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Post by daisy on Feb 28, 2015 20:11:31 GMT -8
I always use carefresh bedding, which I sometimes mix with aspen. Until recently I always used natural colored carefresh, but then I thought a change would be nice and I got some blue colored bedding. Then I tried purple and now I have pink. Suddenly it dawned on me that gerbils can see colors and I wondered if the changes bothered them. They don't seem to even notice the color change and act the same no matter what the color is, but I was wondering what other people think of different colored bedding. Do your gerbils have any preferences?
Daisy |
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Post by mcats on Feb 28, 2015 20:41:26 GMT -8
That's an interesting question. Here's a little info on gerbil vision: www.egerbil.com/eyesight.htmlI'm someone who avoids dye; for myself and my animals. However, I admittedly gave into the pretty colors at times with my last trio of gerbils and I still have some bags of purple Clean & Cozy and some purple/green/teal Carefresh crinkles. My shelter gerbils were all white and we live in an area with A LOT of snow soo.. I added some color. They did absolutely fine with the colored Clean & Cozy. The dyed Carefresh Crinkles, however, left my white gerbils slightly dyed. They're pretty heavily dyed. The blue Eco Bedding(found in bird section) did not leave them dyed. The next time I buy bedding I'm going to go with the natural Clean & Cozy and the natural Eco Bedding(it's cheaper, too!). The dyed stuff can be pretty but I feel it just can't be healthy for the little guys. Dyes have been shown to contribute to ADHD in children, for example. There are so many dye-laden foods, chews, and so on for gerbils/other rodents. IMO, I would limit those too, if you can. Oh, and to answer your question: I doubt they're bothered by the appearance of different colored bedding  |
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Post by daisy on Feb 28, 2015 21:29:44 GMT -8
I think I'll go back to natural mixed with aspen at the next cleaning. Thanks for your great answer.
Daisy
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Post by sinthiav on Mar 1, 2015 5:33:32 GMT -8
I was reading up on food packaging dye, and thinking about starting a thread on whether or npt it is really safe to give gerbils things like tissue boxes. I wonder what type of dyes they are using?
Even for humans there are not the strong regulations I wish there were. They were weakened back in the noughties here in the United States
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