Clarification: What I was trying to get at mentioning bedding depth is that hamsters spend their active time above surface, as they're foragers vs gerbils who are active underground and don't spend their active hours above ground. While hamsters need deep bedding for their tunnel system, they require more space in general where as gerbils require more bedding in general to be happy. Gerbils live in colonies, therefor their tunnel system is complex compared to hamsters. Information is not wrong, it just wasn't clarified right.

Thank you for making a gerbil video! Lots of gerbil care videos on KZfaq are like 7 years old and really bad quality.

Thank you for making this , you’re right in saying gerbil care gets compared to hamster care a lot , when in fact gerbils have many different needs.

“Hmm I’m planning on attacking my sister next Sunday” 😂 literally me!!

Hey Munchie! I really wouldn't recommend using cardboard from packages nowadays. Because of covid many companies will be spraying them with with disinfectant thats not safe for small pets and people have reported that their little ones have gotten ill. Hope this finds you well, you're doing amazingly well and we love you! ❤❤❤❤

As a 25 yr old, I am absolutely ashamed of how I cared for my gerbils when I was 9 yrs old. But we do better when we know better. Thanks for the great video and all the information! ☺️ Also, you look gorgeous in this vid! 💜

I’m so glad I’m in this generation who has the right information on small animals.

I find that the best combo of bedding to support their tunnels is paper, mostly aspen, and some Timothy hay. My boys LOVE toilet paper tubes and cork logs

This is the most informative gerbil care video I have seen. When I first was considering gerbils I found it very hard to find reliable sources for information especially in videos. You did a great job at explaining the major differences between hamsters and gerbils which many people often don't realize.

Thanks for this! I recently got gerbils so this was a big help for extra advice 😊

I agree that gerbils are not hamsters lol but hamster generally do need quite a lot of bedding!! :)

Yes! Thank you so much for making this video! I've been researching gerbils as I'm thinking of having them as my next pet, and this came just in time!

Yay! Thanks for this video! I want gerbils eventually so I happy that you posted a care guide.

Love your content I just used one of your cage review videos for a school project

Omg Sable, Label and Mabel!!! Animal crossing names ✨

Thank you so much for your work helping these precious animals.

My gerbils passed at the end of last year. I miss having them. They are the best pets.

Woohoo. A proper care video for gerbils promoting the correct home and size ❤️❤️❤️❤️

There is not many gerbil care videos that give good information. Thank you so much!

I’ve been waiting sooo long for this video😫 and it was sooo worth it😍💜💜

1:18 am here from Philippines. Hi munchie i have been following your advices as much as i can afford as possible..you and rachelle

Thank you, this is so helpful! I just got a gerbil recently (getting more) and have been looking for a recent care video, but wasnt finding any

Why am I watching this? I don’t have a gerbil and they don’t even sell them here. I’ve never even seen one lol.

Thank you for this informative video! I have thought of looking into trying gerbils in the future .

Thanks so much Munchie I've owned 5 different gerbils over the years and currently own too, learnt a lot in this video ! There really isn't enough information out there.

Yes, yes, and of course, yes! Me and my four gerbils are watching this saying "YEEEEEESSSSS, THANK YOU." We've been desiring this type of video for a long time, thank you.

Im thinking about getting a pair of gerbils ive been deep in research and your videos have been a major help

Thanks for mentioning the issue of gerbil-on-gerbil violence! My two were female litter-mates and kept in a large tank with lots of enrichment. They seemed to get on very well, but one night, G1 decided to attack G2. It looked like someone had left a chainsaw in there with them. I later learned that this isn't that uncommon, as female gerbils age and begin to establish a dominance hierarchy. One signs is said to be if they start sleeping apart, but in any case, it's worth being aware of this

I’m so glad you did a gerbil video!! I absolutely love gerbils and currently have 4 that I rescued. They are such interesting little creatures and are just so cute! I would just like to say the bigger the better! I have mine in a custom 2 1/2 ft by 4ft tank that I made for only about $120!! It’s a little gerbil heaven for them lol

Thank you for doing a gerbil based video. I am a huge fan of your channel and you actually are the reason I upgraded my past mouse into a 40 gallon tank with a DIY tank topper. If it wasn't for your channel I would have never known about proper care/husbandry. I now have two male gerbils who are brothers from the same litter. I got them on Wednesday of last week. Thank you for being such a great channel and spreading education on proper small mammal care. Channels like your really do help.

yay i’m early i love your videos so much!

