Gerbil health and welfare

Make sure your gerbils are protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.

Facts

• Gerbils feel pain in the same way as other mammals, including humans.
   
• Gerbils can be affected by many diseases. They can become infected by contaminated food, water or litter material.
   
• Gerbils’ teeth grow continually throughout their lives, and they gnaw objects to keep their teeth regularly worn down. If there is a problem with your gerbils’ teeth, they may stop eating.
   
• Gerbils naturally wear their nails down by walking on rough surfaces.
   
• An inappropriate environment and/or stress, can lead to gerbils developing repetitive behaviours (such as digging in one corner for long periods of time) known as stereotypies.
   
• Gerbils should have a daily sand bath to help keep their coat in good condition.
   

Things you should do

• Make sure you are familiar with your gerbils and how each individual normally looks and their behaviour. A gerbil behaving differently to normal can be an early sign that something is wrong and so this will help you notice signs of illness and pain, and take action quickly.
   
• Always check your gerbils regularly. Although gerbils can find being handled stressful, and be difficult to catch from their burrow, it is also important to regularly check them for health and welfare reasons. 
   
• Provide your gerbils with suitable gnawing material- their teeth grow continuously and will cause health problems and pain if they grow too long.
  − Wooden chew-blocks are ideal and gerbils particularly like willow, hazel, beech, birch, pine and branches from fruit trees. Do not use ivy, yew or holly as these are poisonous to gerbils.
  − Regularly examine your gerbils’ front teeth and ask your vet to check their teeth to make sure that they are positioned and growing correctly. If the teeth become overgrown, take your gerbils to a vet.
   
• Check your gerbils’ nails regularly to check they are not becoming overgrown.
   
• Offer a shallow tray filled with clean, fine sand or 'chinchilla dust' for your gerbils to bathe in every day. This should be removed and sieved clean after use.
   
• Only use medicines that have been specifically recommended for your gerbils by the vet.
   
• If you are going away for any reason, make sure that your pets are cared for by somebody who understands their needs and introduce your gerbils to them beforehand. It is important that you choose someone who is responsible and that you are confident to leave your pets in their care.
  − Provide that person with all the information they need to take care of your pets. As well as detail specific to your individual gerbils, this document could also be a useful reference point to meeting your pets’ needs.
  − Keep your gerbils in their familiar gerbilarium and leave their usual food for their carer to give them.
   
• Do not transport your gerbils unless absolutely necessary; see 
  Transporting your gerbils (PDF 93.4 KB) if you do have to transport your gerbils.