Hi Donna,
I'd like to tell you about my experience with my gerbil, Duncan, and the
SAM type tubes.
When I adopted Duncan, she was about 6 months or so old and had lived
her whole life in a 10 gallon tank and didn't know what a tube was.
I bought a SAM cage (I think it's the Palace) for about $30 and I had
some old Habitrail tubes, plus I bought some CritterTrail tubes.
The SAM cage I purchased has 3 ways for the tubes to go out of the cage
sideways and 2 ways for the tubes to go up. Duncan used the sideways
tubes right away but seemed afraid to go up. It took her quite a while
to go up in a tube. I had to start her out by putting tubes on an angle
and eventually, she started to climb up into the tubes also. I have
noticed that the Habitrail tubes don't have as much of a grip, but the
SAM and CritterTrail tubes have better grips. Duncan seems to prefer
climbing up into those rather than into the Habitrail tubes.
I think she still will not actually climb up into a Habitrail tube
because they don't provide her with enough support to get up.
So, my guess is that your gerbils are just afraid of climbing up into
the tubes. So, you might want to try and see if they will go into the
tubes sideways. I would think that they will.
Duncan seems to really love going into the tubes. She goes into them a
lot when I put her into the setup I have. I would think your gerbils
would enjoy it too once they get past their fear.