Hi Munchie! Thank you for your great video :) I wouldn't recommend a 10 gallon tank for gerbils, as it's too small. I had to house a lonely gerbil (he had declanned) in a 10 gal. with a topper and after a few days I started to feel that the enclosure was too small to provide the enrichment that he needed. I also think that gerbils really benefit from a topper, as it provides more space and in summer the upper floors are cooler than tank. My 3 gerbils used to sleep upstairs in the summer ☺️ I also wanted to share with you a tip in regards to the wheel: if you have a tank topper you can hang it upside down from the top. In this way, you aren't using any floorspace and they can't pee or chew the stand. That's how I have my two wheels, and they work perfectly 😊 My 3 gerbils send you a big THANKYOU for your hard work in the rescue and your educational videos on small rodent care 😘😘

I’ve had gerbils in the past! I think I owned my last gerbil in 2016. I’ve been looking into gerbils again, and I might consider getting a pair when I don’t have a hamster anymore! Gerbils are such great pets! For me, they were easy to tame, but they are really entertaining to watch as well! 🥰

Thank you for making this! I got gerbils again last year after not having them since I was a kid. There is so so much bad information out there, I sifted through a lot to find updated info. I can't believe how often 10 gal/pair is recommended when I can't imagine having my pair in something smaller than their 40 gal aquarium. It's great seeing them have space to dig and explore.

Kinda glad to know that I wasn't absolutely abusing my pet gerbils I had as a kid back in the 90s. Although they did live in separate tanks because I had a Male and female, and toppers weren't a thing, one had a 30 gallon tank and the other was in a 40 gallon breeder tank. I did use aspen bedding for the most part, with sticks, grass, etc. for bedding, and usually filled it halfway or just under, to have enough room for their wheels to be able to move under the lid. They were the toilet paper roll disposals, along with things like popsicle sticks, those wood chews, etc. to munch on. One (f) was named Catfood because she bit my cat for being too nosey when I brought her home. And the other (m) was named Diablo Shackles or De-Shack for short because he was solid black except for white lines going around his wrists and feet and connected with a line straight down his belly. I absolutely loved them, and would take them out to play and interact with them in the bathtub every day, buy them treats like raw unsalted peanuts, apples, and stuff like that. Not even sure if that was right, but it was the mid 90s and small pet care wasn't much of a thing then. I had them for almost 4 years for the female and the Male was somewhere around 5.

I love the tank topper. I might have to make one as I have never seen these in Australia.

Hi Munchie! Just wanted to say that hamsters absolutely need a sufficient about of bedding they are also burrowing animals and in the wild too live in deep, complex, burrows But thank you for the gerbil care video! As a gerbil mum I am happy to see newer videos about gerbil care being made as most of them are old with bad quality

We used to have 3 gerbils when I was maybe 9, the whole family cared for them. They lived in a tank happily for years, before 2 of them died. The last one, Hessu, survived for a super long time all alone, and he seemed to thrive. He was a weird lil fella. Thank you for this video!

Yey a Gerbil video!! I have a trio of female Gerbils in a 40 gallons long and have so many questions. My Gerbils are in love w their Sand Box.. it's in a glass vase that is mostly burried in their 10 inches of bedding- I use kids play sand @3 inches deep...they roll and play in it..they love it :) They jump in and out freely...they absolutely LOVE it ..They are so much fun, they make great pets :)

This is absolutely fascinating! Here in California it’s illegal to own or sell gerbils so we never grew up experiencing gerbils. Seeing them move around and learning about their care is new and exciting for me!

yes more gerbil care guides are needed :D

I love that pink wheel. 🤩🤩

this was a lovely video to watch as i am a owner of two gerbils. and people need to understand gerbils are not hamsters with tailes they are a different species of animal that need to be cared for in a different way

Hi munchie I love what you do! I have a long haired Syrian named pippin (boy)!

hamsters actually do need a lot of bedding!

I LOVE YOUR SHIRT!!!!!!

Great video!

I have 15g and 10g terrariums that I connected with tubes. I have all of the things you talked about. I feel more relaxed because I was worried I wasn't giving them enough.

I love your videos I no longer have hamsters. After years of keeping them I started doing research on rats and when they passed decided to get rats as a change. I’ve realised I’m definitely a rat girl although I loved my hamsters but I enjoy your videos very much 💖

After my oldest mouse passes away, i plan on giving my two other female mice to my sister. I plan on keeping my male, but then also this summer i plan on getting gerbils :) Im glad you also do gerbil care videos because not many people do.

Thank you so much. We just adopted two gerbils after our last fancy mouse passed away. Despite being similar size, gerbils are very different. After 8 hours, I realized that our 20 gallon tank wasn't big enough. We have an Omelet hamster habitat on the way to adjoin to the 20 gallon tank. I also went out and loaded up on bedding. We're at 8 inches now. Thanks Munchie! The gerbils are much happier! Edit: the omelet sucks. We're sending it back. We have a 40 gallon breeder now.

