Bit of an odd one this. We have an old (4 years old in fact!) Gerbil at home who seems to delight in covering his food with his bedding materials. I wouldnt be bothered, but it seems to stop him eating the food thats left in the pot (which sometimes is quite a lot).

Does anyone know of any reason why he would do this?

My gerbils all do this too. It's a natural instinct for them. I know some people that bypass bowls completely and just scatter food in the bedding, but I stick with them so I can keep tabs on what they're eating.

Also, my gerbs have a habit of eating the best bits of their food first, then trying to fool me into refilling the bowl early rather than eat the less interesting foods :rolleyes:. Just wait a bit longer before giving him more food to encourage him to finish it off and/or remove the bedding from the top.

My rats do that, every night they spend ages putting cardboard bedding into the foodbowl and in one quick scoop I undo all their hard work, rinse and repeat :roll: Little weirdos :D

My gerbils all do this too. It's a natural instinct for them. I know some people that bypass bowls completely and just scatter food in the bedding, but I stick with them so I can keep tabs on what they're eating.

Also, my gerbs have a habit of eating the best bits of their food first, then trying to fool me into refilling the bowl early rather than eat the less interesting foods :rolleyes:. Just wait a bit longer before giving him more food to encourage him to finish it off and/or remove the bedding from the top.


Thanks for that:thumbsup:

Our Gerbil eats all the best bits first too - he's not as daft as he looks, obviously:)

My rats do that, every night they spend ages putting cardboard bedding into the foodbowl and in one quick scoop I undo all their hard work, rinse and repeat :roll: Little weirdos :D


He makes me laugh when I clean out his cage (Technically, the Gerbil belongs to our 9 year old, but somehow, I've adopted the cleaning and feading duties:huh:). There I am, thinking Ive done him a favour by making his home all clean, and he gives me a look like

"What have you done that for? I'd just got the place how I like it!":hihi: