Brands to recommend?

[rilence]

In Singapore, we do not have much Gerbils foods, only those that are for both Hamsters and Gerbils.

Currently I am feeding Hazel Hamster to my Gerbils. I really like it for my ex-hamsters, so I was thinking of bringing in Gerri Gerbils from Viovet in the UK. I wonder if the brand is good? Anyone else from UK and know Viovet products well be able to recommend better brands?

I've also seen this Burgess Supagerbil Gerbil Granola Food which I wonder if it's good as the hamsters version is pretty recommended for them hamsters.

[blanknote]

I (and my gerbils) liked Gerri Gerbil when I used it. I have also heard good things about Beaphar Care+ and Mr Johnson's Advance Hamster and Gerbil Food.

Have you thought about making your own home made mix, instead of ordering food from the UK?

[rilence]

I only have 2 Gerbils and mixing my own giving a wide variety is going to end me up with a whole over 12 kg worth of food, so no thank you for that (Singapore is really redundant when it comes to amount, sigh!). I used to mix for my hamsters with organic seeds, nuts and grains, but I am not about doing that considering the shelf life is always less than 6 months for whole food.

And hm. I am not very inclined towards the dried raisins in the Gerri Gerbils. The nuts sounds much better to me so maybe I should stick to Hazel. My Gerbils have never been anywhere near fat.

[keldamouse]

I think the most important thing to look for is the ratios of the fat and protein.

Healthy non-breeding Gerbils need at least 7% fat and at least 12% protein. You can probably do with upto 16% protein with no issues. see: gerbilgerbil.tumblr.com/dietreq and here: gerbilforum.proboards.com/thread/7907/evaluate-gerbil-staple-foods

If the food you are using is off by a few you can just make additions with mealworms, peanuts ect to get your levels correct. You can use the nutrition calculator on here. Use a good base and then add items to make it better.

You can check out egerbil.com, moonstone gerbils site: www.moonstonegerbils.com/dir/care/food.html and there are many others out there.

I have heard that you want your ratios to be close and then you don't really want corn to be in the first 6 ingregients not because it is bad but it can be a bit much. Everyone loves Gerri Gerbil and it has corn in the first 6, so that bit of advice is off.

I've done gerri gerbil in the past and I find that its a highly desirable good mix. From looking over Violets site I would say that Gerri Gerbil is your best bet! My girls liked it, I didn't like all the chemicals that the USA version was allowed to add. The UK version is MUCH better.

[rilence]

Thanks keldamouse! I've placed an order for Gerri Gerbils and Supreme Sci. Selective Rat after considering the protein level and all with all the SSS versions (There aren't any for Gerbils sadly). The rats, mice and hamsters ones have pretty similar ingredients save for a few but hamsters' have 19% protein whilst the mice and rats have 14%. So I got the rats ones as a addon to the GG

[the_gerbilpetsworld]

I live in the UK and I use Gerri Gerbil a lot and the gerbils love it, there is a great variety in the mix and is super quality for the price. I would recommend Gerri Gerbil to anyone with gerbils!

PetMad15