I never knew this. I kept my girls for 5 years in a diy bin cage and never had any issues with them chewing. It was 2 bins stacked so they had about 500 square inches 1 foot deep of bedding. When I get more I'll be getting a tank next time though

Very useful thank you

I removed the wire floors from my cage topper and added a bunch of wooden ones. Mine wasn't big wood chewers, so it worked for me.

Great video Munchie! You covered just about everything! I actually didn't know that gerbils did the saliva thing lol. I just wanted to add, that bendy bridges used as barriers are dangerous, and can trap limbs. Over at the hamster hideout forum, we have had multiple hamsters get their legs injured (even when stuffed with moss). Just letting you know! Keep up the great work Munchie! :)

I’ve been waiting for this aha

Great video, Munchie. I'm a big gerbil fan. I've tried the 10 gallon with a topper and found it too small for one gerbil. Like you, I also don't like the fact that there is no side door. Reaching in from the top does mimic what a predator does. In Europe, they have gerbilariums from the Belgium company, Savic which look GREAT! (But are hugely expensive to get to the U.S.). I do use big aquariums, but I turn the wheel upside down and zip tie it to the hinged screen cover so my gerbils don't knock it over. You're right--taking care of gerbils is VERY different than taking care of hamsters. So glad you posted a video on gerbils, my favorite pet.

SO HELPFULLLLL

I’m a CNC machinist and because of that I’m good with blueprints. I learned how to do some wood work which is unexpectedly WAY different than metal so I can make custom toys, cage dividers, platforms, and nesting boxes for my hamster and two gerbils 😂

Hii i love ur vids!! :D

I love this I’m thinking of getting gerbils next in the detolf. Hopefully called obi wan kenobi and anakin 🥰🥰

can you do a care video over mice next!! I love this video :3 (Hi munchie if you read this)

My sister adopted a gerbil without doing proper research and my mum and I are now trying to figure out how to care for him properly with absolutely so experience. It's been very stressful but he's a sweet guy rhat deserves a good life

My Gerbil is living in the Mamble 100 rat cage, last time I checked the cage was around 800 square inches, my boy Caspian just celebrated his fourth birthday!

Awww they soooooo cute 🥰

My boys have ate 2 wooden wheels in a year bu they absolutely love to run on it as well 😂 I work in a warehouse and give them the massive cardboard tubes from inside the bubble wrap rolls to chew and make beds in

A good idea for a very cheap chew is an egg box or toilet rolls, they work very well for mine

Gerbil thought it was wheel of fortune for a moment. 😄

We just got 2 gerbils back in September for my oldest and myself. The pet store we “rescued” them from said 10 gallon with the topper was good. I always figured it was a bit small. Glad to hear I was right. I’m hoping to get them a 20 gallon soon but it’s hard to find in northern Alberta.

I'm watching even though gerbils are illegal in my state (CA.) Sigh. I had two different families of gerbils in earlier decades when I lived in RI. I miss them terribly and often have a dream where I find a tank of gerbils in a closet that I've forgotten about!

Sorry im late ;-; Gerbils look so cuteeeee I learned a lot today thx for the info! Hehe

I love your shirt.

A 106 qt bin its super good for a robo since its 435 sq inches from the base but add like 4 inches of bedding and it increases to 453 sq inches

I have 3 Gerbils.Before they lived together in the same tank, but like you said someday suddenly two of them attacked each other.It was really horrible.We also have a tank now which is 120cm long and 70cm wide.They seem much more relxed in there.

tic tac wheels are great for those who live in the UK! They are metal wheels, so chew proof :)

Absolutely amazing. Looking into getting two gerbils. As goes outside my usual remit of owning scorpions. I feel the 20gal tank is a happy medium of mixing cage and tank. Are plastic tunnels a real bad idea. And just use ceramic ones instead. I live her in the UK 🇬🇧 So hello American folk. Please drink more tea :) lol.

Thanks so much for this really helpful video! The acrylic niteangel silent wheel was mentioned briefly, may I ask if the plastics (hard plastic wheel, acrylic stand) are really hard enough to be chew-proof? Thank you! =)

One of the first🤩

I was just cleaning my gerbil cage when I looked and he was desperate for air she had some sort of stroke and me and my sis couldn’t stop crying!

I'd love to see you make one of these care guides for mice. It's really hard to find correct care out there for these little ones I get some ppl saying it's "fine" to keep 6 mice in a 11x11x4 inch bin and others saying they need a 20gal long for 2 mice. I am quite confused on the square inch min and it would be awesome if you can make a care guide for them.

