Julian and Jackie wrote:
> However, they
> are normally active for periods during the day.
>
True.
Wild living gerbils show two maxima of surface activity, which are
obviously mainly in the _diurnal_ period:
The first about 5 hours after sunrise and the second 1 or 2 hours
before or direct at sundown.
And they allways prefer to be underground (sleeping?) at midday.
May be, it's not only light, but temperature dependent too. Nights are
too cold in Mongolia?
Unfortunately, what wild gerbils do, when underground, isn't reported
(was it censored by the russian scientist? ;-)). So may be and I don't
doubt it, the wilds are, as like as the domesticated ones, nocturnal
too. So, I think too, the question in the subject "Noctural _or_
Diurnal" is wrong because they are definitely both: diurnal _and_
nocturnal.
And perhaps, if the cage is located at a place, where it becomes cold
at night, our pets would be more diurnal too? Whats your experience
with yours in the unheated garage?
Ehrenfried
--
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/e_ehr/gerbils/wild.htm
