Indoor Cages

Your gerbil or hamster will need to be kept indoors and will need a special metal or plastic cage for the purpose – both animals have sharp teeth and will chew their way out of a wooden box! A metal cage can sometimes be a bit draughty, and small – a good alternative is a glass sided fish tank with a wire mesh lid.

Whichever type you choose, you should cover the floor of the cage with old newspaper and sprinkle some sawdust or wood shavings on top of that. Give them some nesting material but not wool or cotton wool as these can cause illness if eaten.

As gerbils are burrowing animals, you can also give them a tank that is three quarters full of peat (a dry sort of earth). They will happily dig into this to make themselves a home and you can help them by constructing an underground chamber out of bits of brick and slate. You might also want to give them a few other building aids such as cardboard tubes, ramps and bits of wood (make sure it’s not poisonous). But never give a gerbil an exercise wheel, it’s OK for a hamster, but a gerbil’s tail might get caught and could be badly injured.

Position the cage out of direct sunlight in a safe place where it can’t get knocked and resist the temptation to move it from one room to another – you wouldn’t like it if somebody did that to your home!