Gerbils Care: Gerbil Bedding

The base to the entire gerbil cage is the bedding, but what kind do you use? How much do you put it? Where do you put it? Are just a few common questions about gerbils care when it comes to bedding. I'll teach you a bit on where to put gerbil bedding and some common things for gerbils to do with their bedding. If you are researching gerbils stick around.

My gerbils prefer paper bedding, brands like CareFresh are among the most popular, but I'm sure there are other smaller paper bedding brands that are just as good.

One thing to note is that while colorful bedding is fun, since gerbils often chew on and eat their bedding plain brown and colorless is the best and healthiest for your pet gerbil. However, you may still use colors as long as you are aware that it isn't the best option.

The next thing you need to wrap your head around is the fact that with paper bedding gerbils need a LOT less then it looks like they do. Even in a large cage a cup of bedding (A decent handful) is plenty!

This is because the paper is slightly compressed, even if it looks fluffy. Gerbils when moving around their bedding and chewing on it will fluff it up and it will expand to be much more then it looks to be.

Now about where to put the gerbil bedding in the gerbil's cage. If you have a multi level cage you should just put it on the bottom.

Even a single level just put the small amount of bedding on the bottom of the cage, make sure there is a slight cover over the entire bottom and from there the gerbils will fix up their own beds, and coverings.

The gerbils will often move their bedding around the cage, put it in their houses or just in a corner and make a "Nest" type of thing. So to answer the common question, "Is my gerbil going to have babes? It's making a nest!" The answer is most likely no, unless you bought a pregnant gerbil or have a male and female... the nest is for personal use. ;)

Gerbil Bedding will often get EVERYPLACE! If you have gerbils and a open cage you know what I mean.

Cages will plastic bottoms and plastic that goes up the wall a bit with an open top are probably the best types of cages when dealing with keeping gerbil bedding clean. Cages that have plastic bottoms and open bar sides are often messier cages, however you need fresh air to be able to fill the cage.

Especially with partially covered plastic walled and floored cages you need to be careful with the cage smells. A dirty cage without fresh air flow for even a little bit of time can result in disease, such as respiratory disease which is also found in rats from having a dirty cage. My fix to this is to put cardboard boxes, like you use for moving.. around the bottom half of my gerbils 4 level cage... putting cardboard boxes around the bottom not only helps keep the gerbil bedding in but also keep pesky drafts out.. resulting in even healthier gerbils. Cardboard however, lets air through.. unlike plastic!