Gnawing

Gnawing seems to be very important to gerbils. Some new pet owners are wondering, when they find the new plastic wheel after one day lying on the cage floor cut into little pieces ...

I think, we can distinguish between two situations in which gerbils are gnawing.

The first more natural is the making of nesting material. This is a very pronounced and important instinct in gerbils (e.g. to overcome the rough environment with cold winters in the Mongolia). On the photo you can see two agouti gerbils in teamwork making "excelsior" from crate wood. From many other materials, such as hay, paper etc, gerbils make nesting material. By the way, e.g. when gnawing hay, they find some food too.

The second type of gnawing behaviour occurs, when gerbils are kept in small cages. It seems to be a sign of desperation or boredom, when they spend a lot of time on gnawing on the cage bars. Its a message to the gerbil owner: "Please let me out!" or "Please look after me!" or even "I'm hungry!".