shopping for gerbil food with a peanut allergy

[Hannah482]

First off I should mention that I know this isn't really an emergency. I'm only posting this on this board because my membership has been pending for a while, and I know it could be pending for even longer and I really wanted to ask some questions about gerbil food.

So after discovering this site, I have read a lot about gerbil food and how many brands of small animal food are actually bad for gerbils. This has me kind of worried about what I'm feeding my gerbils!

I have a severe peanut allergy, and so I can't feed my gerbils any food with peanuts in it. So when I first went to the pet store to buy food for them, I literally could not find anything that I could buy! They had tons of variety, but honestly you'd be amazed how hard it was to find even one to buy. I eventually did find one, which is the petsmart house brand, grreat choice hamster and gerbil food. Now I know that it probably is not healthy for them (though I do give them fresh fruits and vegetables in addition to it). On the label it says: Crude protein (not less than)- 12.0%, Crude fat (not less than)- 4.0%, Crude fiber (not more than)- 10.0%, Moisture (not more than)- 12.0%.

So I'm wondering what I should do. There are no other options for me at the pet stores around here. I live in Canada, not the U.S., so I probably can't order stuff online from most sites you have suggested on other threads. I have heard a lot about people making their own gerbil food, by mixing different ingredients. Is this difficult? In your opinion would it be a good option? Thank you in advance for your replies!

[eaturbyfill]

Forgive me if this is a silly suggestion, because I don't know much about food allergies, but couldn't you handle the food while wearing gloves? If not, I would just go with the food you were able to find that is safe for you to be around. I would suggest places to order food from, but I am in the US.

If you could find somewhere that sells Oxbow Hamster and Gerbil food or ask and see if PetSmart would order some for you (sometimes they will order items that are requested), that food is my recommendation. I just looked at the ingredients and did not see peanuts on the list.

[rhianna]

While that's definitely not the greatest brand of food for the gerbils' health, it's also not the worst, and it sounds like you don't really have any other options. I would recommend adding some fat and potentially some protein if your gerbils are still young. To add fat, you can just add some more sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds. Protein can be in the form of a small protein-filled treat every day. In fact, I made a blog post about supplementing protein: gerbilgerbil.tumblr.com/post/82328629834/quick-tip-high-protein-foods-protein-is-an

However, if possible, I'd really suggest switching brands. Oxbow can be great as eaturbyfill mentioned, but many gerbils don't like how boring it is. I also have a masterlist of popular food brands here, which can help you find one that's a little better but doesn't contain peanuts: gerbilgerbil.tumblr.com/foodmasterlist

[horselover]

Apr 10, 2014 9:41:10 GMT -8 eaturbyfill said:

Forgive me if this is a silly suggestion, because I don't know much about food allergies, but couldn't you handle the food while wearing gloves? If not, I would just go with the food you were able to find that is safe for you to be around. I would suggest places to order food from, but I am in the US.

While a good idea, I'm not sure if that would work with this person as he/she could still come into contact with peanuts while handling the gerbils or bedding. I know that with many people with peanut allergies it doesn't take much to hurt them.

Hope you can find something!