r/gerbil

not literally asking, just a very strange survival skill to launch yourself full force when you get spooked🤔

he always does this when i’m near to ask for some attention and pets😭😭

i've had my gerbils (tofu and noodle) for six weeks and they're fairly shy though happily take treats from my hand, let me stroke them if they're eating or gnawing on something, and last week noodle climbed out of the front opening and went onto my arms and chest and has done this several times whereas tofu has only done this a couple of times. anyway, because they're quite shy and skittish i haven't had them free roam yet as a) i didn't want to cause any additional stress and b) they aren't comfortable with being picked up.

now that i've had them longer and they're quicker to warm up to me after their standard initial shyness and i'm more confident with them, i was thinking it would be a good time to let them free roam in a smaller space such as my bathtub as i've seen people suggest that. i was wondering if anyone has used their tub for free roaming and if so, what suggestions/recommendations you have? i will put cardboard in there, as both things to chew on and places to hide, and their wheel (which they've never actually used for anything but a toilet lol) but am unsure if something needs to be put across the tub itself as the surface might be slippery for them?

any help is appreciated! (photo of tofu as tax)

Must.. resist.. booping the snoot

The Black one is called Nua and the grey one Leki, i have had them for about 4 weeks. They seem happy but i wanna be sure.

Heya folks - reminder to check your pals teeth regularly.

This is after us realising late on Sunday that Phil's top teeth were curving right under and he wasn't able to chew / nibble. We didn't notice as he was still accepting food and stayed at a consistent weight - but we managed to get a look in his mouth and got him to the vet today after lots of soft food and fuss. Vet turned him over and clipped them right off.

Best way to get a look is holding in one hand and getting them to gnaw a qtip/cotton bud.

We feel awful as we consider ourselves good owners.

This is Tracy, a 1.5 year old floof

I can’t believe how fast the babies have grown!

Baby Merlin (silver) had an accident and managed to take off one entire claw, leaving the nerve exposed and in a lot of pain. I'm still not so sure she hasn't broken the limb but there's no exotic vets available in my area until next week and the others I've been in contact with are not comfortable doing any x-rays :/ I've included some extra pictures of her showing the one affected front limb in case anyone is more familiar with fractures and thinks it needs more urgency. She's quite lopsided with her running but seems to be able to rest it against things/move it to clean etc, just not bearing weight/dragging it when she moves.

For now I've got them both in a temporary housing as per regular vet recommendation to make sure it's kept clean and she's resting as much as possible and I'm already feeling the guilt - I didn't want to separate them at all and I still don't know if that's the right decision! I've put a good amount of chew toys, comfortable bedding, their sand bath etc in and they've mostly settled but there's still a significant lack of eating from both of them and general fussiness. What's the best way to navigate the situation? I've put as much in the tank as I can while making it easy to traverse for her, but I feel like there's so much more I can do. Any advice would be great!

what happened to his nose?? looks like blood??

Neither is over handleable (getting better) so i like to move them without trying to grab them as it takes weeks to get their trust back. So i just put them in the sand bath to transfer over to their clean out tub. Ernie always obliges when asked (for the price of a pumpkin seed. But eric has to have a good explore before he will (only 10 minutes today 😂😂😂)

He's not actually overweight he is just scrunched up with materials in his mouth he is perfectly healthy

My old men Merry and Pippin and some of their many snuggles