Timid Gerbil

Question
Hi,
A couple days ago my girlfriend and i bought 2 gerbils, A grey one and a black one which are still in the process of being named. The grey one has already settled in very well and seems to have no fear of us, infact if anything we seem to be an interesting oddity to be investigated. However the black one still seems frightened. When i place my hand slowly into their housing to allow them to get used to my scent the black one may come up and have a sniff but will very quickly retreat to a safe distance and simply watch. If we open up the housing to let them come out at their own pace she will simply stick her head out one or twice and then run away. I'm alittle worried about just picking her up as i don't want her to get more scared. Also her and her sister tend to have little fights, the grey one will throw her out of the bed now and then and the black one will go sleep in the wheel. I'm just wondering if their is anything else we can do to help her become accustomed to her new environment and be less scared of us?

On a separate note, they have been using the wheel as a toilet, then running, sleeping and also eating in their, is their anyway we can convince then to go somewhere else to do their business? as I'm sure the mixture of these activities must be atleast alittle unhygienic.

Thanks

Answer
Hello Steven,
how big is the cage that you have, becuase sometimes a small cage can initiate territory fights and by using a bigger cage it gives the gerbils enough space to have more privacy from each other if they want to. The black one that is very timid by you will need time to get adjusted to it's surroundings and place. You will need to be patient and speak to the gerbil and a good way to get them to like you is to place some yummy food in your hand and wait for the gerbil to come to your hand and eat. Sometimes I will even place some food through the bars of the cage and let them grab it that way.
About the gerbils peeing on the cage and then running in it, a lot of animals do that and it's actually normal. It's yucky, yes I know and sometimes they can stink because of it, but giving gerbils a dust bath using a little bowl and some critter dust bath that you can find at petsmart or petco. Gerbils love to roll around in that and get clean. If you look on the bright side using the bathroom in the wheel makes it easier to clean because you just take out the wheel and wash it. That's what I do at least. My hamster won't pee anywhere else but on his wheel.
I wish you the best of luck with your gerbils. Good luck. :-)