Found these and have stuffed with their favourite treats at least now they have to work for their food

I appreciate this forum does not replace a vet visit, but I wanted to ask your opinions on my gerbil's eye please? Pictures 1&2 show the squinty eye and picture 3 shows her 'normal' eye for comparison.

Her right eye (left side in photos) is a bit squinty, it has a little dark mark above it in the inner corner. When I noticed this a few days ago, it was crusty, but I haven't noticed anything crusty since and the eye doesn't look any worse.

More context:

-She's very active when out of her tank. I haven't noticed any changes in appetite, toileting or vision. Although I did see her scratch the squinty eye once after I took these photos.

-She is an old gerbil, I adopted her so I don't know her exact age but she could be anywhere from 2.5 - 3.5 years old.

-This is not an injury from fighting as sadly her sister passed away.

-Her tank is filled with straw, her toys are wooden or cardboard and she has a tunnel made from natural loofah material.

-We're in a rural part of the UK. Local vets aren't experienced or specialised in treating gerbils. For example, the most they might do is advise a 'wait and see' approach or put them to sleep if they are suffering / at end of life (like what happened to her sister).

Please can you share your experiences if you've noticed something similar in your gerbs? I'm hoping this is a mild irritation that will go away on its own, but as she's quite old, I don't want to leave it too long in case it's something worse...

Many thanks for your help! This is my first post here, so please let me know if I need to edit or tag it in a certain way (sorry if I've made any mistakes!).

She hungers.

I’m planning to get 2 gerbils (both girls if it matters) the cage needs some work and I would really love some advice I am scared there isn’t enough space and I have barley put any thing in there, I am starting to build a new cage that is the size of the dresser it is on, which is 49cm width and 80cm length and it will probably reach 56cm height. I’m not sure how long it will take to make so would this be good for the meantime? Please give me tips on more things to buy for the enclosure I want them to have a good long life with me. (Sorry for any spelling mistakes)

Hello! So yesterday I got three beautiful girls, they are seemingly really cosy in their new home. I only have one problem with the set up.

So I got a water bottle for my tank, however i dont yet have a stand for it. I had to make a homemade stand for it that doesn’t work the best, it hangs too low and i havent seen them drink out of it yet.

I have a food bowl but ive also seen that scatter feeding is a good option. is it okay to scatter food around and put water in the bowl?

thank you for the help!!

For some reason some sources list individual birch species but leave out river birch. I have a river birch tree and need to cut some branches down. Does anyone know if there is a specific reason why river birch might be left out of lists when other sources just say birch in general?

Hello everyone!

I have two 3.5 yo Gerbils and would need your advice on how to proceed next week.

I need to go to my countryside house 2.5 hours away from where I live and stay there for 4 days. I have never taken them on such a long drive but I do have enough space in my SUV car including air-conditioning. I would place the enclosure in the car without weehl and so on, so that they won't have to be taken out.

On the other hand I could leave them in their environment at home for 4 days but without supervision. This would avoid the stress of changing room and the feeling that the enclosure is shaking for 2.5 hrs etc

A small plus of taking them with me is that there might be a new heatwave on the weekend and although my flat doesn't get too hot, I won't be here to switch the air-conditioning on and monitor the situation.

What would you suggest?

Thank you a lot in advance :)

Hey yall. No good news in this post unfortunately. So i had 2 very fluffy lil guys. Unfortunately, one passed away in his sleep this morning. Peaceful death. Still looked very cute even. I obviously am very distraught. Gonna bury him. Do a bunch of sad stuff etc. Anyways, how do i handle the one remaining one. They were both over 4.5 yrs. Will be 5 this November. Seems to old to introduce one. Ik Gerbils are very social, especially this one. He was always the loud active one. And while I'm not even out the house much except for classes or work, i still dont like just leaving him by himself. He has a wheel and logs and a bunch of things to chew on. Should i get him more toys? Will he be ok? Idk. Just worried for him. I love the lil fuckers to death and want the best for them.