Frightened Gerbil Thumps Feet

[snoopysonic0811]

My gerbil bailey doesnt often do it, but he did the other night whilst sitting on my shoulder. He's learnt what a TV is and likes watching for a few seconds or a couple of minutes and as soon as an eagle came on he started thumping and squeaking.

[lemurfan123]

Isn't that a sign of stress?

[NateAZ223]

bow chicka bow bow wow

[MegaBajs007]

happy feet

[Ultimatefiren]

I will thump your mom to pieces.

[gerbillover77]

Awww my gerbil used to do tht wen i first got them and i would tap on the glass n they would do tht

[OldSkaterGuy]

my gerbils use sexting to communicate with one another.

[gerbilPROJECT]

thump-thump. thump-thump. thump-thump. thump-thump.

[OuranNeko]

awwwwwwwwww! totally cute! I've heard them, but I had never seen them!

[mrgokart73]

hahahahahahahahaha

[Digityjardog]

Quinn he isn't wanting a mate DID YOU NOT READ THE GOD DAMN TITLE OF THE VIDEO? GAH

[QuinnOfBritain]

haha, he's looking for a mate

[CZumbrun64]

Oh my god my gerbils do this ALL night. It's soo annoying

[kizzelproducts]

Actually, the gerbil isnt frightened , its actually just protecting its terriotory. gerbils are often very territorial .

[Louise1757]

Years ago kept pair of gerbils until there passing, such characters as well. Whenever they escaped, often would hear them thumping to one and other, I then in turn reply to find exactly where the cheeky boys where hiding.

[ChipperFlip11]

My teacher said gerbils stopm their feet to communitate with the opposite gender.

[PuppyPawz83]

it kinda made my ears perk up. but it never hapened before and i kinda stared at midnight as the thumped this morning.

[PuppyPawz83]

yeah! i was looking in my gerbils cage this morning when i was brushing my teeth and she thumped several times and my dog was there mabey it was him. but sadly midnights little gerbil freind passed away last month :(

this really helped me.

thank you.

[DarkAngelAzreil]

Ah good to know. I am a rat and mouse person myself but I have started to develop a soft spot for gerbils as well and might get a few females. I swear one day my house will be run by rodents O.O they are taking over :O

[HopesFeathers]

Hum...that's weird. I've had five Gerbils and have never heard any of them do this thumping before. O_0 Even when we had three in one tank. lol, new to me. xD

[Serena2583]

Oh boy do I remember this. I got a gerbil, Jet, who was really tiny and scared of everything (he had been isolated in the pet shop) so when I got him home to my other gerbil, Joey, he thumped at everything. Usually only in the middle of the night, in the solarium where it was loudest. LOL. He also liked to squeak very loudly at nothing. It took months to get his confidence up. I miss my gerbils but I don't miss the thumping.

[ProdigyAngel]

I think this vid just got my gerbil thumping again. he's been a little scared today

[Babyfiredawitch]

Stroker, the smaller more skittish of my pair does this while my other one Hoop (Both males) does not, he also doesn't run and hide when Stroker thumps... Hoop is either really brave or just kinda dumb! lol I love my boys though!

[StepanAlbert]

just same as our Fanoušek <3

[gerbilPROJECT]

has Tori ever thumped 3 times in one group?

[shmu992]

mine two gerbils do this when a bird flies pass my building, they stare and do the stuff xD

[linksnake7]

before i farted near my gerbils cage and killed it, i liked scaring it till it did that they do that when ther scared to

[Itcoldout123]

My gerbil Emma sometimes does this if I just walk past her cage. She always looks so cute when she does this

[TheEvilChris]

gerbils live down the earth. i think they have one guy at the surface who watches out for predators. and this tapping is to warn the other guys down the earth not to come out.

[hhJACK92]

My gerbils often do this when a fly goes near the cage. It drives them mad!

[DBKVoDKa]

I don't get it though. cuz my gerbil(s) will randomly thump their feet. I always thought they were constipated or something. What does it mean when they do it like ALL the time?

