From: "Pat B" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> We purchased 50 pounds of (bagged) top soil at a time from a
plant/tree
> nursery. We carefully went through the top soil to remove any
unwanted
> debris, such as wood pieces, etc., and generally used about half a bag
at a
> time.
There really wouldn't be any reason to remove the bark pieces, really.
The gerbils would enjoy chewing on them when they find them.
> We then carefully baked the top soil in the oven for about an hour to
destroy
> any living matter such as insect eggs, etc. We let the top soil cool,
then
> sifted it through our hands. It had a beautiful earthy aroma and
texture
> (forgive the pun), and the appearance of a rich black coffee.
Potting soil is usually sterilized anyway. Don't want insects in with
your houseplants, after all.
> We placed some large stones (3) and branches in the empty aquarium for
> support and filled the aquarium approximately 2/3 full with the
following
> mixture :
> 90% top soil;
(lightly
When my husband and I used to do this (with our first gerbils) we
actually found that packing the soil lightly and filling the tank
actually made the tunnels less stable, and much more mess, because they
could throw the soil out of the tank more easily. After a while, we
would fill the tank about halfway with dirt, but packed tightly. We had
large rocks and small flower pots packed with more dirt and inverted as
bottom supports. Worked pretty well. Of course, it's quite difficult
to keep track of gerbils in a tunnel system, and they're much shyer.
When we had to get them out, we ended up having to dig up their tunnels
to do it.
Michelle
Flutist
