Enrichment Ideas?

[Doodleham]

I don't know much about gerbils but she is very cute. I know the hamster rescue I follow on Facebook puts out a call occasionally for piles of cardboard tubes and egg boxes for the gerbils to chew. Apparently they love to shred up cardboard and essentially make their own bedding .

 

[Rescued One]

One more thing - my ger-boys LOVE destroying the hollow cork logs I put in their enclosure

 

[Angel’s Teddybear]

I actually just listed a lot of enrichment ideas on a recent post made under hamster housing and environment! Maybe some of those ideas could help a bit? I know a few may not work, not sure if gerbils eat sprays, but the wooden items and diy should be good!

 

[Leine]

Not sure if you have them in the UK, but my ger-boys love Kaytee Crittertrail tubes with lots of twists and turns buried into the bedding. The also have multiple platforms they can go on and under. Hiding treats in toilet paper tubes (poke a couple of holes so she can smell the treat) works well, too. Does she have an out-of-cage playground? and a wheel?

I'm in the US! I've heard that the critter trail tubes can be harmful because they're not well ventilated and can lead to suffocation, but have you found that this isn't an issue? She has a wheel and a big playpen and the toilet paper roll toys are her absolute favorite.

 

[Leine]

I don't know much about gerbils but she is very cute. I know the hamster rescue I follow on Facebook puts out a call occasionally for piles of cardboard tubes and egg boxes for the gerbils to chew. Apparently they love to shred up cardboard and essentially make their own bedding .

They're absolutely the same in that way! My gerb is actually way more destructive of cardboard than my hamster was so I have a stash to give her.

 

[Daisy]

Hi,
The best enrichment I find is basically lots of household cardboard, paper and tissue and hay and soft straw. The best toys are the ones they destroy in 30 seconds. If you can find any of those hanging toys with a kind of skewer, you can also thread pieces of cardboard onto them for her to chew. As long as she has wood available in her enclosure, her teeth should be fine (assuming there are no medical issues). If you're comfortable posting a photo of her enclosure people might have other ideas. Some female gerbils can be quite easily bored!

I don't want to necessarily contradict what your shelter said because obviously they know her exact history, but I will say that shelters often don't have gerbil-specific knowledge and are often operating on assumed principles like "she's been in fights before therefore she doesn't get along with other gerbils". It's quite rare to find a gerbil who really cannot live with others and most of the time when introductions end in fights, it's because they weren't done properly or safely.