Pumpkin Seeds?

[rooey]

Just finished carving pumpkins for Halloween, my family always keeps the seeds and we roast them for ourselves...I put several aside for treat for Roo, but how should I give them? Is raw (just rinsed off) ok? Or should I bake them(unseasoned of course)?

[qtoffer]

Raw pumpkin seeds are perfectly edible for humans and gerbils. There's nothing on or in them (i.e bacteria or toxins) that must first be destroyed by cooking before consumption. Roasting simply removes some of their very high moisture content so they'll keep longer at room temp without getting moldy. (In contrast, sunflower seeds contain very little moisture, so they can be stored raw with no problems.)

Since you probably have lots and lots of pumpkin seeds, I would roast a separate batch for your gerbil friends without any salt or spices . Hope you all enjoy them!

[ljoly]

I was just coming on to ask the same question! So as long as there no salt/ spices either raw or roasted is fine?

[redsky]

So glad this is on here! I was wondering whether to make use of them. We normally just bin them...

[animelover10143]

We've never kept them to roast but this year since i have the gerbs im going to do the same thing ;D

[Emmys Gerbils]

i did this for my gerbils last year they loved them

[hamsterfan]

Hi guys! I wanted to ask you about dry food for hamsters.. I've read many reviews (http://www.pissedconsumer.com/consumer-reviews/animal-feed.html) about it, but still not sure whether it's okay to give my pets. What do you think?

[ksgerbil]

It's my gerbils favorite treat I break them in to small treats and use them for agility and tricks

[qtoffer]

I made pureed acorn squash and pear for my fiancee and myself over the weekend. While scooping the seeds out of the acorn squash, we both thought, "Hey, the gerbils would really enjoy these."

The seeds from winter squash (acorn, turban, butternut, hubbard, to name just a few) are just as edible and tasty as pumpkin seeds. Unseasoned, they have a delicate nutty flavor when toasted. They're about half the size of pumpkin seeds and their shells are much thinner and far more tender. I eat them whole - shelling them really isn't necessary. If I were making these just for myself, I would sprinkle some salt on them before baking, but this batch for my girls was unseasoned.

I separated the seeds from the scooped out pulp under running water, letting them fall into a colander. The seeds were then rinsed and patted dry with paper towels. I sprayed a sheet of aluminum foil with a light coat of olive oil and spread the seeds evenly across it. Baked them at 350o F for about 10 minutes - until I started hearing them pop. The seeds were allowed to cool and patted dry on paper towels to remove excess olive oil. I got about 1/2 cup of seeds from two average sized acorn squash, which should provide my six gerbils a few weeks worth of treats.

The gerbils LOVE them! They try to fit two in their mouth and one in their paws and run off to enjoy. They unzip the shells and consume the seed kernel in seconds and come back begging for more!