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Post by Jazzable on Apr 11, 2014 2:18:03 GMT -8
A while ago I picked some wheat stalks from a field and just found them again. I gave them to my gerbs to see how they'd react and they seemed to have great fun chewing them into little pieces and then pulling the husks apart to get at the seeds inside. It was really nice seeing them get to eat 'naturally', as if they'd harvested a bit of wheat themselves. I'd really like to be able to do that more. But the only food I've ever found available in whole stalks is millet sprays: which is good but not a complete diet. I tried looking it up but all I found was decorative wheat stalks for flower arranging!  So, - Any suggestions for other foods which mimic their natural behaviour a bit more than pellets/mixes? I know scatter feeding is good but still once they've found the food there's nothing more to it. - Any ideas whether/where I could get stalks of edible wheat and/or other gerbil-friendly crops? |
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rhianna
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Post by rhianna on Apr 11, 2014 7:54:54 GMT -8
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Post by Jazzable on Apr 11, 2014 9:57:46 GMT -8
rhianna Oh wow!! They look perfect, thank you so much! I'm in the UK but I'm so excited I think I'll just have to order some online.  I'd really love to be able to give them enough burrowing space to fully recreate their natural setup. Of course you'd also need a much bigger clan to mimic the groups they live in in the wild. And some kind of undergroud viewing system so you could see their tunnels...
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Post by Jazzable on Apr 11, 2014 10:09:10 GMT -8
Boo... just tried finding somewhere I can order them. They won't ship to the UK from Amazon.com, but on Amazon.co.uk they're like £40 for a packet?! Guess I'll just have to hope I can sneak through another wheat field this summer and steal some. |
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rhianna
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Post by rhianna on Apr 11, 2014 10:32:51 GMT -8
Ah, that sucks. TC is a North American brand so I'm not surprised it's so expensive. I know that ratrations.com has a lot of natural things for cheap in bulk. Of course it's a UK site so I've never ordered from there, but maybe you could find some of what you're looking for? Basically anything you can get outside would be great; corn husks, wheat sprays, oat sprays, grapevine, fruit twigs, etc. As long as it's untreated and cleaned properly  |
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Post by Jazzable on Apr 12, 2014 1:44:25 GMT -8
rhianna I looked on RatRations but they didn't have anything like whole sprays or stalks - just whole seeds. After a bunch more research, I did manage to find a couple of places online that sell them though! There's one brand called Quiko, which does packs of ' nibble wheat' and ' nibble oats'. They look like small pieces of the stalk with seeds on. And there's another brand called JR farm which do ' nibble ears' of wheat. And also bags of ' green oats'. But I'm not sure if the green oats are what I'm looking for. It's a bit hard to tell but from the picture it looks like they're mostly the stalk/hay, rather than the actual oat seeds - so they might be more aimed at fibrevores like guinea pigs, rather than seed-eaters like gerbils. I guess it would still work as a nice treat for gerbs though. Oh and JR farm also do something called ' dari cob'. I've never heard of it but it seems to often be used as a bird treat. Does anyone know if it's good for gerbils?
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Post by Jazzable on Apr 12, 2014 6:30:23 GMT -8
I gave in and ordered the JR farm 'nibble ears' and 'green oats'. Plus I ordered the 'dari cob' (I did some research and found that it seems to be good for gerbils, and an ingredient in some foods), and some extra millet sprays because I'm running out. I also already have some mini corn cobs, so that currently makes five different grains they can forage from like they would in the wild. |
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rhianna
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Post by rhianna on Apr 12, 2014 8:22:34 GMT -8
That's great, I can't wait to hear what they're like. You definitely have to update me when you receive them and feed them to your gerbils |
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Post by Jazzable on Apr 12, 2014 10:03:23 GMT -8
I will certainly let you know how it goes down. |
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Post by Shooting Star on Apr 13, 2014 10:42:45 GMT -8
I don't know whether you have a place to grow things, but that's also an option. Growing plants that the gerbils can eat, that is. I put "Lovegrass" (Eragrostis elliottii and Eragrostis spectabilis) in my yard. It's very pretty, and the gerbils love the seedheads.
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Post by Jazzable on Apr 16, 2014 11:33:03 GMT -8
That's great, I can't wait to hear what they're like. You definitely have to update me when you receive them and feed them to your gerbils The treats arrived today! The verdict so far: - They like the millet sprays, as always. - They LOVE the wheat ears. - They like the dari cobs. - They aren't so interested in the green oats. It's pretty much just very fresh/green hay, with the odd soft/underripe oat berry. So they nibble the oats a little bit but don't seem that keen because they're so green. And they seem to like shredding the more leafy/grassy hay bits but not exactly eating them. |
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Post by Jazzable on Apr 16, 2014 15:33:16 GMT -8
Also I have a new idea: whole sticks of spaghetti. I have broken up pieces of pasta as part of their regular food mix, which they like. But I just thought it would be fun(ny) to see them try to wrestle with a whole stick of spaghetti. It's not exactly 'natural', but it does add an element of challenge to their eating. |
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rhianna
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Post by rhianna on Apr 16, 2014 17:28:08 GMT -8
It's good to hear that they like most of the new foods Mine love spaghetti when I cook it for them. I usually don't give them whole raw sticks because I'm afraid of one of them trying to carry it and accidentally poking the other's eye out or something... but it's funny to see them dragging around a whole noodle that's twice as long as they are |
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keldamouse
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rest in peace my dear lovely Leela youre in our hearts
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Post by keldamouse on Apr 17, 2014 10:33:48 GMT -8
It's good to hear that they like most of the new foods Mine love spaghetti when I cook it for them. I usually don't give them whole raw sticks because I'm afraid of one of them trying to carry it and accidentally poking the other's eye out or something... but it's funny to see them dragging around a whole noodle that's twice as long as they are I really did laugh out loud at the I'm afraid one of them will poke an eye out comment. (That is something I would worry about, too) Anyway It made me laugh because I always feel like the gerbils are like toddlers, but really smart ones. It just struck me like the don't run with scissors warning, and I just pictured them running with scissors. Maybe I have a weird sense of humor. Lol I've really enjoyed this thread. It gives me so much inspiration for trying new foods and unprocessed ones with my girls. |
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rhianna
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Post by rhianna on Apr 17, 2014 11:59:33 GMT -8
Hah, I guess I do sort of treat them like toddlers. I can't help it though! |
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