this is my first Instructable so please be nice and the pictures are'nt of great quality.

if you have a gerbil you will probably know that they chew up nearly every thing. you may not realise it, but you have probably got every thing you need somewhere in your house. such as:-
- hard or soft empty toilet roll tubes depending on whether you want your gerbil to gnaw it all up or not.
- plastic or cardboard pots.
- wide neck bottles, or just cut a bigger hole in the top just below the neck of the bottle.
- paper to make small treat boxes
- a slot together play pen from wood or cardboard

Step 1: Empty Toilet Roll Tubes

these are simple to get hold of just wait for the bog roll to come to an end, you might want to collect these and put them under your bed or something, its easier this way because you don't have to wait for them all the time. also, make sure the toilet roll is big enough for you gerbil to go through cos there are some smaller cardboard tubes, such as silver foil rolls and cling film or as some people say selophane or however you spell it. simple as.:]

Step 2: Small or Big Pots

these can be used for keeping treats in as well as putting it in the cage for your gerbil to play around in.

the best pots are the sort you buy milkshake in with a screw on lid, the gerbils love them.

yoghurt pots are also good

Step 3: Bottles

if you can, try to get hold of a drinks bottle like a small fanta or tango bottle, something like that. then simply cut the top off so the hole is big enough for you gerbil to climb in, you can also cut another hole or even more if you want in the sides and/ or top.
its all really easy.

Step 4: Paper Boxes

all you need for this is a pies of paper, a pencil, a ruler and a treat. -string- (optional)

print off or draw a cube/box net add slot together tabs and not glue because it may harm your gerbil.
slot it all together and put in a little treat.
these boxes are great fun for you little pet and fun to watch the your gerbil try and figure out how to get the treat out

you can also put pin holes in the sides of the box so the gerbil can smell it a bit better
you could even make a loop on the top and hang it up by a piece of string.
just remember to cut the drawn on marks off because the ink can and will halm your gerbils :(

Step 5: Play Pens

play pens are also quite easy to make, just get four pieces of wood or cardboard the size you want or that fit in you bedroom or something and the good thing about it is that you can put it away when you don't want it in you way.
materials for wood pen
- wood at least a foot high (they can jump quite high)
- saw
- sand paper to smooth down the rough edges so your gerbil wont scratch or cut its self
- pencil
- ruler

materials for cardboard pen
- cardboard
- scissors
- pencil
- ruler

1.
measure half way up each bit of wood/cardboard and make a mark at each end

2.
measure the thickness of the bits of wood/cardboard and cut a slot going towards the middle and stop at the centre. do it from the opposite side on the other end and repeat for all of the pieces of cardboard or wood.

3.
slot the pieces together and your all set.

Step 6: Thank You

thank you for using my Instructable and I hope my ideas work for you.

here are a few pictures of my gerbil 'peanut'.

please can you leave some comments they would help a lot.
if you would like me to make another instructable about teaching them tricks the just leave a comment at the bottom.

thank you