All mammals can swim – it’s a survival mechanism.
Swimming for most land-based animals is by definition: not drowning, so when they are accidentally washed away by heavy rain or flooding – they can keep themselves above water for a set length of time in the hope of finding dry land.
Most animals don’t ever choose to ‘go swimming’ on a normal day out. Infact most mammals actively avoid getting wet or swimming – mainly for their own health.
So the question shouldn’t be ‘can gerbils swim’ it should be ‘would they like it’?
If you are looking for a way to cool them off in hot weather – there are more effective ways to do it including cold tiles and frozen grapes.
If you are looking to increase their exercise there are plenty of safer options including a running wheel or a converted 4ft vivarium with plenty of things to explore.
If you are looking at ways for increasing enrichment – making your own toys and mazes can be much drier and more gerbil-friendly.
Gerbils Natural Design:
Gerbils are designed to live in a desert. Everything about them is highly specialised to do just that. Live in a dry sandy desert.
They even bathe in dust and sand – as the tiny grains sit in their coat and absorb their natural healthy greases which keep them warm and healthy (water + oil = no no). Most gerbils love a chinchilla dust bath or a sand bath in their tanks or runs and they often lay around in it as it feels cool on their skin.
Gerbils have specially designed fur that keeps them warm in the cool desert nights underground and protects them from sun when they go out in the day. It is also designed to work best when it is dry – totally dry.
If a gerbil gets too wet and can’t keep themselves warm until they dry off – they could well die.
I’m not sure they would really like it either – water is cold and makes you feel a lot heavier than usual – so they would feel exposed and ‘weak’ in that sense.
I would imagine if their feet didn’t touch the bottom – that they would be quite scared indeed, both during and after their dip.
BUT – every gerbil is different so if you wanted to give them the option to try it for themselves, you could do – but only if it was totally on their own terms.
You must let them chose whether or not to enter the water and when – you never just put them in it yourself. Start with a shallow plate or dish in their larger run and see if they go in themselves on bribe of some treats.
Remember swimming is a life or death situation for most animals – so they will have to swim if you drop them in it too deep – but it will be in a panic. And I am sure you don’t want to be scaring the life out of them for no reason?
Reasons To Get A Gerbil Wet:
There aren’t many reason why you would ever want to get a gerbil wet at all – and these would most likely be man-made reasons – nothing that they would ever experience in the wild.
However, they do occur every now and then and might need to be dealt with.
- They are physically dirty from sticky foods etc
- They have had a fight and are covered in blood
- They have been ill and haven’t been able to wash themselves
- They have got mites and you have been given a special shampoo
- They have a skin condition that needs regular medication applied externally
Quite often gerbils can get themselves to a state less than perfect – whether it is due to playing in something, getting moist food stuck to them or for health issues, but generally, they or their tank mates will groom it off eventually.
If they can’t or don’t – or you want a faster result – then a shallow bath may seem in order.
There are certainly some shampoos on the store shelves for such a thing, but I imagine just warm water will do the trick (unless you have a prescribed medication to use).
Make sure your gerbil can easily stand on all four feet in the shallow warm water, and that they can’t jump out and injure themselves – which they may well try to do out of fear. A shallow tray in the bottom of the bath tub may well be the safest option.
Try to be thorough with your medication application if that is what you are doing otherwise this will all be a waste of time for them, but don’t prolong the experience – especially if the water starts going cold or the room is cold.
Make sure they are towel dried thoroughly afterwards and left in a warm spot out of draughts – maybe given a corn flour bath to speed up their drying.
It will take some time after using any chemicals for the natural oils in their coat to build up again – so do watch them closely the week or so afterwards.
Also, they may well smell or act different after a bath, so if possible make sure their tank mates (if any) are in the bath tub too so they are experiencing all the same smells too – just like when you take them both to the vets or have them both play in the run – it just maintains their bond.
If you can’t share the experience or don’t want to – just make sure that you watch out for any signs of declanning if they are from a large group or where their tank mates aren’t part of the experience…
