What makes good gnawing stuff?

Cardboard, especially toilet paper cardboard rolls from the middle of the roll. There is a kind out now that they put the smellostuff on the cardboard instead of in/on the TP. Don't give them those.

White pine, dimensional lumber scraps, IF it's been desplintered, well aired, and does not have any sort of markings (ink or paint) or finish (stain, paint, or varnish) or pressure treating.

Tree prunings, once peeled about an inch (2.5cm) in diameter and 4-6" (10-15cm) long. Apple and pear (fruitwood) work well. Make sure the donor tree hasn't been sprayed with anything in the last season or two. Cut into sections, peel the bark (various bugs and worms can be living in the bark) and put into baggies and freeze for at least one week at 0F (-18C) to kill anything that might be in them. Of course, discard anything that looks diseased, already dead, or riddled with bug holes or chewed.

Commercially available brightly colored and shaped and sometimes flavored/smell enhanced 'chew sticks' or 'treat sticks' are almost always ignored. Save your money.

Good neststuff versus bad neststuff?

*Good

Unscented undyed TP, shredded slightly, and offered in amounts to allow the animals to build a nice nest. If it's really cold, give them more. Shredded and fluffed up, a nice mound to burrow into, will keep them quite warm if you have a situation where it's getting fairly cold (below about 50F or 10C) for short periods. This is soft, this is warm, and it will break down if ingested (eaten).

* BAD

'Fluffy Stuff' or anything that looks like white polyfill, polyfill batting, cotton balls, cotton waste, cloth, thread, jaycloth, dryer lint, hair of any kind, fur (like shed fur), wool, yarn....

All of this has long fibers that do not break down or dissolve, and can wrap around limbs and amputate, around necks and strangle, and... if ingested (the animal eats some) cause impactions in the intestines (plugs) or end up in two connected pieces that go through the intestines at different rates, and the connecting fibers will literally saw the intestines open... and the animal dies of peritonitis. Either an impaction or peritonitis attack will kill the animal slowly and painfully over a few days. IF you're lucky and it's caught early enough AND you can find a vet that can do it, it will take expensive emergency surgery to save the animal's life...if it pulls through. Don't count on getting veternary help in time even if you can afford it (could go four digits).

Pet stores sell 'nest stuff' 'fluffy stuff' or 'nesting blocks' of compressed cotton waste that an animal is supposed to scratch up and fluff. It will be marked 'safe' on the package, and may even show a small animal such as a hamster on it. THE STUFF IS NOT SAFE!!!!!!! The manufacturer is selling you what you think you want, what they can make money on. It's dangerous to your animals. As long as someone will buy it they will sell it. Complaining to the chain store manager won't work either. Just quit buying the stuff.

***If you are in doubt about what you want to offer for bedding, try the dissolve test. Put some in some water and leave sit for twenty minutes. If it turns into a soupy pulp you can stir through with a toothpick and not pick up fibers long enough to twirl around the pick, then you can offer it.***

'Oh, I've been giving them (fill in blank) for a long time and NO problems at all, they seem to LOVE (fill in blank)'

***This means you've beaten the grim odds so far. So far. Sooner or later it will happen that it will cause an amputation, strangle your beloved pet, or they eat some and die of a strange bloating and not eating for a few days. It's like playing russian roulette after you've gone through five chambers with no bullet. [russian roulette was done with a non automatic revolver that held six bullets (old west style six shooter). One bullet would be put in the cylinder, it would be spun, and closed. The idea then was to take turns firing. Either it was empty chamber, or the bullet. Sooner or later, the bullet would be cycled around....]***

If you are worried about the warmth of your gerbils, at feeding time, offer them some tp shreds and their food. If it's cold enough they want more nest insulation, they will go for the tp shreds first, like they've gotten a great prize. Nest fluffing becomes top priority. Offer them more then. If they go after the feed first, then the shreds (usually 'let's check out lunch then grab some bedding' in that order) they are fine.

Treats?

If you can afford them, fresh blueberries frozen. They go crazy over a frozen blueberry once they get the idea.

Cheerios, plain. A few cheerios each. They can be offered when trying to hand coax/hand train an animal, or what have you. A breeding female of mine would quit being annoyed about me handling her barely fuzzed pups as soon as 4-5 cheerios were handed over. She'd hog all the cheerios and leave her partner to clean up the pups while she chowed. Then by the time she finished the pups smelled 'right' again....

Puffed wheat, plain. Not all like these. Just a few per animal.

Plain ol' cornflakes. One per animal. Having several crunching along on these is a neat sound, sort of like deranged overgrown termites going at it.

Raisins. These are considered 'fresh food' though, so be careful how many offered. They're also extemely fattening.

High Moisture foods?

If you are worried about an animal's hydration (are they drinking enough or not) you can offer fresh apple, scored lightly to make it easy to chew off; applesauce plain (baby applesauce works great); carrot chunk scored lightly... not all gerbils like carrots, but almost all of them will eat apple. If you are transporting them, a quarter of an apple, washed, cored, and put in the container will give them something to nibble and some ready moisture for up to several hours. 2-8 hours, and replace the apple after that.

Broken tooth foods

If you have an animal with broken or missing teeth; it may be a few days to the rest of their life.

Fruit medly babyfood, cooked kashi, cooked oatmeal (plain, and cool it first), a bit of banana, applesauce. Offer it in a small gnawproof dish under supervision, or with a needleless syringe or eyedropper a few times a day. This way if they have a buddy that can eat the regular stuff, you can make sure the one with the eating problem gets a chance to eat. Offer regular food all the time...if it's teeth growing out, they will sooner or later be back to helping themselves and shelling their own sunseeds.

If the tooth problem is bad enough the animal might not be able to drink water properly either. Make sure they stay hydrated (do the pinch test) and offer an eyedropper or needleless syringe of water several times a day (if possible) or at least a few times a day if needed.