How to bond with a gerbil?

Question

My gerbil really hates me. How do you make it like me?

Answer 1

Try handling it more. Give him treats before you hold him, so he know that your are nice.

Answer 2

I thought my gerbil hated me when i first got it. It doesn't though, it is probably just not used to your scent. Try putting your hand in the cage for awhile each day and it should eventually come to you. If it bites, don't shake your hand away because it will just bite you harder, wait until it looses grip. The next step is stroking it, once it will let you hold it, use one finger and run it from its head to where its tail starts. Do this lightly. If it doesn't let you do this, keep trying. If it does, feed it a treat. This will teach them to be tame. However, no gerbil will sit there and not move around. At some point it will want to go back in the cage.

Hope this helped!!!!

Answer 3

Feed him by hand instead of putting out food for a while so that he associates you with feeding time.  

Answer 4

Taming a gerbil requires some patience to gain its trust, but it will make handling your gerbils much easier and rewarding. Here's a rundown of the steps involved:

Give new gerbils a few days to adjust to their new home (keep maintenance and interaction to a minimum).

Move slowly and speak softly around the gerbils.

Limit interaction to times when the gerbil is awake - waking a gerbil isn't a good way to gain its trust!

Start just sitting next to cage to acclimate gerbils to your presence.

Offer a treat (sunflower or pumpkin seeds) when the gerbil approaches the cage bars.

Once your gebils are comfortable taking treats from your hand through the bars of the cage, offer treat through open cage door.

Once your gerbil happily takes treats from your hand, place a treat on your open hand to entice a gerbil to step up onto hand to retrieve treat.

Place a treat on forearm and allow gerbil to climb onto your hand.

When your gerbils are comfortable climbing on your hand, try gently scratching the sides and back of their heads (imitating natural grooming behavior of gerbils).

Avoid chasing or grabbing the gerbils to get them back into their cage if they have been out. Try to entice the gerbils back with favorite treats, or try to gently herd them back to the cage.

Handle your gerbils regularly to keep them well socialized. Gerbils are active and curious and will appreciate daily time outside the cage.

Starting with a young gerbils will make this process much easier. Keeping more than one gerbil is advised. Although some people fear that it will be more difficult to bond with and tame multiple gerbils (because they bond with each other), a single gerbil is likely to be stressed and nervous, and therefore may be more difficult to tame. Use lots of treats and work in small steps; make sure your gerbils are comfortable with each step before proceeding to the next. It is probably best not to allow the gerbils to run around outside the cage until they are tame - the stress of chasing, catching, and returning them to the cage may stress them and make them fear their owners.

Answer 5

If you have bought your gerbil from a good breeder the job of taming them should be well on the way. Remember that you should wait till a pup is around six week before bringing them home. This will give them time to learn from their parents and sibling to be social, and not to fear humans.

First, give them a few hours to settle into their new home. Then, introduce your hand into their tank and let them sniff. It is not unusual to get a gentle nip as they explore and examine your hand. They're trying to "taste" you, and find out if you're edible. Don't jerk your hand away, move it back slowly. Give them a quick puff of air in the face. (like your blowing out a candle)

This type of mouthing should not be painful and rarely cuts through the skin. It's also a habit they usually outgrow. Young gerbils are particularly prone to this as it's part of their "put everything in your mouth" stage.

If despite gentle handling your gerbil nips painfully and then runs away or draws blood it could be a sign of poor temperament or lack of early socialization. You may want to return or exchange such gerbils for ones that are of a gentle and reliable nature, especially if children will be handling these pets.

Hand training can be easy if you move patiently and slowly. Each morning when you feed them remove all the sunflower seeds from their food. Put these aside in a little cup near their tank. Then through out the day put a few sunflower seeds in the palm of your hand. Do not try to catch them or pick them up. Before long they will be use to your hand and see you as a glorified seeds dispenser. After a week slowly raise your hand a few inches each time one of them sit on it. Then slowly lower it back down again.

Once they feel comfortable with your hand moving up and down gently give them a little nose rub. Some gerbils love to have their noses and foreheads rubbed. You can create a cave with two hands held against your body, some of them will go to sleep, and others have a silent purr like kittens.

Within two weeks they should be very friendly, and loved to be held. Even though with responsible, gentle children it is recommended they do not handle the gerbils, until you are confident that the gerbils are tame. This avoids a bad early experience, and it is easier and faster to tame gerbils when only one person is working with them. Once they are use to human contact, the children can gradually begin to play with them.

NOTE: If you have more than one tank of gerbils always wash you hands well before handling the gerbils from another tank. You don't want to smell like an intruder.