Even if you put the food in a dish, the gerbil is likely to pull it out and bury it in its bedding. Pick a dish that is heavy and has low sides. This will allow the gerbil to get the food out of it but the animal will have a hard time knocking it completely over.
You can also feed the gerbil both in a dish and scattered in the cage. For example, try giving the gerbil its food mix in a dish but give it other food, such as vegetables, by scattering them on the gerbil’s bedding.
Gerbil food and water dishes should be available at your local pet store or from online retailers. The water bottle should be made of plastic or glass. It should have a sipper tip on the bottom of it that the gerbil can drink from.
Food mixes that are made for gerbils will be available at your local pet store or from online retailers. If your gerbils have been fed a different kind of feed while at the pet store, gradually introduce the new food by adding more of the new food and taking away more of the old food at each feed time. You do not want to give your gerbil a ton of seeds because they will only eat the seeds and will likely ignore their pellets. This means that the mixture you buy should not have many high fat seeds, such as sunflower seeds.
Your gerbil is likely to move its food around its cage. It will bury food in its bedding and then eat it later. However, keeping the food dish away from the main nesting area just increases the time it takes for your gerbil to make a mess of its cage.
The goal is to give your gerbil enough to eat but not so much that it eats too much or it stashes food all around its cage.
Peas Small sprigs of broccoli Chunks of carrot Small pieces of lettuce
Apple Blueberries Mango Pear Strawberries Kiwi Pineapple Banana
Grapes Rhubarb Avocado Chocolate Cabbage Onions
You can also use timothy hay as part of your gerbil’s bedding.
Looking at the water level every day allows you to assess the general amount of water your gerbil is drinking on a daily basis. This will help you to notice if your gerbil is not drinking its normal amount of water.
This is a chance for you to remove any spoiled food as well, such as the pieces of vegetable you are giving your gerbil.
To clean the gerbil’s water bottle, put a little soap in it and then fill the bottle with warm water. Use a bottle brush to scrub the inside of the bottle and then rinse the bottle out thoroughly with additional clean warm water. This cleaning can be done during a weekly cleaning of the gerbil’s whole cage.
