Can gerbils eat glass?

[swee'pea99]

Just got a fish tank for my daughter's gerbils, who've munched their way thru' the entire contents of her plastic hamster cage. My wife does stained glass, so she's good with cutting and that, and she's offered to cut a shelf for me to araldite in half way up the tank - for food bowls and the like. Question is, do we need to use special toughened glass? I mean surely ordinary glass will be ok, as long as it's properly ground/smoothed at the edges? They couldn't actually bite slivers off and die horribly of internal bleeding? Or could they?

 

[weely]

I had the same problem with the little buggers last year! They 'demolished' their cage within weeks! They are now in a fish tank with a metal food bowl and we have had no problems since! Good luck.

Dave

 

[Mr Pig]

Who cares? If they're stupid enough to eat glass then that's too bad for them.

But seriously, I doubt they'd eat it.

 

[Fnaar]

We'll expect an update at some point!

 

[Chuffy]

I used to have rats in a glass aquarium with glass shelves. No, it wasn't full of water.
They would nibble almost anything but they weren't daft enough to try glass.

 

[Gromit]

You should have got them a hamster... When I had gerbils as a kid we had a glass tank made for them, they loved it.

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks all. Think I'm going to risk it. If rats can't eat it, surely gerbils will be ok.

 

[buggi]

the perfect house for a gerbil is cage on top half with ladder leading down to a tank with sawdust in it as they like to burrow. Pets at Home sell them.

if you are just using a tank then make sure the top is ventilated or they will sweat and suffer.

no they won't eat glass. it will be fine.

 

[swee'pea99]

A definitive answer - yippee! Cyclechat comes up trumps yet again. Thanks Buggi - I will ventilate.

(Mind, if they die in a bloody pulp of pain you'll have my youngest to answer to. You don't want that.)

 

[andrew-the-tortoise]

Yes, we got one of those tanks with a ladder - the gerb's delight in kicking sawdust through the cage bit !

Have kept them in glass aquariums before - they don't chew the glass.

 

[just jim]

That question ranks alongside:

"Do bees sweat?"

And for that I thank you.

 

[bonj2]

they can only eat some if there's an edge or corner for them to get at. They can't gnaw their way into a flat plane. For instance you get plastic tubes for them to crawl through that have metal rings on the ends.

 

[Baggy]

"Do bees sweat?"

Do they?

I'd say not, as they have an exoskeleton. Next time I see one I'll sniff it.

 

[Abitrary]

they can only eat some if there's an edge or corner for them to get at. They can't gnaw their way into a flat plane. For instance you get plastic tubes for them to crawl through that have metal rings on the ends.

A space gerbil can gnaw its way into the 7th dimension, if you feed the ****er up.

Anyroad, the literary fun we had tonight will be destroyed by bonj's weirdness, so I bid you goodnight. GOODNIGHT.

 

[peanut]

rodent type critturs need to chew in order to file their teeth down which are constantly growing. I think you should provide something safe for them to chew like birds have cuttlefish otherwise they'll chew whatever is around them