Don't get your gerbil from Pets At Home, as they are notorius for sexing gerbils wrong (that's also what they did with my sisters gerbil, which is how I ended up with mine!). The best place really is from a breeder (dearer but higher quality gerbil).
You should have enough bedding, wood shavings or other to dig tunnels in as this is what they do naturally. I use wood shavings (don't use sawdust, it's too dusty for gerbils) and vegetable parchment bedding myself. The cotton type bedding usually says it's ideal/suitable for gerbils - it's
not! At some point or another, they will enevetiably eat their bedding (they carry it in their mouths), plus they can get trapped in it (it has happened to people's gerbils).
Housing: A tank is best. You should have at least 10 gallons for the first gerbil andat least 5 for each other gerbil in the stup (so if you had 3, 20 gallons min). Don't use plastic cages (they do chew them, especially if the ladders are plastic, my sisters gerbil chewed her first cage to pieces). Don't ue Rotastack type cages, they are designed for hamsters, not gerbils and are not suitable for gerbils. I use a Pets At Home gerbilarium (It has got a plastic glass like bottom but my gerbils can't get a grip on it to chew. I also threw out the plastic toy that came with it. Not suitable for gerbils) though I will be using a tank shortly). Bedding and wood shavings are often kicked out onto the floor with their digging, so if you want to avoid hoovering up at least twice a day, avoid buying one.
Toys:
If you use any type of cage with wire on it (such as the gerbilarium above), I'd reccomend a mineral stone. My gerbils use to chew the bars despite plenty of toys. But when I bought a mineral stone, they chewed that instead (they then hid it in a pile of bedding, but they find it when they need it).
Use wooden toys (don't use anything with American pine or cedarwood as these can both be lethal to gerbils).
I also give them a couple of those cardboard chubes (they get through toilet roll tubes in less than 5 minutes), which mine use to help with their tunnel building. Bedding and toys can be bought from your local pet shop (unless you live in Salford!!!) or Wilkinsons and sometimes supermarkets.
Never use plastic toys.
They need the wooden toys and cardboard as their teeth
NEVER stop growing.
Also, a terracotta plant pot is a good idea, as apart from being handy as a sleeping space, they will shorten their nails on it, reducing the need for expensive vet visits to get their nails cut (mine haven't needed their nails cut at all thanks to this). I don't know how they do their back ones, but they do!
The one exeption to plastic toys in their cage is a solid Silent spinner wheel made of thick plastic as they can get caught in wire ones and possibly lose a limb. Just keep an eye on it.
Food: There are a variety of gerbil foods around, such as Gerri Gerbil amongst others. The problem is finding them, so I use Wagg Hamster Gerbil Mouse Munch (from Wilkinsons or Asda) as it is the easiest one to find.
You can give them small amounts of fresh fruit and veg twice a week. A list of suitable foods are here:
http://gerbilforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=foodfaq&action=display&thread=7905
And
NOT suitable foods are here:
http://gerbilforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=foodfaq&action=display&thread=7904
Bathing: Gerbils are clean animals (you can clean them out every 2 weeks instead of one if you wish as they pee little as they drink little), or longer if you have a tank), and should not be bathed except in emergencies (eg: a substance on them that is toxic if they lick it off [which they will do]) or under vetinary advice. One kind of bath they
can have is a sand bath, which most gerbils love. Give them safe sand such as Charlie Chinchilla Sand and put it in a container when you let them out for a run (it can be left in their cage but often becomes a toilet). They roll about in it which is quite funny to watch!
