Luckily, gerbils do not need tank cleanings as often as other rodents do. Of course, when it is time to clean the tank, it can still be quite a chore. First, there's the task of getting all of the bedding out of the tank and into a trash bag... without spilling bedding all over the floor. Next, there's the business of lugging the tank to a bathtub or other area to clean.

Tank cleanings don't need to be such a chore, though. This week, we'll look at one way to clean a tank thoroughly, even when you're in a hurry.

Vacuum Your Way To A Clean Tank

Most people clean their tanks by dumping contents of the tank into a trash bag, tying up the trash bag, and then vacuuming up any bedding that missed the trash bag and landed on the floor. A more efficient way of cleaning tanks, is to vacuum the bedding directly from the tank. A heavy-duty vacuum with a wide hose attachment will do the trick. I use a 5-gallon ShopVac, which is small enough to store near my gerbil supplies but large enough to vacuum the bedding out of a couple tanks.

Start by moving your gerbils to their critter keeper (or whatever area your gerbils normally play in while you clean their tank). Make sure you throw away any large chew blocks, large chunks of cardboard tube, or other objects which could clog the hose of the ShopVac.

Once nothing is left in the tank but bedding, use the hose attachment to vacuum up all of the bedding in the tank. After you vacuum out the last of the bedding, you may also wish to run the hose attachment along the top rim of the tank to remove some of the built-up dust.

Dip a washcloth in hot water, diluted bleach water, or whatever gerbil-safe cleaning agent you normally use and scrub the inside of the tank. If you use bleach water or any other type of disinfectant, afterwards, dip a clean washcloth in water and scrub the tank down several times with water to clean out any chemicals. When you are done, dry the tank thoroughly before adding more bedding.

Please note that if you have had any sick gerbils recently, you will probably want to use a more thorough cleaning method, such as soaking the tank in a bathtub full of diluted bleach water.

Because gerbil bedding is dry and dusty, if the air in your home is also quite dry, you may notice a bit of static electricity when you run the ShopVac. This is nothing to be alarmed about, but you'll enjoy cleaning tanks more if you aren't battling static electricity.

Most people who use ShopVacs to clean tanks never notice any static electricity. If you do, it's easy to fix this problem. Run a small humidifier nearby while you clean the tanks. Adding just a very slight bit of moisture to the air is all it takes to make the ShopVac operate without static problems.

Remember to turn the humidifier off when you are done cleaning the tank so that the air in your home doesn't get too humid for your gerbils.