Gerbils - timidity

I just added two Gerbils to my menagerie, which currently includes rats and
ferrets. I am used to rats and ferrets being relatively tame and even my
most cowardly rat is only somewhat timid (it recoils a bit when I approach,
and goes into a corner if it thinks I am going to pick it up).

However my two baby (male) Gerbils seem to be timid to the nth degree. They
scurry away like mice (the wild ones!) and even when they emerge they dash
from burrow to burrow (I modelled my Gerbil "cage" after standard - i.e. 8
inches deep aspen shavings which brick/ceramic supports to prevent tunnel
collapse in a large translucent - can't afford transparent - container).
They feed from a gravity feeder.

Question for the gerbil people: are gerbils all like this? Will the
eventually get used to you, and if so, how? I can't even pick them up as the
scurry away so fast - I see them for maybe seconds at a time. It's kind of
like owning wild rodents - not tame ones at all!

Thanks.