[eclectic23]

@DBKVoDKa

I noticed that my gerbils did that when they got mad at each other and then end up kicking each others ass

[miani8015]

how can u tell if its frightened or excited because those r the 2 resoans they do that but twinsqueaks i like your website

[bmalle12513]

my new gerbils do that right after they get really spooked or scared. my gerbil Elwood, does that with 3 times not 2.

[Vixengurl1]

My gerbil got put in a cage with 2 females to pick his mate. Soon as he touched the floor he started thumpin' like crazy XD. They thump their feet if they're excited or scared. I'm guessing mine was a bit of both!They made 16 beautiful babies, one was an albino. Two litters of 8 babies each, with exactly 4 boys and 4 girls in each littler! Coincidence? I think not! Very Pretty gerbil by the way!

[MKF30]

lol gerbils only thump their feet of one or two things, 1. They're scared or 2. They're horny lol

I used to breed them, this one definitely looks scared though.

[Jazzie646]

Oh wow lol. I was wondering why one of my gerbils were doing this. It really freaked when i first heard them doing it. This is amazing how gerbils can have other ways to communicate with others.

[moonakre]

lol

[FactorXTech]

This thing is weird xD Tap-dancer

[FactorXTech]

XDDDD Tapdancer!

[girleroyblue101fan]

I have a game where there's a LOT of noisy beeps and I have to play it in the room my 10 gerbils are in! It' sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­ooooo noisy with all of them stomping their feet!

[GuriLaidback997]

my gebril make that too!!!why??

[TheGerbilLuver]

lol mine do this. xD when one other one hears it they come runnin into like a little pack.

[ohyh1234]

hahahaha that made my day!

[cheekysquid321]

when they do that it means they feel threatend by something nearby, like a rat or cat. my gerbils do that all the time, its quite funny though :3

[moonakre]

my gerbils do that too! LOL

[thepiper84]

My gerbil Anthony, used to stamp his feet at about the same time everynight. After rusttling straw and paper about for ages.

[ThePranksterss]

THIS GERBIL IS A DAMN GUD TAPDANCER!

[lovepuppy303]

lol

[zgonzales17]

When I had gerbils that thumping made my mom want to throw them out lol

[2Cuzinz]

okay this helped a lot because, i just woke up to one of my girls thumping her feet, racing around and i was kinda concerned sooo thnx for the info on the side :D

[twinsqueaks]

@2Cuzinz I'm glad this helped! It's a little startling the first time you hear it, isn't it? ;-D

[MegaNattyboy]

@twinsqueaks my jirds do this all the time evan when there asleep is that good jirds are a form of gerbils

[pepper242421]

i was wondering if my two gerbils will get along with chinchilla cuz my chinnie's cage in my room and my gerbils cage is in the compter room

[twinsqueaks]

@pepper242421 Gerbils shouldn't be given playtime outside the tank at the same time as other pets, so it wouldn't matter, even if they both lived in the same room. Sorry. :( BTW, congrats on having a chinchilla, too. They're such lovely pets!

[soccerchinchilla]

@twinsqueaks yes they are lovely pets i had one but i had to give him away :(

[BrittJayEger]

awesome!

[TheLauwiee]

i'm going to buy 4 in about a few weeks i think. the cage is rather big.

[orange1336]

i have 2 gerbils and when i got them instead of doing that when i put my hand in they're cage they started climbing on to my hand 0.o

[gerbilPROJECT]

my gerbil, dixie, did this recently but she was standing on all four legs

[orkneylad21]

i have 2 gerbils

[dragonome]

My gerbil doesnt do that. Maybe becouse they are rats, not gerbils XD

[gerbilPROJECT]

lol!

[ginger242421]

my gerbil looks the same

[TheMoorwen]

That's funny!

[heidiweddz]

i only have 1 gerbil so i dnt think its the mating 1 but when he did it no was moving because it was only me in the room and i was reading so it was really quitet could it be anything else??

[twinsqueaks]

@heidiweddz Sometimes young pups will thump just for practice, kind of like how they will "play fight."

