Things You'll Need:
- Sense of smell
- Calendar for notes
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Step 1
Smell around the gerbil cage to sense if it's dirty and time to be changed. Your nose will be a great indicator of freshness or lack thereof. The gerbil uses shaved wood chips in its living habitat that give a fresh wood, pine or cedar fragrance when fresh. A musty smell or urine smell replaces the fresh scent of the wood chips or shavings.
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Step 2
Look at the gerbil cage to examine visually the status of cleanliness. The wood chips should be crisp, the water dish or container should contain fresh clear water, and the food dish should be clean with fresh food. The wood shavings should be in the cage and not scattered all over the outside of the cage. In addition, there will be gerbil waste visible in the cage.
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Step 3
Watch your gerbil's behavior. Gerbils like to be clean and will wash, lick or clean themselves often. If the cleaning seems excessive, the gerbil is telling you that their cage is dirty.
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Step 4
Check to see when the last time you cleaned the gerbil cage. Clean the gerbil cage on a regular basis to keep the cage from smelling unpleasant, but also to keep your gerbil healthy. Clean the cage at least once a week, but at most every two to three weeks, depending on the size of the cage. Make a note on your calendar when you clean the cage and when it's time to do it again.
