dgreenster Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 dear fellow qutees...help!- our christmas qute at last has residents!- two white gerbils Digby and Max arrived today- they are busily digging for britain in the bottom tray- what a delight! - but we are utter pet novices and having put the food and water in the upper section are concerned they show no sign of venturing up the tube or when placed in the top bit go down it!!- help please- do we let them just figure it out??- do we move food and water ( how would you attach bottle downstairs anyway) until such time as they do- or do we have to do something else- i am sure all you pet professionals remember your novice days so any help very gratefully received....! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 I would definitely move some food and water downstairs. Little furries become very dehydrated very quickly and can die without regular food and water. It wont be easy to do as there doesn't appear to be any wire to attach a bottle on the bottom level. You could also try taking them out and putting them on the top level a few times. Using the tube to get down may encourage them to use the tube to go back up. If I were you I would feed this back to Omlet who need to know about any problems that may be encountered with this new product. I must admit it was a concern of mine when I saw the design Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenNutter Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Our gerbies learned to use the tube within 24 hours, and their 4 week old babies are now all using it too. We put them one at a time upstairs first, so that they learned to go down the tube to rejoin the other gerbil first, they then both very quickly wanted to explore upstairs. It is pretty funny when one wants to go down when the other wants to go up at the same time! Personally I would leave them to work it out themselves, they wont take long honest! If they are starting to get hungry and thirsty it will push them to explore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgreenster Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 thank you - so far - day 3 no luck- will keep persevering- they are definately getting more confident around our hands so i hope we can coax them to try it out..we will perhaps leave the water upstairs from now on- to see if that temps them...any other ideas very welcome- they love the wheel though- so much that it came off and we had to use the additional piece that omlet sent us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I'd leave it upstairs and move the gerbils up too. Maybe put them up and leave the tube locked up for a few hours so they find the food and water, then put the tube back down. Mine were going up and down it within half an hour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LolaLayla Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I must admit it was a concern of mine when I saw the design I have had several hamsters and gerbils an I am concerned that old animals will eventually not be able to climb up and will be without food and water. Our last hamster in his last months hardly moved about at all The owner would need to keep a very close watch as to the animal's mobility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgreenster Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 update- we have had gerbies for almost a week and yesterday with the coaxing of some bedding digby lived up ti his name and ventured oith up and down and now seems to be happy going between the two- max however seems utterly uninterested ( despite broccoli stem enticing..) or oblivious although i am hoping that digby will somehow show him...maybe gerbie smells on the tube will help- we are having to move max up and down every few hours...interestingly they chose to sleep in the upstairs food bowl last night and not the comfy bedding down- digby obviously couldn't persuade max to be tempted down the tube to the warm snuggly bedding....so its still wait and see- perhaps we have ended up with some particularly daft/stubborn gerbils! any more suggestions gratefully received Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cats and Chickens Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 How are you doing has he mastered the tube yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgreenster Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 No!!! Despite digby going up and down infront of him...have tried some gentle physical prompting,,,but he peers down and then scurries away....am determined to crack it this weekend with him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgreenster Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Three weks and counting and max the gerbil is stil notusing theinterlocking tube..He had alsodiscovered the suction pads that hold upthe second downstairs water bottle and had abig chew so i am NOT happyand am determined to sort him using both floors! During clean out time today we tookthe tube and let him have a play with it horizontally....which he took to in no time!!! He is scuttling through it back and forth without a care - so here's hoping he goes for it when we replace it vertically later else i will be convinced he has Vertigo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Pets Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 I do not recommend this cage. On the top bit, it is cage wire ( whatever its called) and that seriously hurts the hamsters feet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgreenster Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 i can tell you that it took 3 and a half weeks for max gerbil to master the tube- we had two water bottles- but he finally managed it with some coaxing - and both gerbies now happily scooting up and down- and loving their new home - imho- i dont quite understand the concern re wire cages- our only on going issue now is that despite lots of other chew items on top and bottom the non chewable omlet wheel is being chewed- and whilst still usable i am concerned it will need to be replaced at what ££££ eventually?- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Glad he finally mastered it! The part-wire cages aren't bad imo as long as there is somewhere like the bottom tray that they can go to aswell. Whats being chewed, the edge or the middle? They shouldn't be too expensive to replace ... if not just get a standard wheel and attach it to the wire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
