My gerbils wheel

Question
I got a pair of female gerbils in December, and they are just wonderful. However they have never used the exercise wheel! They love their gerbil balls, but don't seem to understand the concept of the wheel. Is their anyway for me to train them on it?

Answer
Hi Lisa,

No, there's not really a way to train your gerbils to use the wheel, unfortunately.  However, make sure you're using the right wheel - it should be about 8" in diameter (the size of a regular hamster's wheel), and it should be solid, with no rungs.  If the wheel has rungs, the gerbils' tails could get caught in between the rungs and break off.

If you're using the right wheel and they still don't run on it, there's really nothing you can do.  Some gerbils like it, some don't.  To make sure they get plenty of exercise, keep letting them run in their balls, and you may want to consider adding extra tubes to the cage.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask :)

Kelly