Cage cleaning

Gerbil care-  Cage cleaning


Gerbils are relatively easy pets to maintain,  so luckily their cages don't need constant cleaning.  However it will be necessary occasionally.
How often to clean your gerbils' tank depends on their set-up.  Gerbils with a lot of bedding (6 inches or more) will probably only need their cage cleaned once a month.  Gerbils with less then 6 inches,  which should be avoided if possible,  will need it done twice a month.
You can also do partial cage cleanings more frequently.
This would be where you would take out about half the bedding,  instead of all.  
If you do partial cleanings,  simply double the above guidelines.  So for a cage with more then 6 inches of bedding,  do partial cleanings twice a month.  And for gerbils with less then 6 inches,  do it three or four times a month.
Also,  every once and awhile it will be necessary to do a more thorough cage cleaning.  This would imply not only changing the bedding,  but also washing out the tank itself with soap and water.  This should be done once every 3-5 months for gerbils with more then 6 inches of bedding,  and once every 2-3 months for gerbils with less then 6 inches.

So,  how do you clean the cage?
I'm going to give instructions for doing a full cleaning,  not a partial.  For partial cleanings,  simply do half of what you would for a full.
To make it easy,  I'll put the cage cleaning process into steps.

1:  Take your gerbils out of the cage.  My suggestion would be to let them play in a bathtub or playpen with some toys.
2:  Take out all the toys from their cage,  as well as the food dish and water bottles/etc.
3:  Empty out all the bedding.  You can dump it into a garbage can,  scoop it out,  whatever works best for you.
4:  If needed,  wash out the tank with soap and water. (Rinse thoroughly!)
5:  Put fresh bedding in the tank. (As well as hay,  nesting material,  etc.) 
6:  If needed,  wash any toys and items from the tank.  Food dishes,  water bottles,  and wheels should be washed regularly.  (Especially wheels,  if they are solid and not mesh)
7:  Replace the toys and items.  If you'd like to rearrange them when you clean the tank,  go ahead!  Most gerbils will enjoy the change.
8:  Put your gerbils back.  And you may want to pull over a chair to watch-  gerbils can be quite entertaining as they "fix" what they don't like.  

Note that if any bedding becomes wet due to a leak in the water bottle/etc.,  it should be removed immediately.  Don't wait until you clean out the cage.