How to add fiber to gerbil diet

[mygerbilprince]

So I've been revising my gerbil's seed mix because I noticed that they weren't eating two of the main ingredients; amaranth and sesame seeds. I think this is because they are too small for the gerbils to eat properly. Anyway, I revised my seed mix to exclude those two ingredients and it is now made up of:

Safflower seeds 25g
Sorghum 120g
Lentils 100g
Farro 100g
Rolled oats 100g
Flaxseed 50g
Barley 120g

the nutritional breakdown is:

7.59% fat
12.1% fiber
14.48% protein

From what I've heard, my mix is low in fiber and a little bit high in protein. I was wondering if anyone had advice on how to add some fiber to my mix. I'd also like to know if there are any other dietary components I should consider. Also does anyone know if gerbils will actually eat these ingredients? I want to make sure my babies are as happy and healthy as possible. Thank you so much!

[LilyandDaisy]

Personally I don't really look at fibre when I'm mixing my foods as I don't think the exact percentage is that important. It's listed on pet food packaging only because it's a legal requirement in the US. The 12% in your mix is reasonable (my mix has 10%). You could provide some extra dried herbs and hay in case the gerbils do feel the need of some extra roughage.

A couple of things I would point out with your mix:
- 100g lentils is quite a lot. Raw lentils are high in lectins can potentially interfere with the absorption of nutrients or cause digestive issues in high quantities, so I would feed raw lentils in smaller quantities, if at all.

- If you take the sesame seeds out, you need to find another way to boost the calcium content. On my calculator, it comes out as about 60mg calcium per 100g. Unfortunately we don't know exactly how much calcium gerbils need due to limited research, but 500-600mg/100g seems to be a safe estimate based on both research and anecdotal data.

Because of the way calcium interacts with phosphorus, the calcium:phosphorus ratio is also considered important. Some sources suggest that an ideal ratio is 1.5:1 (i.e 150g calcium for every 100g phosphorus) but in practice that's really hard to achieve with a homemade diet. My mix has a ratio of 1.15:1 (about 515mg calcium and 445mg phosphorus per 100g) and that seems to be working fine for my gerbils. I do also give all my gerbils a calcium-based mineral stone but they practically never use it. I would definitely make sure that calcium is at least as high as phosphorus.

If your gerbils won't eat sesame seeds, you can potentially provide calcium in the form of calci worms (black soldier fly larvae), dill seeds, or alfalfa pellets (these will also boost the fibre as well).

- Personally, I add dried carrot to my mix for the beta-carotene, which is converted to Vitamin A. Vitamin A is otherwise very hard to get from seeds and grains alone. But you can also choose to provide Vitamin A through fresh fruits and vegetables of instead of your main mix. As a rule of thumb, orange or yellow foods tend to be good sources of Vitamin A, so marigolds (calendula), sunflower petals, carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin or squash, mango, apricot, red sweet peppers. Most green leafy vegetables are also good sources (the green chlorophyll masks the beta-carotene).

The protein is fine. I'm not sure where the old recommendation of 12% protein for adult gerbils came from but I've never uncovered any evidence for it as a maximum. Research suggests that just weaned gerbils (3-4 weeks old) need a minimum of 16% protein (more promotes faster growth), and then the minimum requirement tapers down from there as the gerbil gets older. There isn't any research into the minimum or maximum protein requirements of adult gerbils, though there was a long term study on hamsters which found no significant health or lifespan differences between those fed 12%, 18%, or 24% protein, which would imply that the "safe range" is fairly broad and owners don't need to be overly exacting when it comes to protein levels.

[betty]

Do we think that there is an actual 'too small' size for gerbils to eat? And I was growing amaranth this year to feed - so would like to know if anyone else has noticed them being left uneaten - I always see them in people's mixes these days?

I have always added niger seeds to my mix and they do seem to look like they pick them up - but of course trying to check the husks for seeds left inside in near impossible. I do always seem to find red millet seeds uneaten - so have stopped buying those sprays (my harvest mice used to LOVE LOVE LOVE red millet).

Perhaps I need to start feeding some gerbils in special food only pods and/or start using my digital microscope to check tiny husks!!!

[mygerbilprince]

Okay so I took LilyandDaisy's advice and also found the calculator they made and reconfigured the mix. Here are the values I ended up with.


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I noticed that many of the goal numbers for adults were left empty, so I was wondering if my fat, fiber, and protein amounts seem acceptable. I also didn't know what I should aim for calorie wise so I left it blank. I wasn't sure about my calcium to phosphorus ratio, so please let me know if that works out correctly? Also I added some carrots for Vitamin A but I don't know if there is enough Vitamin A. Also I know the lentils had some not ideal chemicals in them, so please let me know if any of the ingredients I picked have harmful chemicals. Thank you all so so much, this food mixing journey has been quite an adventure!

