u/Mysterious_Issue1812

I’m 21F from UK but do often find myself up past 5 am so can still play with people internationally, I have loads of games but no one to play with: I lack friends irl despite being in attendance to a university, it’s like im not social enough but I am?

My discord is dg.jess , I play on steam, and ps5 sometimes but mainly stick to pc

My steam friend code is 1325482675

I also own several games on epic launcher and EA such as battlefield 1 and V

I am more then willing to buy some new games here and there :)

I hope to make a long term group to play with hopefully

They have servral hides in the open and obviously their burrows, they have been sleeping in the coconut in the sand bath I assume to keep cool
Is there anyway I can help them cool down and sleep comfortably? I have tried to keep the room cool but it is a sun facing room, there is a fan directly above their cage that is blowing out cold air and aimed towards window so that hot air can be pushed out

After about 2/3 days with me not doing anything but adding food, water and cleaning their sand bath + adding chew things - it changes style every night, but I guess they chose one thing for sure: and that's that they dont like the wooden hut hide I gave them or the log walls ( bridges )

I set up their tank again the other day so they had way more burrow bedding which allowed them to bury all the way down to the bottom of enclosure (which is literally to my floor as its a shelf floor) + basically to the top but is there too much bedding? Why are the putting it inside their sandbath? Not kicking it, literally picking it up and putting it there? 😭

Is this set up more optimal for them or would it be better to put it back to its previous style ?

I want to find a platform that I can hook onto the top of my enclosure that when the lid is up, my two girls can access the platform via a bridge that I would install to connect them both

Obviously if it was a wire cage system I can easily find a platform that screws in but haven’t had luck with finding one more accurate to what I am after

I’m hoping to find something similar to like a hanger for your door if u get what I mean; reference image included haha 😂

Any help is appreciated !!

I have ordered some more sand that will come later on today for their sand bath as I need to clean it out.

I try and give them a large unscented cardboard roll a day - I have placed a cardboard egg carton in there and I have been keeping a eye as I scattered hidden treats inside of it which they seem to enjoy

I have also ordered a play pen that I can set up in my room they can free roam in but I don’t know what to put in it for them
I feel like they may be bored but I am unsure, they still fight over the wheels despite their being two but they do come to an agreement and use both eventually.

The bedding goes all the way to the floor in the enclosure! There is bedding behind the wooden panel, it’s a very thin layer on the bottom so they have plenty of dig space and have made loads of tunnels; thankfully they don’t seem too interested in eating out of the enclosure yet as they don’t seem to enjoy nibbling on their wooden toys or the wheel so I hope they don’t hatch a escape plan..

Any suggestions I would appreciate thank you

She cleans herself quite often in the sandbath and I try to empty it out every two days, my other girl doesn’t have anything like this?
But her scent gland is very on display and I wasn’t sure if that was normal for females?

I don’t know if this is normal behaviour as a first time owner but my two girls are a bit more maybe feisty? The larger brown one - Squeak, is chasing my smaller one - Bubbles, like around the whole enclosure both levels and then they like wrestle? There is no blood drawn or hard biting from what I can see, and no squeaking or noises but I just want to know if this is normal and not something to be alerted / cautious with?

I’ve had them around 3 weeks and they are really accustom to my hands, get a bit skittish when sudden movement ( adjusting how im sitting in my chair lol )
But I hope their sudden sibling brawl isn’t because of me?

Please read:
THE SCREW DRIVER IS A REFERENCE TO HOW BIG IT IS NEXT TO THE 29CM WHEEL- IT IS NOT A PERMANENT THING IN THEIR ENCLOSURE I JUST COULDNT FIND MY RULER

Finally upgraded the smaller plastic wheel from the tank to match the larger one (29cm)
Now whilst they now have access to two wheels, something tells me they are still going to fight over them somehow

Also should I add more bedding into their enclosure? The enclosure goes all the way to the floor as the bottom section is like a drawer and I’ve used about 80L+ in the enclosure

I first got my two girls around 3 days ago now and was doing really well with bubble ( black & white ) who wasn't running away, was crawling into my hand and taking food from me, Squeak ( brown ) was also accepting food from my hand but was still very skittish and afraid of me.

I have noticed over the past 24 hours both gerbils have become extremely skittish and are now running away as soon as I open their cage/putting hand in, why have they changed suddenly? I also noted that they haven't been chewing the cardboard tubes much or even playing with the toys I hung up, is this of concern? They were very playful and energetic the first day, on wheel, chewing, rolling in sand etc.

They still are fighting but I believe now it's play fighting or dominance fighting, I hope, there has not been any blood drawn and they are from the same litter so I dont see why they would fight.
I have also noticed quite a lot of the time one gerbil will be above the burrow, on wheel or doing its own thing and another will be under in burrow/ tunnels and then they take turns, is this normal?

I got two girls today that were all over eachother on the way here in their carry cage but since homing them into their enclosure they have stayed on opposite sides.

Also is there anything that you guys can all suggest in how to improve my cage ? :)

I used to own a Syrian but I know they can be very different from gerbils

I added some more bedding in that came today , im unsure if it’s enough but perky it is- it goes past where the first shelf layer would be in the cage :)

If there are any ways of me improving this cage from home for cheap, free or diy please let me know ! I will be making some more cardboard huts today and some of those cardboard boxes with treats in
There is a 3 chamber hut UNDER the bedding as he likes sleep in there and puts all his snacks in it.

Thank you for any help ! :)

Want to upgrade my current cage, he is around 1 year and half old now