...always have been wonderin..

[kevin007]

is it ok to keep rodents in a 55 gallon tank?....i may be getting a cracked one...i want chinchillas..or hamsters...

if so..how many?

 

[GSD]

id say hamsters would love it with lots of woodshavings and bedding to burrow in
but arnt hamsters supposed to be solitary?so if you want more id try gerbils or mice!cute any you can have more than one there also more active than hamsters
i think chinchillas need cages i could be wrong but i think they do!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Dimensions? Sorry I'm no good on average tank sizes.... I think gerbils will go best. Hamsters are solitary and like bars to climb and chew on (mine only have wire tops and they are on there all night...) and I'd say mice would do a lot better with platforms in for climbing. Gerbils however, love to dig burrows so you could put a nice deep level of wood shavings down and do plenty of tubes etc. On the surface for chewing and playing. I'd say, 5? 6? 7? I have no idea on the size of a 55gallon, so I couldn't say Why not have reptiles?

 

[SailfinGirl]

Mice, rats or gerbils I would say. Mice are great. Cute little critters that fit in the palm of your hand. You could get dwarf hamsters, I believe they can live together, but thats not really making the best of your space.

I'd go for mice.

 

[Dwarfs]

Dimensions? Sorry I'm no good on average tank sizes.... I think gerbils will go best. Hamsters are solitary and like bars to climb and chew on (mine only have wire tops and they are on there all night...) and I'd say mice would do a lot better with platforms in for climbing. Gerbils however, love to dig burrows so you could put a nice deep level of wood shavings down and do plenty of tubes etc. On the surface for chewing and playing. I'd say, 5? 6? 7? I have no idea on the size of a 55gallon, so I couldn't say Why not have reptiles?

Most 55g tanks are 4'x1'x18" high

 

[SailfinGirl]

They are definately big enough for a rat, or a little colony of mice or gerbils. Just make sure you get all the same sex animals if you don't want them to breed. Mice and rats are prone to mites, so be careful what you bed them on.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

For the love of god make sure they are all one sex!!!!

As a kid I begged my mom for two gerbils. A pretty female with white and that wood look and a black male. Lets do the maths, shall we?

1+1=6
1+1=6+6=18
18=2 ten gallon tanks and a desperate plea to the petstore to take some back. In fact, get males, the girls might already be pregger by the time you get them...

 

[mm_simb]

In fact, get males, the girls might already be pregger by the time you get them...

yea, I got a gerbil once from a petstore and I had left her with one of my friends for the weekend (I was going out of town). Well, when I came back she had 7 little pink things with her. I kept them all for about a year till my friend took them. They were funny little things though. They escaped on me twice and they weren't really trained so nipping was a problem.

 

[yungnhopless562]

In fact, get males, the girls might already be pregger by the time you get them...

actually more than one male in the same cage is not a good combo because of territorial issues but females r fine

 

[uabassoon]

If you are going to use a tank to house a rodent don't use cedar or pine shavings, they give off phenols which can cause respiratory problems. Tank's don't allow for much air circulation so using pine or cedar can cause some serious damange since there won't be as much fresh air circulating. I would suggest using something like carefresh pet bedding or you can also use aspen.

 

[BettaMomma]

I was just going to say the same exact thing that uabassoon said.
Exactly.

 

[Raechal]

For the love of god make sure they are all one sex!!!!

As a kid I begged my mom for two gerbils. A pretty female with white and that wood look and a black male. Lets do the maths, shall we?

1+1=6
1+1=6+6=18
18=2 ten gallon tanks and a desperate plea to the petstore to take some back. In fact, get males, the girls might already be pregger by the time you get them...

This is how my mouse experience went:

I had three mice, two female, one male.

1+1+1=8-1(the other female ate one )=7

Female and babies then went into a separate 10 gallon while the male and other female stayed in the other. A few weeks later...

1+1=14!

Then we removed the dad to another 10 gallon and let the mom nurse her young for about 3-6 weeks and guess what?

1+14=8

Mom had babies again while she was in with her 6 week old kids!

We donated all of them to the LPS and that was the end of our mice experience.

I would go with hamsters just because I love them so much...but I do think they do better alone. I would go for a dwarf rabbit. Something you could cuddle and it isn't going to get lost because it is too small. Plus, cleaning the tank would be easy since it is glass. Just empty all of the bedding out, run the house through the tank a few times and then buy a syphon and suck out all of the water.

 

[Raechal]

If you are going to use a tank to house a rodent don't use cedar or pine shavings, they give off phenols which can cause respiratory problems. Tank's don't allow for much air circulation so using pine or cedar can cause some serious damange since there won't be as much fresh air circulating. I would suggest using something like carefresh pet bedding or you can also use aspen.

Or you can use that corn cob stuff they use for ferrets maybe? But then again hamsters like to burrow in the shavings so they wouldn't like the corn cob too much.

 

[SailfinGirl]

A tank really isn't suitable for a rabbit, even a dwarf one. Plus, you can buy rabbits labelled "dwarf" and they grow huge because they end up being dwarf crosses. If you are going to get a rabbit, 1)Don't put it in a tank and 2) if you want a little one, make sure it is called a netherland dwarf.

 

[uabassoon]

Or you can use that corn cob stuff they use for ferrets maybe? But then again hamsters like to burrow in the shavings so they wouldn't like the corn cob too much.

Yes corn cob pellets are a safe alternative. I've never tried it with any of my rodents before so I'm not sure how they would like it. I've always used carefresh and they really seem to enjoy making little nests for themselves with it.