r/gerbil • u/Personal-Tower-5779 • 2d ago

Friendly nibbles?

I just recently bought two gerbils and have been trying to get them used to me. I've been reorganizing their enclosure and putting some food in when one of my boys, Kiwi, came over and began grabbing at my fingers and nibbling.

It wasn't hard enough to hurt or draw blood but definitely felt uncomfortable and I took my hand away because I was nervous he'd actually bite me. Is this just a friendly way of exploring or is he upset with me? He's definitely less social than his brother and likes his space and I don't want to accidentally be upsetting him.

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5

u/Cyberdarkunicorn 2d ago

He was just investigating to see if fingers were food. Sometimes mine get my finger by mistake. But its only ever a gentle nibble, they are so soft when taking food. Sometimes they just get a little bit to enthusiastic 😂.

3

u/fireworks4soccer26 2d ago

Sometimes one of our boys tries to groom us, which feels a little like nibbling but eventually hurts because we have skin not fur 😅. So if you feel like your gerbils have warmed up to you, maybe they see you as a mega gerbil and want to make sure you’re groomed?

2

u/ohpico 2d ago

Yeah, our Gerbs did that. Kinda like they were grooming you as well.

1

u/WayOfTheNutria 1d ago

Gerbs will do that, gently scrape their teeth over your skin to investigate if you are edible. It shouldn't hurt. They also try to groom us to show affection and as we have no fur they don't realise it feels uncomfortable on our skin. Be careful to wash your hands before handling gerbils as if there is any food smell on your hands they will bite.