In the UK, the biggest thing I can find suitable for gerbils is a £70 plastic tank/wire that measures 70cm *40cm - and that's the only thing that could work without any diy that under £120-basically nothing with a good size

I'd just like to say that I have really struggled to find a decently sized gerbilarium in the UK. I tried to find one for my hamster but I ended up going with a tub cage I made because I couldn't find a good one. I really wanted a glass one but the bigger ones were plastic, which would be fine if they weren't ridiculously expensive compared to making my own. Now looking at gerbils ,because my hamster boi is going to pass, and it's not fun trying to find one again, I may go for an IKEA glass cage

Im rlly glad u made this video! I know this must be strange but have u ever had a Fat-tailed gerbil at ur rescue?!

My gerbil its like the opposite,he is in a 106 qt bin (434-453 sq inches depending on the bedding,first no bedding and the latter 4 inches of bedding) and he doesn’t chew even his plastic sand bath,he only chews it’s plate that it’s SUPER HARD plastic (it has a mineral and some wood chew toys don’t worry

Yes, give me the correct care people

WOAH I'm getting gerbils this month for my birthday and was looking into your rescue, didn't even realize you had a youtube channel! I'm wondering, since it's really wet and pretty cold out here in WA should I have to worry about keeping them warm? Would an under tank heating mat work for them like you would for a leopard gecko? Or is it not a concern with the lil fellas?

Tysm im new to girbles and I need stuff for them

How do you feel about a natural soil mix substrate for gerbils? When my dad was a lot younger he had a really big tank he filled up with soil that he put two gerbils in that lived five years. He said the black one he had turned white by the time it passed away it was that old.

As a new gerbil owner, this may just come from me owning a Robo hamster in a 75 gallon, but my 2 gerbils are in a 55 gallon and it feels way too small. They also demonstrate behaviors such as jumping at the walls, and climbing the lid. This makes me feel as though they should be in 75+ gallon tanks. Just me?😅

Hi my daughter has a gerbil and is a big fan of your videos I would like to know if a 20 gallon long tank is big enough or good enough for a gerbil

I don’t have a gerbil myself, but I’ve always found them fascinating. I know this video is not about hamsters, but I’m looking to upgrade my robo from a 460 square inch enclosure. Does anyone know of an enclosure that would be under 50 dollars that would be good. I love your videos Munchie, me and my sister were saying that your voice is so happy and it just makes me happy 😊.

In the late 70s we had a 3 storey Rotastak cage (still tiny) for our Gerbils, in the small nesting section they had aluminium dividers for some reason, the gerbils chewed through it!! (gerbils I have now have a 300 ltr/79 US gallon tank :) ). A couple of points I want to make, SOLID metal wheels are perfectly safe for gerbils (e.g www.tictacwheels.co.uk/ ), although you made the distinction later on you didn't at 1st. Also, if you fill a tank to the top as you said, they will kick out the bedding through the topper, lol, you will still need to have the level down somewhat unless you want to be cleaning up every day. Anyway, an excellent video nonetheless :)

Thank you so much for this video. Can you share a link where we can find the tank topper you have the 20g high tank. I am trying to find something for gerbils I just rescued. There r 3 that were being housed in a small hamster cage

Was hoping to hear about cage cleanings. How often/how much etc?

My first gerbils will move in next week! *.* I already have 8 fancy mice and I had a drwarf hammy, but sadly he passed away 2 weeks ago :/

Can gerbils be taught to use one of those small pet litter boxes for bathroom needs to keep the cage cleaner? I had a hamster as a teen and she passed from respiratory infection cause I didn't know her bedding was dirty....

Great video, but hamsters do need a lot of bedding as they also burrow. In studies with golden hamsters, hamsters with 16 or more inches of bedding showed minimal stress responses such as bar biting or climbing, with 32 inches showing absolutely no stress responses.

I have a gerbil myself and he’s living like a king in a 55 gallon tank lol

So I'm a new-ish gerbil owner. I only have one gerbil right now but I plan to get a second one so my first gerbil isn't alone. But I'm trying to find the right tank/cage size. I wanted to know if a 10 gallon tank with a topper is big enough for 2 gerbils? or should I get a 20 gallon tank with a topper?

I am confused. I don't want to use a big glass tank, I'm told wire cages are bad. I have wooden 4ft x 18 x 18 inch vivarium but I'm told there bad because the gerbils will chew it up. So I don't know what to do. If I can have in a vivarium I need to put in a very low light blub I there because it would be total black in there