If your gerbil isn't a pup, though, he probably was thumping a warning... Sometimes they hear the house settling or see a subtle shadow on the wall that we miss. Sometimes, we just don't know what spooks them. ;)

[heidiweddz]

ah ok ty

[nxer]

what i am confused about is why she is out in the open thumping her feet and not going for cover first, then thump. it seems that would be the better thing to do, unless she was really caught by surprise. brave gerbil.

[twinsqueaks]

It seems to depend on the gerbil, I think. About half of mine will dart for cover (hide inside a house or dive deep into their burrow in the bedding) before they start thumping their feet. The other half will actually run *out to the edge of the tank* to start thumping, as if to check things out and keep an eye on the situation while alerting their tankmate to possible danger. Tori's always been one who comes out in the open to thump. Smurf, on the other hand, always hides first, then stomps. ;)

[nxer]

sweet, thanks!

[abcjbc]

Ah ha he's doing riverdance.

[99oliver08]

Aww, my gerbils do this

[javierchristine]

cute

it`s like happy feet

[PokeKelv]

ITS A TAPDANCING GERBIL!!!!!!

[ReiRaeReeta]

My gerb did that when I met them. :) Does only the alpha do it?

[kevinjonas05]

hey that looks like my gerbil, and i have the same wheel, its the same color! plz check out my gerbil vids! comment, rate, and subscribe!

[hippiebird123]

my gerbil duz tht all the time i thought she was dancing (lol) :) why duz sh do tht?

[LucarioRules1998]

she's probabley scared

[BobbyJenkins]

I used to use my fingers to mimic the thumping and it sometimes shut them up. They got wise to it eventually tho. Now I do a tutting sound and it calms them down.

[sarandon101]

Can some one please leave a comment on my page why gerbils do that?

PLEASE!

[twinsqueaks]

Read the notes about the video. It explains it. :)

[NothernSun]

my gerbil does that. it means danger or mating

[FullmetalFangirl1910]

they also do this for fun, and also for the fact of mating. Lol. Its cute though, my youngest, Tye, does it and keeps me up.

[Lexxy1504]

JKS

[alyssatd]

lol why does he do that lol lol

[xWitchyAngelicax]

I saw my gerbil do this before.. probably because A bird was tweeting outside :3

[PostalDude245]

lol i just sit there and next thing you know all i hear is "flump flump flump.."

[xxcoolxx99]

my gerbil has done that once in its choob

[fungrly10]

mine've done that. its cute.

i wish i had that skill.

its like they're hopping straight up and down super fast....

i NEED that skill lol

[BlueKittyVideos]

Mine does that too!

[trinaye]

It's Gerbil River Dance!

[SableMorn]

trust me when they do it it;'s not funny it's really annoying. mine do it at night when i roll over for crying out loud! they don't stop for ages. it's so annoying.

[flodderfan1]

wood super cool !!!

[tall32guy]

hehe! so cute and funny! animals are so funny with the little things they do. :)

[areyoureceivingme]

I have eleven of them! They set each other off with their feet. When one does it (often whilst dreaming) the ones that are awake stand still, look around as if to say What's up?!

[kjo78]

mine do that at night when im in bed,i hear.tap,tap......tap.tap.tap.­...........tap.tap!i lie there giggling at them and then the digging starts!!

[Limzy12]

I wish I had a gerbil. they're sooooooo cute. my friend has them, i just wanna take one home. my parents say they stink but i disagree with them, I ♥ GERBILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gerbilsrthebest97]

that is soooo cruel! they do that when there scared! mine have never done it!

[pingpongpung]

Where is the cruelty here?

[LowMinder]

what?!? my gerbil does it exactly like that too when he's nervous. tutum tutum

[WhatTheShittles]

i always thought that was like a mating call or something

hmmm... well that's sad, they did this almost everytime a came down to see them :(

[twinsqueaks]

Thumping can also be a mating ritual for gerbils, but the behavior is different. It's usually shorter bursts of thumping accompanied by chasing behavior. ;)

Evidently, though, gerbils can also tell the difference between the sound of an excited, mating stomp and a scared, warning stomp.

