I also give her a sand bath to roll in once a week. You can use chinchilla sand. (If you leave it in his cage he will probably kick shavings into it!).

I don't really use a wheel. I never had a gerbil that used one to run in, they only chewed them.

You could also give him some extra tasty treats. Pie has a tiny piece of carrot, and kale in the morning. And a tiny piece of brocholi in the evening. She knows its coming and is always waiting by the door.

When handling Pie I always take the top part of her cage off. Let her climb into a tube, or box and let her come out on to my lap. I never false because i agree...gerbils teeth seem very sharp!
 
Freddie is a cutie! I hope he gets settled and you can handle him without having to face the teeth @) ! Congrats on his arrival and his cage is awesome!
 
Freddie is adorable.

I had gerbils years ago and loved them to bits. Hopefully I will again one day.
 
Oooh I love gerbils. There's a couple at work who are really cute, was cuddling them today. But yeah, cardboard is a big love of theirs! We give them bits of shredded cardboard which they love.
 
Freddie is a cutie! I hope he gets settled and you can handle him without having to face the teeth @) ! Congrats on his arrival and his cage is awesome!

Everyone around me thought I was nuts! I kept pulling down cages and taking them apart to see if they were right for him.
Thankfully I was with someone! But even then, everyone kept looking at me like I was slightly bonkers.

He is lovely. He's very skittish, though. Poor little guy...He's right next to the piggies cage and Ralph ran up his ramp and Freddie must have seen him in the corner of his eye...So Freddie paniced and dashed for safety and Ralph was looking around in shock because he wasn't sure what just dashed by.

I think all Ralph and Arnold will take some getting used to...I think Freddie is used to total silence. Now he has some noisy neighbors to deal with!
 
As someone else said, the wheel might not last long. Gerbils love to chew and plastic isn't very good for their innards. We used to have one of those running ball things for our gerbils. They can't easily chew on them and it's great fun watching them roam about the house. You just need to make sure that no one else mistakes them for a football!
 
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he is just gorgeous x) I had gerbils for a few years but they sadly went to the bridge, I am getting a group of 4 next week I can't wait!

http://gerbilsuk.proboards.com/index.cgi this is also a fab forum

You are right that gerbils like to burrow and make tunnels! Megazorb is a better substrate for them to do this in if you have any. Some people advise adding peat but this is a really bad idea! It can go damp and awful really fast.

Gerbils are prone to diabetes so only feed tiny amounts of fresh food, they also like millet seeds and mealworms if you can stomach it! On the website of the forum I've linked there is a very comprehensive food list. Like hammies they need protein, I give my hammies dog biscuits and cat treats but I haven't tried them on gerbils yet! If you have a food that has lots of sunflower seeds it might be worth picking some out as they are a bit high in calcium for gerbs.

The cage I've set up for my girls is a 145litre box that I've meshed the lid of! :(|) I have the same cage as you with a Syrian hamster in it but she is moving into my chinchilla cage when their new one gets here. The only problem with this cage is it's pretty narrow but I think it would be ok for a single gerbil :)

It's also a common misconception that you can't bond gerbils - but if you have the patience for it and want to get him a friend its worth considering, they are very sociable little guys x)
http://gerbilsociety.com/indysrascals/gerbil-bonding/ this is the best bonding advice I've found, I am getting my gerbils from this rescue and she is so helpful I'm sure she would help you if you decided to get him a friend

Sorry for the information overload! :D
 
I would love to have a friend for him but my dad won't go for it. Never.

I'd get chewed big time for even asking that. He did say to me that it's the one and no more.
I think I have to just to be happy that Freddie is in a happier, healthier enviroment now. It's the best I can do for him. :)

But I'm not fond of the plastic wheel, either. My friend insisted that he needs it...But I'm not sure. I might grab him a ball instead then and let him roll around my room in it on a daily basis.
Maybe I can take it out and then in a few days time, tell my friend that Freddie destroyed it. rolleyes
I don't want to offend anyone...

It's so difficult when you take a pet off a friend. Even though Freddie wasn't getting treated the way he should have...My friend is still quite fond of him. It's very strange. I think some people like the idea of a pet and they like the animal...But the commitment that comes with it is what they don't like.
I love all the hard stuff that comes with it! I like the challenge of trying to get them used to me, I like having to clean them out and things, it's all part of the fun.
 
it would be nice for him to have a wheel, the silent spinners are a bit more robust :)) my gerbils never managed to destroy theirs

I agree though, you're in a difficult situation. If you go for the ball they can only be in them for about 20 minutes at a time. Would be great if you could clear a space for him to free range in you can get mini runs and everything :(|) but if that isn't possible a ball would be fine just give him lots of breaks
 
aaaww! He's gorgeous! x) When I looked after two gerbils they destroyed there wheel so we bought them a new one and they did love it! Would it be worth getting him one of those wooden or metal ones (without the holes in)? they are more expensive but might last longer than the plastic ones. They do love cardboard and I put some toilet roll tubes and stuck them halfway into the sawdust to encourage them to burrow and they loved it! In the morning their cage was completely unrecognizable! :)) :)) Hope you have loads of fun with Freddie! They are such fascinating little things! :)) xx
 
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