alleyj
Member
Ever tried WARE Willow Branch balls? Gerbil crack!
Posts: 73 
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Post by alleyj on Sept 30, 2015 19:22:24 GMT -8
Maisy is about 90 g and Daisy is 75 g. I've been trying to get Maisy to drop some weight for a while now and it just won't budge. We've cut out almost all of their treats but she still is eating so much. I'm assuming it's mostly her because her sister is a normal weight and always has been. I put about 20 cheerios of oxbow healthy handfuls in their bowl and it was gone in an hour. This was after I put in about 35 ish earlier in the day. Together, the girls consumed an entire bowl of food in about 6 hours and it hasn't been that fast before - it usually is over a day or a day and a half. Is this a concern, is there a reason why she's eating so much so fast? They don't really hide their food but maybe now that it's getting colder she's feeling the need to?
I just have no idea why their food is disappearing so quickly all of the sudden and want to makes sure nothing's abnormal. They're about 2 years old.
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Post by johanne on Oct 2, 2015 0:08:15 GMT -8
Gerbils are funny creatures. You never know what crazy thing they'll do next. Sometimes they do take up hiding their food. Check the protein and fat content of their diet. They should probably be on something with 12-13% protein and no more than 5% fat at their age. Consider feeding some leafy greens too. They're low fat and most gerbils love them.
With older females there's also a risk of ovarian cysts and tumours, which may make them heavier than they would be otherwise. If it's ovarian cysts they may go away on their own. There's nothing that can be done in any case.
Trying to force gerbils to lose weight isn't necessarily a good idea.
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Post by ninestone on Oct 2, 2015 9:43:33 GMT -8
As with what johanne said, if Maisy's sister is maintaining her weight you are probably not overfeeding them. How old are they? Our Kate started gaining weight around 2.5 yrs. Eventually she started showing other symptoms like drinking and peeing a lot, and acting more tired. Pretty sure it was ovarian cancer.
Hopefully Maisy does NOT have this issue, but since her sister is a healthy weight I wouldn't worry about overfeeding them. Whatever it is, Maisy's body seems to need the extra food.
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alleyj
Member
Ever tried WARE Willow Branch balls? Gerbil crack!
Posts: 73
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Post by alleyj on Oct 2, 2015 17:39:53 GMT -8
As with what johanne said, if Maisy's sister is maintaining her weight you are probably not overfeeding them. How old are they? Our Kate started gaining weight around 2.5 yrs. Eventually she started showing other symptoms like drinking and peeing a lot, and acting more tired. Pretty sure it was ovarian cancer. Hopefully Maisy does NOT have this issue, but since her sister is a healthy weight I wouldn't worry about overfeeding them. Whatever it is, Maisy's body seems to need the extra food. The girls are about 2. Maisy is alpha and has always been a piglet. She has actually fallen out of the cage before trying to get a bag of treats out of my hand! She's a very bright inquisitive and fearless girl, and if she has an illness relating to this weight I'm sure I'll know (I lost my boy to kidney failure this past spring.) I'm a nervous mama and just want to make sure they're healthy, since I've heard that overweight gerbils have a shorter life span. They just love to keep me panicking with all their ailments! |
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Post by betty on Oct 26, 2015 1:02:17 GMT -8
You can't always see an illness - especially if it is something you haven't experienced before, and it could only be something minor. We are all different weights for a reason - usually our metabolism - and we can't see that. Anyway 90g isn't too bad for an older female anyway - especially if she has been the same weight for some time.
As for sudden hoarding, I have recently split a pair together who never hoard before with their previous partners, but do it in spades now. I must have found more than a kilo of stored food under their bottom shelf? I felt totally guilty about cleaning it out after they put so much effort into storing it! Mind you I was also wondering what they were eating if they were storing that much? I had a previous father and son who only did it sporadically throughout their lives for no obvious reason to me - but they must have done it for a reason known only to them?
And at least you know that they are getting complete nutrition with the Oxbow, so each bite is full of equal goodness. Mine could have been selective feeding and hoarding making it a bit unbalanced short term...
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