Saturday Species Spotlight: The Mongolian Gerbil, a Pet That Needs a Burrow
The Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) is a burrow builder first and a pet second. Almost everything about keeping one well follows from that. Give a gerbil a place to dig a real tunnel and you get a busy, curious, daytime companion. Leave it digging at bare plastic and you can get a gerbil that scrabbles at the same corner for hours.
Who she is
Wild Mongolian gerbils live on the dry steppes and deserts of Mongolia, southern Siberia, and northern China, according to the Merck Veterinary Manual. Adults weigh roughly 70–130 g, males a little heavier, and Merck puts the normal lifespan at 2–3 years. They’re well adapted to dry country. They pass very little urine and their droppings are hard and dry, which is part of why a gerbil enclosure smells so little.
The sources describe the wild burrows differently. Merck calls them simple, 2–3 feet long. The RSPCA describes tunnel systems with separate food and nest chambers, up to 1.7 m deep. Either way, a gerbil expects to live underground.
What happens without a burrow
Zurich researchers studied this directly in the 1990s and 2000s. In a 1997 study, young gerbils raised in an artificial burrow spent 91.6% of their time inside it and dug in short, normal bouts. Littermates in standard cages developed long, repetitive corner digging from about 24 days old. Later work from the same group traced that digging to the missing burrow and showed that a built-in burrow system largely prevented it.
One caution: a plastic tube isn’t a burrow. A 2022 lab study added opaque tubes to breeding cages, and corner digging went up, not down.
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What keeps her well
- Bedding she can tunnel in. The RSPCA recommends 20–30 cm (about 8–12 in) of bedding in a solid-walled enclosure about 50 cm tall. It suggests a mix of woodchips and hay so the tunnels hold their shape.
- Company, set up early. Gerbils live in family groups. The RSPCA advises same-sex pairs or groups formed young, and warns that established adults rarely accept newcomers. The Zurich team also linked bar chewing to pups taken from their family too early, so ask the breeder or rescue how long yours stayed with theirs.
- Never by the tail. The skin of a gerbil’s tail can slip off if it’s grabbed, which Merck says often ends in amputation. Scoop her up in cupped hands instead.
If she tilts her head, has a seizure, or seems unwell, see an exotics vet. Merck notes that inner-ear masses are common in older gerbils.
Keeping other diggers? See what wild golden hamsters teach us about bedding depth, and our hide-counting rule for guinea pigs.
The takeaway: a gerbil needs a place to dig, not just a box to sleep in. Give her deep, tunnel-friendly bedding and a companion she grew up with.
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Oliver Grant is your go-to expert for all things related to small mammals. With 15 years of hands-on experience raising and caring for rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and ferrets, Oliver brings a wealth of knowledge to his readers.
