Gerbil- missing fur on her nose, plus how to mount wheel and bottle in an aquarium?

Question

My poor little gerbil, Persephone, has a bald patch on the top of her head.. I'm pretty sure this is from it rubbing when she chews on the cage bars. She is housed in a 20gallon aquarium, but I have a panel of cage hanging from the back wall so that I could mount a wheel and water bottle for her. How do you attach these things with just aquarium glass? I tried to hang it from the roof but couldn't figure out how to do it properly.
I would like to get rid of the cage panel entirely because I am worried that if her nose keeps rubbing on the bars, it will irritate her skin, since some of the fur is gone now (will it grow back?) :(
She has a mineral chew thing, and a wood house, but she seems to prefer climbing the cage panel and chewing on it.

Any help is appreciated, Thanks!

Answer 1

For the wheel, pretty much the only safe ones are the SuperPet-brand Silent Spinners (plastic) and Run-Arounds (metal mesh), both of which have stands. The traditional barred wheels can break or amputate legs and tails. Most other plastic wheels aren't thick enough to discourage the gerbils from gnawing on them, so watch out for that. If the wheel has a stand, you can either leave it freestanding on the tank floor, use masking tape to secure the stand to the glass on the side of the tank (not very safe, as the tape may not hold the gerbil's weight), or tie the stand to the tank lid using twist-ties. If your wheel is the kind designed to go on a wire cage (doesn't have a stand), I'm really not sure how you would set it up, other than what you're already doing.

For water bottles, you can go two ways. You can get a traditional bottle plus a hanger/guard, designed to be hung over the side of the tank. I recommend the Oasis Bell Bottles (they're virtually indestructible). Or you can use a bottle with a wire hanger attached to the top, and a rounded bottom (so the gerbils can't get a grip with their teeth). The wire hanger can be attached to the tank lid, or it can go over the side of the tank.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b370/kimsgerbils2/Gerbils/cagecleaningbottles.jpg
(Oasis bottles and hangers on the bottom right, hanging bottles top row and bottom left.)

Her fur should grow back, once she stops rubbing it. Do watch out to make sure the bald spot doesn't get worse, as it can get infected if she breaks the skin while rubbing.

Answer 2

As for mounting the water bottle, we use a suction cup mount, ours came from Jacks Aquarium, couldn't find these mounts at PetSmart for some reason. As for the wheel, all our wheels had stands, not much way around that.

I didn't want to hang the bottle over the edge, as it would hold the lid up on the aquarium and our hamsters are escape artists, so the lid needs to be pretty tight.

Answer 3

bald patches in the fur is a sign of either gerbil illness, or over grooming, result of boredom, put more toys in there, and if she still has baldness after a while, then take her to the vet!!

also in a tank you could just put the wheel in there, and hang the water bottle on the rim of the tank. that's what i do and works fine.

here is a site about what a sick gerbil looks like (scroll to the bottom):

http://www.twinsqueaks.com/care/select.html