viggo
Member
We love the gnag
Posts: 75
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Post by viggo on Sept 28, 2007 10:44:50 GMT -8
I must warn you all never to use incense if you have gerbils!
It's a deadly threat! I burnt one stick and an hour later both
Theo and Tuffe lost their ability to move and sank to the floor
of their tank. The next day they had severe cramps and were
partially unconscious.
They got a tiny bit better, but they were in bad shape,
so I took them to the vet to end their suffering.
Still we all wanted to give them a chance and the vet
gave them each a shot with a salty fluid.
And now they're back to normal.
I just wanted to share this so that everyone avoids aromatic
candles, sticks and oils!
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Post by gerbilmummy on Sept 28, 2007 11:00:38 GMT -8
Hey, thanks for this. I hope one of the Mods gives it sticky status, I know that certain perfumes can be toxic to gerbils and am trying to get some references to post on here to back this up properly, in the mean time I think your experience should be taken as an indication of the risk posed  I found this it doesn't mention inscense but interesting and useful all the same i think  www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=18&cat=1914&articleid=1615 |
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Post by gerbilmummy on Sept 30, 2007 10:34:16 GMT -8
Hey, great thanks Mod team for stickying this thread  |
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Post by RitzieAnn on Sept 30, 2007 20:46:30 GMT -8
Hum... this is interesting. I use Air fresh on the wall behind my tanks.. I have for almost a year, and I've never had anybody get sick from it. Also, it's not uncommon for me to burn a vanilla scented candle in the same room. THough, those sticks are different, and I've never burnt them. Good thing to know and keep an eye out for. Glad your boys are better.
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Post by SilverGerbil on Sept 30, 2007 22:25:09 GMT -8
Thats very odd...beacuse i've burned insence sticks, candles and had spray airfreshener in my room with the lil gerbils, and i've never had a problem...  They don't seem atall bothered by the smell, my tank is almost 2 meters away from my desk, so i dont know if the smell can get that far or not but they haven't seemed bothered in the past. Though i think i will keep an eye on them, in future if myself or my sister burn any incence . xoxox |
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Post by vampyrekei on Oct 1, 2007 3:55:18 GMT -8
When burning insents, your room should be properlly ventallated, if not the smoke will clog up the room. I would assume keeping a window open (like you should) when burning something in the same room as your gerbils should be okay. I haven't burnt any insents since I've gotten my babies yet, but I would keep a window open. Keeping it closed keeps the smoke in the room, and that's not even good for humans either.
(And sorry for spelling....I just woke up. lol)
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Post by RitzieAnn on Oct 1, 2007 8:55:22 GMT -8
Yeah, I dunno. I'm a huge fan of Fabreeze, and I use it almost every day! Aslo, as you can see... I've got an AirWick thing on each side of my tank.... I do believe it's vanilla.  |
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Post by gerbilmummy on Oct 1, 2007 10:29:44 GMT -8
When burning insents, your room should be properlly ventallated, if not the smoke will clog up the room. I would assume keeping a window open (like you should) when burning something in the same room as your gerbils should be okay. I haven't burnt any insents since I've gotten my babies yet, but I would keep a window open. Keeping it closed keeps the smoke in the room, and that's not even good for humans either. (And sorry for spelling....I just woke up. lol) I think this is a very good point about the ventilation, its a must ;D There will be toxic particles that come from sprays and scented candles, i know fish and birds are particulary sensitive, so I would air on the side of caution(pardon the pun ) |
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Post by SilverGerbil on Oct 2, 2007 2:50:03 GMT -8
Yes,i have the windows open aswell, it lets fresh air in . I have a plug in air freshener aswell, its one of the new fabreeze ones, that is the pink one for breast cancer relief...my girls dont seem to be bothered by it, it's not right by their tank and my room gets alot of ventalation. xoxox |
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Post by dizalove on Oct 21, 2007 6:01:33 GMT -8
Sorry to stick my furry nose in as I haven't been around awhile - but perhaps the difference is the ingredients in each of the items you're using to freshen the air. I often think companies will tweak the ingredients in their items as time continues on, to meet with safety issues & to make them more customer friendly. It's possible that some incense has certain ingredients that when burned can be toxic while others do not. Personally - I don't think breathing in the smoke from anything can be good for anyone - but sometimes they do smell good.
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Post by orion on Nov 17, 2007 15:59:42 GMT -8
I was going to post a new thread asking about incense since I burn it all the time and I just got a couple of gerbils today. I only burn incense that contains organic ingredients (they tend to be made in India or in Southern China) and I never burn incenses with fake scent added. In my mind, the organic qualities of the incense make it less harmful both to humans and rodents alike. I used to burn fake incense and it would really irritate me as there are a lot of chemical additives.
Does anyone have any additional information on incense burning in the presence of rodents? I always properly ventilate the room, and I never burn so much that the room is enveloped in a cloud.
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Post by p1xie on Nov 17, 2007 16:21:05 GMT -8
Hi
My thought is that burning anything, whether it's organic or not, is potentially an irritant to the respiratory system. Even a miniscule amount of smoke can irritate human lungs if you're susceptible and small rodents like gerbils have tiny lungs. I just wouldn't take the risk - if you want to burn incense you could do it where there aren't any gerbils (actually I wouldn't even do it with any small animals in the same room - including human babies and toddlers...)
We sometimes have incense burning in the bathroom but we don't tend to keep any gerbils in there lol!
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Post by gerbilmummy on Nov 17, 2007 16:30:01 GMT -8
Hi I'm with P1xie on this one smoke is smoke and its not good for our furries  Tyhats why I got this thread stickied in the first place |
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Post by AshBee Renee on Dec 3, 2007 6:56:55 GMT -8
I use incense every once and a while with my room being ventilated and my gerbils looked and acted normal. No squeaking or anything. I know though if used everyday it could cause probably respiratory problems.
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Post by mollldoll on Dec 5, 2007 0:51:16 GMT -8
Id never burn/spray anything near my pets - deoderant spayed outside my brdroom door (with the door shut) gives my chinchilla the sneezes so id hate to see the effects of anything burning or being sprayed in my room
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Tyhats why I got this thread stickied in the first place