My Gerbils haveing problems.

Question
My Gerbil Katarah is haveing problems. She has been haveing alot of nose bleeds. we heard we should give her more vitamin K, but she never eats her vitamins or any greens. Could you tell me what to do.
She also has a chewing adiction. She chewed her way out of a normal cage, so now we keep her in a plastic container about 1ft and 6in. long. Her already chewed through two of her wheels. What should I do?

Answer
Hello Kristin,
Do you buy her enough chew treats to chew on? Gerbils are going to have an addiction to chewing to help keep their teeth down and it's normal for them to chew. I would really buy her a lot of chew treats for small animals. As for the nose bleeds, it sounds like she has nasal dermatitis or most commonly known as the sore nose. It is generally caused by high humidity, crowdered conditions or trauma to the nose from burying. The best thing to do is to switch to a soft bedding like carefresh or soft-sorbent bedding and clean the face with a mild desinfectant like anti-bacterial soap and putting neosporin on it to heal. If it's really severe and that doesn't help then I would take her to a vet for antibiotics. You can find more information about it here.
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=18&cat=1799&articleid=2463