[paleosole]

You are so right!

[BigBananaMan]

Haha, that's a cute little guy. Reminds me of my rabbit that would stomp really hard every now and again when she didn't get her way. I would swear I heard her crack the tile in the kitchen so I come and there she is just looking at me like nothing happened. Must be a form of communication.

[twinsqueaks]

I don't know much about rabbits, but with gerbils, it is a form of communication. They stomp like that to warn other gerbils nearby of danger.

I didn't know that rabbits would stomp like that, too! I learned something new today! :)

[BigBananaMan]

My rabbit would do that when she was bad(tearing up the fake leather couch) and I would keep her in the kitchen/dining room area using one of those child barriers. I guess she got nervous about sounds in the apartment that she couldn't go investigate. I learned something new too.

Rabbits are quite smart and she eventually connected that she would be left in the "rabbit proof zone/bunny jail" whenever something got torn up and started to stay off the couch and chew only her toys, and my shoes.

[tall32guy]

Ahaha! your name is so cute! :)

[Fuzzychic224]

Nice video of your gerbils! My gerbils did that when we first brought them home from the pet store

[seankells]

my gerbils escaped tonight and one of them is hiding behind the fridge doing the foot tapping thing right now. had never seen it before. i guess he's freaking out. the other gerbil is completely MIA.

[xXxToritoxXx]

Mine never do that, which is sad because I always wanted to witness it lol Not because I enjoy them being scared, just cause it is interesting and cute.

Nah, when I stand up too fast they bolt for their coconut house and then poke their heads out and stare at me lol

[MzChristina1990]

my gerbil does dat

[AGGwoteva]

Sometimes they do do it when they are scared, but he seams happy none the less!

[Diefzilla]

Hey, you seem the expert on gerbils. I have a question: we got some temporary gerbils (fostering) and both of them kind of nibble at my fingers now and again, when I put my hand in their cage. Lightly. Is it something gerbils do? Like testing if my fingers are edible, or is it a defense mechanism if I am getting too close? Note: I don't try to grab or poke them, my hand is just there rustling the hay :3. Ta.

[CMerza]

yeah they do that i have 2 and they do it to me all the time i guess there looking foward to a sunflower seed :D

[twinsqueaks]

If it doesn't hurt and it's more of a little nibble, then they're probably just "tasting" your fingers and exploring. Some gerbils will *never* do this. Some do it when they're young and then outgrow it. To discourage this nibbling, though, you can blow a small puff of air in the gerbil's face when he/she nibbles. (Just like you were blowing out a birthday candle.) The puff of air startles them but doesn't hurt them. Usually, they'll figure out after a few tries that they shouldn't nibble. :)

[Diefzilla]

Ah!

Thank you kindly. :3

[bettiepagestyle]

I have a pair of males whose cage faces a glass door to the backyard. One will thump in the wee hours, probably saw a possum or his own reflection, and all the treats and petting (and sometimes threats) won't make him stop. Snapple will go on for five minutes sometimes. Even four week old babies will thump. silly things.

[twinsqueaks]

I once had a gerbil who would start thumping her feet only long enough to scare all the other gerbils in the apartment. Then she would stop thumping and calmly go about her business while the other gerbils remained in a panic for the rest of the night. I always thought she enjoyed scaring the other gerbils in the house. Samantha was one of a kind. ;-D

[tall32guy]

haha! cute! gthat's too funny.

[ukayleighm]

aww, poor Tori! i have a video, it is called Tap Danncing Gerbil, but Binki werent doing it because he was frightened, he did it wile he was mating with Kökö.

[twinsqueaks]

I just checked out your video! I like yours, because you can really see both of the feet thumping. It's funny that we both have videos of this now. :-D

I took this video to post it on the Twin Squeaks site, because people ask me all the time why their gerbils are making this noise!

[ukayleighm]

hehee! yeah! its unbelevible! we both have tap dancing gerbils!! :D

they must get freaked out, what, how do they ask you?? *excuse me, but my gerbil is tap dancing.....is this normal???* lol

it must tire their feet thogh :S