[LilyandDaisy]

The reason most of the goal numbers for adults are empty is because the majority of nutritional research in rodents focuses on the needs of growing animals. Research on growing rodents also typically focuses on the weanling period, so from 3-4 weeks, when they're growing the fastest. By the time gerbils are adopted from pet shops or breeders, they're usually 6-8 weeks old, so they're still growing, but not as fast as a weanling gerbil. Research on what adult rodents need just to maintain their weight and be healthy is very scant, but a diet that meets the needs of growing gerbils should also meet or exceed the needs of adult gerbils.

This means that you can generally assume that the goal number is a "worst case scenario" requirement. I find it ideal to hit that number wherever possible for maximum peace of mind, but a number just under the goal is unlikely to indicate a deficiency in most cases. I find it difficult to get Vitamin B6 higher than 0.37mg (where the goal is 0.4mg) but I don't worry about that, and sodium usually comes out significantly under the goal number as well, so I just give my gerbils a block of Himalayan salt and let them decide for themselves if they want more sodium (they use it once in a while).

Vitamin A is actually a group of related vitamins rather than one single thing. It comes it several forms but the main ones to be aware of are retinol and beta-carotene. Retinol is possible to overdose on, if you take supplements or eat a lot of liver, but you can't overdose on beta-carotene. The reason the database only has a target value for beta-carotene is because gerbils would typically get most of their Vitamin A from beta-carotene, so it's simpler to just focus on that one and not worry about the rest. If your mix has enough beta-carotene, it has more than enough Vitamin A. Your mix has 2440mcg/100g beta-carotene so you can definitely afford to reduce the dried carrot. It can be difficult to judge weights vs volumes when mixing on paper, but dried carrot also has a quite a lot of volume in relation to its weight. 100g is much more than it sounds, and will overwhelm your mix. You can reduce to even just 10g or so.

I'd also reduce the brazil nuts. Due to their high fat content and richness, nuts should be fed in smaller quantities than seeds and grains. Brazil nuts in particular also contain a lot of selenium which is potentially a problem in excess.

I find it helpful to draft a structure for mixing gerbil food. The majority, approximately 90%, of your mix should be made up of seeds. Seeds are divided into two categories: starchy or farinaceous seeds (which includes grains) and oily seeds. The ratio between grains/starchy seeds and fatty oils should typically be somewhere between 60:40 and 80:20.

What I do is, if I'm going for a ratio of 60:40, I would first choose 600g of grains and starchy seeds, and 400g of fatty seeds. This can be any number of different seeds, as long as they add up to 600g and 400g.

Once I've done that, I then choose any additional ingredients that I want to include. This includes an animal protein of some kind (I use calci worms), some dried vegetables and herbs, and treat/interest foods such as nuts or dried fruits, which are included not so much for their nutritional value (though they might still be nutritionally valuable), but for their taste and enrichment value. The treat/interest foods often change each time I mix the food, even while the rest of the mix stays the same, to give the gerbils a bit of variety. So one month they might get goji berries, another month they might get almonds, another month they might get cashews.

So to summarise, the structure would look something like this:

• 90% seeds

        - 60-80% starchy seeds, including grains
        - 20-40% oily seeds

• 10% other ingredients

        - Animal protein
        - Dried vegetables, herbs, and flowers
        - Treat foods e.g nuts, dried fruits

The percentages don't need to be exact, and you can definitely play around with them to find what works for you, but I've generally found that a structure similar to the one above helps to keep a mix balanced.

With calcium and phosphorus, you're aiming for calcium to be at least as high as phosphorus. I wouldn't worry about getting a minimum amount of phosphorus, as it's in just about everything, and gerbils are never really going to be deficient in it. It's the calcium that's more important.

I don't look at the calorie column. The calorie content of your mix is directly related to the fat, protein, and carbohydrate content (apart from carbohydrate - you don't normally need to worry about this column either, except in specific circumstances like a diabetic dwarf/Chinese hamster).

Your protein and fibre look fine. Fat is potentially a bit high, but that's probably because of the brazil nuts.

[mygerbilprince]

Thank you so so much for the help! I see you put a lot of time and research into this and I really appreciate you sharing that knowledge with me. Here is my new mix, how does it look?





I got over my issue with dried bugs and added them for extra calcium. The calcium phosphorus ratio isn't perfect, but there is more calcium.Thanks again!

[LilyandDaisy]

That looks good to me!

[mygerbilprince]

Thanks a bunch!