When you get a gerbil, you will always need the proper housing,
but.........
what is the "proper" housing?
First, let's start with store bought cages:
Above, are all the cages that you'll normally see in a petstore.
The question is, are they good?
Well, how about we test your IQ?
Q: Can gerbils have plastic?
A: nope!
Q: Do those cage sizes seem to fit the size requirements?
A: nope!
Q: Do these cages have enough room at the bottom to burrow and dig in for you gerbils?
A: nope!
There you have it. 3 good reasons why these cages are not suitible for your gerbils.
Please, I'm begging you, for the safety of your gerbils, please do NOT get these types of cages!
I will now tell you why.
The first cage is actually, pretty decent in size (preferable to have a bigger size...) , but if you look closely inside that cage, there are plastic things sticking out. That means your gerbil can eat the plastic and get very sick. Gerbils also like to burrow, which means, you need to have at LEAST, at the VERY MINIMUM, 3-4 inches of bedding. Without that, the gerbils can't live to their natural instincts to burrow and dig.
The second cage is terribly small. It has almost no space for your gerbil to do anything! Your gerbil will be very unhappy living in a cage like that for his/her whole life. The format of it is good. You should look for cages like this, (just much bigger) when you are looking to get a gerbil. Like the first cage, the burrowing space is incredibly small. Cage #2 just means that you will have a very unhappy gerbil.
The last cage on the right side of the page way at the top of this page, is the absolute worst thing you could give your gerbil. All of that plastic, the wheel, that tiny second level... what will your gerbil do if he/she chews it? It is a very bad cage for a gerbil, and even for a hamster, because the cage is just SO small! This cage also doesn't have any room to burrow and dig.
You know what's crazy?
I will actually recommend having at least one of the first two cages! Woah, crazy, right?
But for real, the last cage, I could never recommend it for a gerbil, but for hamsters (since hamsters don't chew plastic), why not?
Why am I saying these things?
This is because, when you are cleaning your gerbils premanent cage, you need to have a small backup!
You always need to put your gerbils into something when you are cleaning their cage, or moving them from one place to another. Many people have these store bought carriers from petsmart, and other big petstores:
All these carriers are all right for a short period of time. They are all plastic, but as long as somebody is watching your gerbils, your gerbils will be fine. I have the super pet one and it works perfectly. Just as long as everybody knows that you can never permanently keep your geribl in these. The maximum time you can keep your gerbils in here is about 2 hours.
So we went over carriers, and what should be carriers, the very small cages. Last but DEFINATLY not least, the good cages!
Here is one example of a great cage:
This type of cage is extremely hard to find. Though it is hard to find, it is great for your gerbils. This cage is very large, and has NO plastic whatsoever. This is a great cage because the height and length is great. Some people are concerned that wire is bad for their gerbils feet, but wire is fine as long as they can't go through. The reason being, is that gerbils feet are quite big and so wires won't hurt them. I sometimes still put paper on the wire parts of my cage though, because I still worry, even though it is absolutely safe. Above is one of my ultamite favorite cages.
Here is another example of a really great cage:
(This picture above is from google images)
This cage is awesome. It isn't quite as big, but a lot of gerbil owners seem to have this type of cage. This is a sturdy cage with no chewable plastic in reach, and has wire, which is not bad at all for gerbils. The great thing about the two cages I just showed you, is that the tanks at the bottom are huge! They are really deep for your gerbil to explore and have fun in.
How about 1 more example?
(This picture is also from google images)
So this is a really good cage as well. One of my favorites. In the picture, there is a plastic tube, and you should never put that in the gerbils cages, but the picture is very badly mistaken with this tube. Besides that tube, this is a GREAT cage to put your gerbils in. You can see some youtube reviews on this cage, and from what they say, this is quite big, and has lots of room to burrow!
I hope all that information gave you a good idea on what cage is good, and what cage is bad for your gerbil!
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YOUTUBE:
