Hi guys.

I normally use childrens play sand to fill my gerbilarium, but it is due to be refilled and I thought I'd see what other people use.

Sand is very heavy and inconvenient to get home when I live up a big hill and don't have a car :S I can obviously get it delivered if that is the best thing to use- though I do find I have to keep wetting the sand so that they are able to dig their tunnels.

So what else do people use and what is most effective for their tunnel digging?

Thanks x x

You could use potting compost thats much lighter at least make sure its a good product some use shavings or shreded paper.Old toilet rolls burried in compost plain white kitchen roll for bedding.
I would,nt really recomend sand although this is mainly there natural materals and never use pure sawdust.

I used compost which works well for tunnelling. I wouldnt reccomend burying toilet roll tubes in the compost as they go horrible before you are ready to clean them out and try digging them out once the gerbils have buried them!! Compost tends to hold its shape too so they can get a real warren of tunnels going which is great!

I used compost which works well for tunnelling. I wouldnt reccomend burying toilet roll tubes in the compost as they go horrible before you are ready to clean them out and try digging them out once the gerbils have buried them!! Compost tends to hold its shape too so they can get a real warren of tunnels going which is great!

Should by better bog rolls :hihi:

lol - maybe!!! :)

Thanks for your replies. I did use compost originally and they wouldn't touch it lol It's a huge tank so it took a good few bags of compost and they would go into the tank and scrabble around a little but they didn't dig or tunnel at all, which is why we switched to sand and then they started digging their tunnels straight away! terminator- if you don't mind my asking, why wouldn't you recommend sand?

Thanks for your replies. I did use compost originally and they wouldn't touch it lol It's a huge tank so it took a good few bags of compost and they would go into the tank and scrabble around a little but they didn't dig or tunnel at all, which is why we switched to sand and then they started digging their tunnels straight away! terminator- if you don't mind my asking, why wouldn't you recommend sand?
oh sorry missed a bit off there it depends on qaulity if its the pet store one such as chinchilla sand then thats ok but some is so fine it can harm their respiratory systems.
Sorry about that.
Dont ferget though if you go back to compost and i recon that is best you will still need a bowl of sand so they can roll around in it if only for a couple of hours this is how they look after there fur.

I've been using the children's play sand from argos- it's not quite as fine as chinchilla sand, but it is 100% clean and non-toxic, obviously as it's meant for children. They seem to have been getting on fine with that but I did want to see if there was something better to use just in case. I've researched it a lot on the internet but there seems to be a lot of conflicting info, so I thought it would be better to get people's first-hand experiences

I've been using the children's play sand from argos- it's not quite as fine as chinchilla sand, but it is 100% clean and non-toxic, obviously as it's meant for children. They seem to have been getting on fine with that but I did want to see if there was something better to use just in case. I've researched it a lot on the internet but there seems to be a lot of conflicting info, so I thought it would be better to get people's first-hand experiencesDont think there is many other options but sure somone will come up with one ;)

Thanks terminator, it may be best to stick with the sand that they are used to then unless anyone knows any reasons why it's bad for them

I personally used sawdust but this isnt always the best thing to use as the bits get on their chest even in the dust extracted stuff. How about megazorb? This is something I discovered when starting out with guinea pigs. It is very absorbant and im pretty sure they will be able to do some tunneling. Sometimes my gerbils wouldnt tunnel in their sawdust so I found that if I put a tube straight down with it poking out the top, they would go down it and then come out somewhere else. The the tunneling would begin.

This is where I got the megazorb from.
http://www.farmway.co.uk/equine-2/tack-room-stable-24/stable-equipment-40/northern-driers-megazorb-animal-1789.htm?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=1789&utm_campaign=froogle

Although it is used in stables it is fine for use with small animals.

Hope that helps

My nephew got his gerbils from Eejay on here and she recommended shavings and the little bits of bedding that you buy for hamsters (stripey stuff) all mixed in together. That is what she uses. They love it - loads of tunnels and plastic tunnels in between. :hihi: