There are many different types of gerbil bedding out there, and finding the right one is important. Bedding is very important to the wellbeing of gerbils, as they use their bedding to dig, tunnel, hide food and urinate in.
Digging is a natural gerbil instinct and something they do in the wild. They burrow down into the soil to feel safe and escape from predators. While your pet gerbil won’t be escaping predators, these instincts won’t leave them, so supplying bedding is very important.
Let’s take a look at the best and worst bedding for your pet gerbil.
Good Gerbil Bedding
Hay
Hay is commonly used as a food for small animals, such as guinea pigs and rabbits. While gerbils don’t eat hay, they will enjoy chewing on it and it will help to wear down their teeth.
Hay makes a great bedding for gerbils because it will help strengthen the walls of their burrows when they tunnel. Gerbils can’t tunnel in hay alone, but they can use it alongside other substrates.
Place hay bedding in your gerbilarium with paper or wood bedding, and your gerbil will mix it up and use both substrates to build the tunnels they want.
Another bonus to hay is that, because it is a natural material, it smells nice and will keep your gerbilarium smelling fresh. However, it is not absorbent, so you’ll need to change it out often.
Any hay that is marketed towards small animals is safe for gerbil use. This includes alfalfa, meadow, Timothy and orchard hay.
Carefresh and Shredded Cardboard
Carefresh or cardboard shavings is a soft, cozy bedding that is excellent for tunnelling. Carefresh bedding comes in many various colors, which is great if you want your gerbilarium to have a certain aesthetic.
This bedding is highly absorbent and has great odor control abilites. It can stay smelling fresh for up to 10 days. It is also digestible and won’t cause any health issues for your gerbil if they swallow it.
Your gerbil might struggle to tunnel in Carefresh or shredded cardboard alone. You could mix this bedding with hay so they can make a much sturdier tunnelling system.
Aspen
Aspen bedding is made of shavings from aspen tree logs, meaning it is both compostable and safe for gerbils to chew. It is also absorbent and helps to control odors.
Your gerbil will enjoy chewing aspen shavings into pulp to build tunnels. Aspen can be mixed with paper bedding or hay to create sturdier tunnels.
Apsen bedding is widely available and affordable. The downside to this bedding is that some brands can contain dust, which can cause irritation to your gerbil’s eyes and nose.
Soil
Soil can be a good bedding option if your gerbil loves to burrow. It is absorbent, cheap to buy and holds tunnels well.
However, there are downsides to potting soil and peat bedding. Firstly, it is messy! It will not only make your gerbil dirty, but will make your tank dirty, which you won’t enjoy when it comes to cleaning out the tank. It’s also heavy and difficult to remove and replace.
Potting soil and peat bedding also needs to be kept moist to hold tunnels. Because of this moist atmosphere, mold can grow, or seeds from your gerbil’s food may germinate!
Shredded Paper
Shredded paper is a great option for gerbil bedding, as long as the paper is lacks any sort of ink that would be harmful to your pet. Shredded paper is also very cheap, or even free depending on where you get it from!
Your gerbil will love to chew shredded paper into a pulp and create tunnels with it. However, you should be warned that this bedding isn’t the most absorbent, nor is it very good at concealing odors. For this reason, you’ll need to change it out very frequently.
Sand
Mongolian gerbils originate from the sandy deserts of Mongolia, so sand bedding can help to replicate their natural environment. Your gerbil will enjoy burrowing and bathing in the sand, and it holds tunnels well.
However, there are some downsides to using sand bedding. Because it is so fine, it can get everywhere! This can make cleaning your tank very difficult. Getting the moisture right can also be tricky; very moist sand can be too cold for gerbils, while very dry sand means tunnels don’t always hold.
Sand bedding is also not great at masking odors.
Instead of using sand bedding, we recommend you use a sand bath. This is a little dish of sand that you gerbil can use to bathe in. Learn all about sand baths and how to set one up here.
Hemp
In the wild, Mongolian gerbils eat hemp plants as a part of their diet, so hemp bedding is very safe for them to eat, should they ingest it.
Hemp bedding is an alternative to traditional wood shavings, and is much more absorbent than wood. Hemp bedding can absorb four times its weight in liquid, making it great for controlling odors.
The biggest downside to hemp bedding is the cost — it is expensive and it can be difficult to find in pet stores.
Bad Gerbil Bedding
Pine And Cedar
While some wood shavings, such as aspen shavings, make great bedding for gerbils, there are some that are not acceptable. These include pine and cedar wood shavings.
Pine and cedar are both oily and aromatic woods which can affect the respiratory systems of gerbils, and longterm can lead to heart, kidney, liver, and lung damage.
Sawdust
Sawdust is another wood based bedding that should be avoided for gerbils. While it is good for other animals, sawdust can cause irritation to gerbil eyes and noses, as well as causing lung problems.
Fluffy Bedding
Fluffy bedding, such as cotton or polyester wadding, is great for human bedding. It is, however, a different story when used as gerbil bedding.
This fluffy bedding will be ingested by your gerbil as they chew it, and they won’t be able to digest it. This can cause major health issues such as obstruction, which can lead to death.
Another potential hazard is that your gerbil could get their feet caught in the fibers. This could result in a broken leg as they try to struggle free.
Shredded Newspaper or Inked Paper
Shredded newspaper or inked paper can be harmful when used as gerbil bedding. This is because the dyes and inks used on this type of paper can be very dangerous if ingested by your gerbil as they chew it.
The ink can also rub off on their fur while burrowing and leave blue or black stains.
While it is perfectly acceptable to make your own gerbil bedding out of paper, check that no plastic is accidentally also shredded in the process. This includes plastic windows of envelopes. This can be very harmful to pets if they eat it.
Pellet Bedding
Pellet bedding is a popular bedding for animals such as horses, chickens and rats. It is hard paper or wood that has been compacted into pellets.
Pellet bedding isn’t suitable for gerbils. This is because they cannot tunnel or burrow in it because the pieces are too large. Also, when it is chewed, it turns into sawdust. This can be inhaled by your gerbil and cause respiratory issues.
Perfumed Bedding
Perfumed bedding may be labelled as “scented” or “deodorizing”, meaning they are designed to mask any odors. While this may seem like a good option for bedding, perfumed bedding can actually be harmful for your gerbil.
Gerbils have a very sensitive sense of smell, and they rely on this to help them navigate. They use their noses to find their way around their enclosure and find other gerbils, so scented bedding can interfere with this.
Don’t forget, your gerbil is small and will be living in an enclosed tank. This means that the airflow can be restricted, and perfumed bedding can cause respirating issues and irritation due to the chemicals used.
Cat Litter
Cat litter is unsafe to use as gerbil bedding. This is for a variety of reasons.
Cat litter is usually made of out of a substance like clay or silica gel, which are unsafe for gerbils to ingest. Cat litter can also be very dusty, which can cause issues when inhaled.
Cat litter is also designed to mask scents, meaning that it is perfumed. This can cause irritation to your gerbil’s eyes and nose.
Non-clumping and unscented cat litter may be safe for gerbil bedding, if it is made from recycled paper. However, it will still be unsafe for burrowing if it is in the form of pellets as it will not hold the shape of a tunnel.
Bedding From Outside
While soil and peat bedding can be a good bedding option for your gerbil, you should be careful where you get it from. Make sure you buy this bedding from a pet store or garden center so you can be sure it is safe.
Never use soil from your garden or yard. This is untreated and could carry harmful organisms such as bacteria or insect eggs, which could affect your gerbil’s health.
How Much Bedding Do I Need To Give My Gerbil?
Gerbils like to dig, so giving them enough bedding to dig and tunnel in is very important. This will help to satisfy their natural digging instincts.
Therefore, your gerbilarium should be filled one-third deep (about 20-30 cm at least, roughly 7 to 12 inches deep) with bedding materials to give your gerbils plenty of space to dig and tunnel. They will also hoard their food and urinate in the bedding.
If you’re using more than one type of bedding, you can either mix them or place them in layers in your gerbil’s home. Your gerbil will kick up the substrate and rearrange it how they like it, so it doesn’t matter how you place it in there.
It is, however, important that you don’t place anything heavy, such as food dishes or bowls, directly on top of the bedding. If you do, they won’t be able to chew it up and tunnel with it. Make sure there is a shelf (or cage) on top of the bedding to hold food and water dishes.
You can read all about setting up your gerbil home here.
Will My Gerbil Eat Their Bedding?
Your gerbil won’t eat their bedding, but they will chew on it. This is a completely normal behavior for gerbils and nothing to worry about.
Chewing the bedding helps to breakdown the bedding into smaller pieces, and helps to moisten it. This then makes the bedding more sturdy for building tunnels and structures. If you use more than one bedding, you’ll notice that your gerbil mixes it up. This also helps to make tunnels more sturdy.
Gerbils also chew their bedding to help keep their teeth filed down. Gerbils teeth never stop growing, so they have to be filed down by chewing to prevent any pain or health issues in relation to their teeth.
How Often Should I Change My Gerbil’s Bedding?
How often you clean out your gerbil’s bedding will depend on what type of bedding you are using, but generally you should give it a spot clean every day. You should remove any wet and dirty bedding and leftover food. You should also clean and replace their food and water containers.
Because gerbils are clean animals, they will only need a proper cleaning out once a week. This will include removing and replacing all their bedding. Make sure to leave a small amount of their soiled bedding in their home, so they are left with a familiar smell.
Once every couple of months, you should give your gerbil’s home a deep clean. This means removing all their bedding, and spraying down their enclosure with pet-friendly cleaning spray. You’ll then need to replace everything.
Learn more about cleaning out your gerbil here.
If you want to change your gerbil’s bedding to a different type or brand, make sure you do this gradually by mixing their old bedding with the new bedding. This will ensure you don’t shock your gerbil as they do not like change.
