Like running wheels with slits, such as metal thin-barred ones. I looked up gerbils on image search, and the caption told me about gerbils getting thier tails snitched off by running wheels. I have a wheel that is unsafe for them and I was wondering what the odds were!!
Answers:
The slatted metal or plastic wheels should never be used for any small animal, they cause tail injuries and leg/foot injuries. We just rescued a dwarf with a broken leg because the owner used one of them, they used the slatted plastic style. Just throw that wheel away and go buy a solid plastic or if a chewer, a metal mesh wheel. We use this type will all our gerbils. The chances of a broken leg is a lot less and so is a caught tail. If you continue to use that wheel, then you are no better then the people I took the dwarf hamster from with the broken leg, who refused to stop using it. I paid for the vet services and they now have no dwarf hamster, which is part of my rules that once I remove an animal from a home for treatment, they become under ownership of the rescue and will be placed up for adoption once healed.
Please just stop using that wheel and go get a proper solid plactic or wire mesh wheel (if a chewer) for the gerbils safety. I don't want to see a question on here for what to do with a broken tail/leg or a severed tail/leg that was preventable. The odds are 100% everytime use contiue to use the wheel, you just never know when it will happen.
Not sure, but you don't have to get a new wheel. Just take some flexible cardboard, like from a tissue box, cut it to the right width, and tape it around the outside of the wheel (masking tape works well). It will get dirty eventually from droppings and such, but then you can just rip it off and tape a new piece on.
1 to 100 i have had 4 gerbils and they have never ever! gotten their tail stuck in one!
The odds are pretty good that an injury may occur. I would reccomend getting a solid wheel for your pet or make it safe as the other person suggested.
Remember that as the caretaker of a small animal you are their god in a way. You provide them with a home, food, water and all other neccesities of life. It would be very irresponsible for you to ignore advice on making your gerbil's life safe and pain free out of sheer laziness or the desire to save a few dollars.
If you were still an infant would you want your mother to leave poisonous household cleaners around where you could potentially reach them and then go on Yahoo and ask what the odds were of you getting into them?
I seriously doubt it.
the odds are about 2:1 from my experience and friends of rodents winding up with broken limbs or tails from metal wheels. one unfortunate mouse a friend of mine had lost an eye to one when her sister was running on it and she went to crawl across the cage and caught her head in it. luckily it didn't break her neck.
just purchase a solid plastic one (these are the kind that is recommended for rats).
they are like $12...that way it eliminates that possibility.
I dont know the odds but, get a wheel that doesnt have the bars. Like a solid plastic one.
Just to be safe, I would get a closed wheel, one where the bottom where they run is solid. I wouldnt suggest a plastic one because they tend to chew it up (I know from experience lol) but still get a closed wheel or a "mesh" one where there are no big openings or bars.
There are some with this tiny chicken wire stuff, but its flat instead of rounded so it doesnt hurt their feet.
Truthfully, I think it is pretty low. Usually gerbils get their tails detached because someone grabs the gerbil by the tail or holds the tail and the gerbil falls or runs off.
However it could happen. So the best bet is just to get a mesh one where the holes are too little to fit in a gerbil tail and not have to worry about it.
Here is a link to a good size one (8 inch diameter) for gerbils:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/202...
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