Gerbil Diets

[Fizzle]

I was just wondering what kind of treats my gerbils might like? (Yes I am a new Gerbil owner) I know veggies are a good idea but I was just wondering what works and what doesn't from experiance. And what brand of food is best?

[christine]

mine LOVE Collard greens and carrots sometimes an apple but only like once every few months as a very special treat.

[andreaS15]

I give mine a bit of cheese, or a stale cracker or peice of bread.
Mine love a bit of spinich, or a half a grape, of course Sunflower seeds & pumpkin seeds are a favorite.

Here is a quick list of my gerbil 'treats" and extras....
Cheese, Applesauce, Cranberry juice, Lettuce, Tomato, Carrots, Broccoli, grapes, apple, clover, boiled egg, cucumber, Dog Cookie, spray millet, Cat/Kitten food, Dried corn on the cob, honey bars, Frozen Fruits & veggies (summer treat)
All these things shoudl be given in small amounts.

oohh... and here is a list of some fo the things I put in my gerbil feed -

Gerbil Diet

Dried Fruits
Raisins, Apple, Cranberries, Blueberry, Coconut, Raspberries, Papaya, Pumpkin, Banana, Pineapple,

Dried Veggies
Carrots, peas, Parsley, Alfalfa leaves, Potatoes, Parsley flakes, celery flakes, Red & Green peppers deiced, Cabbage flakes, leek flakes, diced Zucchini, tomato flakes, Spinach flakes,

Seeds
Oat kernels, Millet (red & white), Pumpkin, Safflower, Sunflower, Rose hips, corn, barley, milo, wheat (middlings),

Nuts
Peanuts (Spanish), almonds, walnuts

Cereals & Other
Corn flakes, wheat flakes, Barley Flakes, Oat groats, Wheat bran, cornflower, Soya bean meal, Extruded rabbit pellets, Cat food, Alfalfa or Timothy (hay and sometimes cubes), Dehydrated alfalfa meal, heat processed soybeans, soybean meal

[Gerbilluver]

very helpful

[Vladina]

Hi there!
Well all gerbils love pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds but it is so easy for them to get overweight quickly on too many of those. And overweight gerbils have shorter life spans and medical problems. So I give them maybe one seed for each of them every other day.

I do give them very small amounts of carrot, lettuce and red cabbage as they love it, but super small amounts (like small slivers of the stuff) or they can get "wet tail".

They love a Cheerio, small piece of banana, small bit of bread crust, a nibble of pretzel (with the salt scraped off) sometimes apple.

They also love broccoli but it gives them bloat so I sort of stopped giving them that. As long as they do not get fed any citrus type fruits (too much acid) or junk food, etc, you can just expiriment with them and see what they like!
Vladina

[andreaS15]

Cabbage also causes gas (in all animals) so should be avoided.

[VanillaRat]

Broccoli causes bloat in gerbs? Uh-oh...I have been giving mine broccoli alot lately, as I had alot here, it was cheap.I hate it, but my bf,daughter and animals like it.I never noticed any probs with Ember tho, but I am gonna look into that anyway.

Ember is a little picky.I do give her seeds,bread,veggies and fruit sometimes and the occassional cricket, which she LOVES to hunt!

[Vladina]

Am I spelling broccoli wrong?

Yeah, Andrea was right, cabbage is not good either, just like broccoli and it is such a shame because gerbils love it. I used to give them brocolli every day and they wolfed it down, and they got SO bloated! So I had to stop that. Maybe once in a while as a rare treat now.
Eileen

[andreaS15]

As a treat once and a while, Brocolli should be fine. I actualyl usually give it to them frozen in the sumemr time as a cooling down treat.
I'll have to re-read but I belive it's the stems that are better for them then the flower/top part.

[Gerbilluver]

dats gret every one thanks

[VanillaRat]

Quote: Originally Posted by andreaS15 As a treat once and a while, Brocolli should be fine. I actualyl usually give it to them frozen in the sumemr time as a cooling down treat. I'll have to re-read but I belive it's the stems that are better for them then the flower/top part.

I always give mine the flower and throw away the stems...hmmm...must switch and not give them the flower part as much, but give the stem to them.

[Fizzle]

Thanks a lot guys. ^^ I'll definately take some of those suggestions. ^^