Talk:Meriones unguiculatus

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I've often observed gerbils creating their own bedding from any scrap paper one has lying around. Perhaps this should be included in the 'bedding' section... as it's just hilarious to watch. You can put a full-sized sheet of construction paper in and it'll become bedding in a few minutes. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.73.48.43 (talk • contribs).

We send to the gerbil cage a lot of the cardboard that would otherwise hit the recycle bin. The gerbils reduce it to chips in minutes, have a great time doing it, and vastly reduce the volume of the waste. And yes, for bedding, we send them paper of various types and they rapidly convert it to exactly what they want to stuff into their house as bedding.

Atlant 01:42, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Great article

Hi what a nice article. I hope you dont ,mind but I did edit two things- first, I have been using pine for years. It does NOT have any added scents. A few years ago- this was not the case- but now all pine wood is kiln dried and dust extracted. The kiln drying dries up the oils that used to cause liver and resp damage.Second, I added a not about gerbils getting dust baths. They really enjoy this, and it is great fun to watch. Hope you dont mind:)

George Staffa says:

I always used cedar chips, two to three inches deep, in a fish tank to contain it and to give them a wall they could not chew at andd break their teeth on. Then I would give them an old sock (anything with knapp--eg. no stretch nylon, but fuzzy orlon is fine). They would chew all of it to shreds and threads and mix it together into a fluffy matrix through which they could tunnel. It was a hoot! It was also neat to see them try to tunnel through the glass. With nothing else in the tank they would dig at the corners. But give them a tomato paste can with the ends cut out, and inner edges buffed with emery cloth, and voila! instant hole, which they would place, end flat to the glass, and dig furriously from inside of.

George Staffa (talk) 17:36, 22 February 2008 (UTC)