How many gerbils fit into a 5" x 5" square?

Answer: Thirteen. Yes, all 13. Well, Dreamsicle refused to stay put, but he was in and out of the pile, too. Honest!

You'd think with us buying them a 42" x 18" home, they'd spread out all over, and they do when they're playing, but they all pile up like this when sleeping--even over the babies, when they have tiny ones.

All the different-colored bits of paper are remnants of cardboard products we reduce, reuse, and recycle by giving them to the gerbils. You see, their teeth never stop growing, so they need to constantly nibble. They don't actually eat the paper, just shred it for nesting material. I spared you and cropped the trashbag box. They love paper towel rolls, too, running through them for a while before shredding them and adding it to their bedding. With 13 gerbils in this colony and all the paper products I know we've put in there, I think half their bedding is actually labeled bedding, and the other half is recycled cardboard from ordinary, everyday product containers.