My First Blog
Gerbils
Gerbils aren’t well known but thats just because they aren’t as common as the hamster, or guinea pig. This is because gerbils aren’t found in many pet stores for kids to look at and ask their ”Mommy” for one, but they are slowly becoming more popular.
Gerbils can eat a wide variety of things. For example their favorite things are sunflower seeds and timothy hay, but they can also eat carrots, cucumber, pumpkin, melon, apple, pear, oranges, and other fruit and veggies. Just make sure you look up if gerbils can eat a certain food before you feed it to them. Things such as grapes, and rhubarb are poisonous to gerbils. A couple of great treats for gerbils are meal worms, and millet. (a type of seed)
Gerbils originally are from the dryer parts of Africa and Asia. They are burrowing rodents so they prefer the desert, grasslands, or mountainsides. Although there are several species of gerbil still in the wild, most of them are captive bred Mongolian gerbils. In the wild gerbils live in burrows underground which provide great shelter and protection from the heat of the sun, and any predators looking for a snack.
As Lianne McLeod says,”A fresh supply of clean, non-chlorinated water should always be available.” It is very important for a gerbil to have fresh water everyday. A gerbil also needs fresh food every other day or so, such as seeds, and healthy pellets found at a local pet store. A gerbils cage should be cleaned once a week to keep the smell down. It is very simple to take care of a gerbil.
Scources
McLeod, Lianne. “Guide to Gerbils as Pets.” The Spruce Pets, 29 May 20AD, www.thesprucepets.com/mongolian-gerbils-as-pets-1236822. Accessed 4 Jan. 21AD.
“Mongolian Gerbil.” Wikipedia, 5 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_gerbil. Accessed 6 Jan. 2021.
Great informative blog! I enjoyed reading it and learning about gerbils.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much!
DeleteI didn't know gerbils could eat so many things. They're so tiny and I am impressed that it can get that food in their mouths. I thought gerbils were from somewhere else, not the desert. How could those little things survive in the desert. Nice job, you are hooking me into wanting to learn more about gerbils.
ReplyDeleteThey are very skilled at stuffing their faces with food, so no other gerbils take it. 🙂
DeleteI discovered that gerbils are originally from Africa and Asia, thats so far away! Also I notice how you said gerbils aren't very popular, but I would totally get one and I hope more people can get one. And if I get one I will come back to this blog to know exactly what to do! Good Job!
ReplyDeleteIf you do get a gerbil, you will love it...they are so fun!
DeleteI loved this blog. The amount of information is perfect and the information about the food was perfect. I don't normally see gerbils but I have seen multiple. One question I have is how big can gerbils get?
ReplyDeleteThank you very much! It depends on the species of gerbil, but the most common species, the mongolian gerbil, can grow up to 4.5 in and weigh up to 2 oz.
DeleteBaker with a Blog I really know what to do if I get a gerbil now.
ReplyDeleteI also can't believe they eat so many different varieties of fruits and veggies.
Also I was wondering do you have a gerbil or had gerbils?
SZ Cat that is a good question. I did have gerbils. I started out with 3, a mom and her two babies. They had babies while I was on vacation, and I ended up with 8 gerbils. About a week later they had another baby, so I know had 9 gerbils (the 9th baby dies 2 weeks into his life.) I had to give away 3 of my gerbils because there were just to many. And my last gerbil died about a week before Christmas 2020.
DeleteI enjoyed how you explained what a gerbil needs to be taken care of, and where they originate from. I have heard that gerbils also shouldn't be given apple seeds, or any kind of human food. My one question is what are all of the several species of wild gerbil?
ReplyDeleteThe several species of gerbil in the wild are (there are 87 of them so I'm just going to name a few) the great gerbil, pale gerbil, pachyuromys duprasi gerbil, and the indian gerbil.
DeleteI did not know that gerbils ate fruit, and that they are from the desert! What is the difference between a gerbil and a hamster?
ReplyDeleteGood question CP Sporty. The difference between a hamster and a gerbil is that a gerbil has a long fuzzy tail while the hamster doesn't have a tail at all or sometime they have a small stub. Another difference is that a gerbil is longer than a hamster.
DeleteGreat job on your blog! I didn't really know much about gerbils before I read this blog, and now I know a lot of cool things about them. How long do gerbils live?
ReplyDeleteGreat question EM Bookworm. Gerbils can live up to about 4 years, but I've had one that lived for five.
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