Well, that depends if they are in the same rom as you and whether you are a light sleeper?
Gerbils are always said to be crepuscular – which means awake around dawn and dusk – but to be honest they are awake whenever they want to be throughout the day and night – usually for a few hours at a time. And therefore they are bound to be awake every so often when you aren’t quite asleep.
We know that gerbils can be noisy as they love the chew everything, kick things around and thump their feet willy nilly – so yes – gerbil can be noisy and keep you awake at night.
Ways a gerbil can keep you awake at night:
Here are a list of most common things that your gerbils can do in their enclosure to be noisy (without really meaning it of course):
- Banging a coconut shell against the glass tank while digging
- Running in their wheel
- Chewing on the bars
- Chewing on a coconut shell (you get to learn that noise)
- Kicking something that is round backwards – but it rolls forward again each time
- Chewing plastic things in the enclosure
- Chewing wooden things in the enclosure
As you can tell from the list – there are a few easy fixes here:
- Don’t give your gerbils a coconut shell (or don’t put it near the edges of the tank)
- Make sure you have a properly-attached squeak-free free-flowing wheel
- Avoid feeding your gerbils throught the bars of a topper
- Avoid putting things like hazelnuts in shells or wooden toys with detachable parts in tanks
- Avoid putting plastic things in your enclosures
You can’t really avoid putting wooden things in their enclosures are that is just what you have to do – so hopefully they will only chew them when you are really fast alseep?
How can I avoid my gerbils keeping me awake at night?
The best thing to do would be to not have your gerbils in your room full stop. If you have this option then it is certainly the best one. Our gerbils are in a different room and we sleep like babies!
They make a right noise though as if you get up in the night there are half a dozen wheels turning and someone chewing a house or some thick cardboard!
If they have to be in your room – and we have all been there – then there are a few tricks too to make your nights a bit more peaceful. Also remember – if you are new to gerbils in your room that you will start to get used to their background noise over time – and in most cases your brain will learn to ignore their most common noises.
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However, here are some tips to lessen the gerbil noise in the first place:
Distraction: Obviously – if they only keep you awake while you are trying to get to sleep in the first place – then giving them something less noisy to do at that time is a winner. Perhaps this is the time to put in the tissue box filled with hay and a treat in the middle? Or to fill one side of the enclosure up with shredded paper to keep them occupied silently. Or save dinner time until your bed time so they are too busy eating to make a noise for that first half-hour or so.
Substitution: We find that giving a chewer or digger who has just woken you up doing something noisy some fresh thin cardboard – it works a treat. They chew this as it is easier (and in the way) and so this is virtually noise-free. And gives you that all important silent time window to drift back off. And hopefully get them tired enough to not go back to what they were doing before.
Close the Door: Gerbils react badly to strong shadows and so it can set off an endless foot thumping session. They see a shadow (someone in the hallways outside your door) and think it is a predator and so run off and thump. You then wake up and either make a noise yourself which makes them thump again – or you turn on your own light and make another shadow. Sometimes you can have an endless round of foot thumps. Best to just let them slow down naturally – which they eventually will – but you have to sit through it (or hope that throwing in some sunflower seeds will do the trick?).
Cheating: Make sure that you keep anything they always make a noise with out of the enclosure full time – and perhaps start only offering that in the play run or during the day. We have been known to remove the coconut shells from specific enclosures at our bedtime as they just won’t give it a rest (Latte)!
Complete Job: If your gerbils wake you up in the night with something banging – but when you switch the light on they stop: don’t leave it. We can almost guarantee they will carry on when you try to settle again. For the rest of that night in peace it is best to find out what it was and take it out. Very annoying we know if it is something right at the bottom of the enclosure (the number of times I have spotted a hazelnut shell in the bottom corner of the deepest substrate!!!) – but nothing is more annoying that getting back into bed and they start banging it again.
Will my gerbils ever stop keeping me awake at night?
No.
Basically you can reduce the noise level, and noise frequency – but you really won’t ever stop them making a noise at night without making their gerbil lives not suitable for a gerbil?
If you take their wheels out; don’t give them anything wooden to climb on or sleep in; take off their topper; and stop giving them toys so they don’t make a noise – it sort of defeats the point of keeping a gerbil doesn’t it?
Having them in a different room is always better – that way they get to keep all the things that make a gerbil happy – and they will most likely see you more during the day (unless you are an own-room type of person – say at college/uni).
Changing their enclosure can help if they are in a cage, as there is virtually no digging or chewing noises in a glass tank – they can only make a noise with the things in there. Gerbils digging in a plastic-based enclosure can sometimes be heard by light sleepers – and bars are the worst! But with a huge tank – neither of these will be a problem.
Wearing ear plugs might seem extreme – but some people sleep better overall with these – so it might be worth trying anyway – especially if you live in a city or apartments.
We would never say don’t get gerbils – as most small animals will make a noise at night anyway – even those who are awake mostly during the day. Just that they aren’t quiet pets if you give them lots of things that can make a noise!
We love then though – even if it is 2am and they are foot thumping!!!
