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Post by j on Aug 6, 2004 0:26:08 GMT -8
Is pretty much any nut or seed good for gerbils.. and will they usually eat any kind? I was at this healthfood store the other day. Probably won't be back for a while cause it's far away and in the ghetto..lol but they had bins of like weird kind of nuts I've never heard of. I looked at them and thought gerbil food. lol They weren't even salted. I was wondering if they would eat them though. And seeds.... Can you buy seed packets at a garden store that you're supposed to grow and feed them? Once I fed my gerbils squash, watermellon and apple seeds right out of the fruit/vegetable and they ate those. Just looking for a variety and things they'll actually eat. I've been testing them with seeds. I put only 1 kind of seed in their dish to see what they eat and don't eat and left it for a few hours. They wouldn't touch most of it. The only thing they touched was the corn. By the time I gave them their usual food, they acted starving.
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Post by sweetie on Aug 10, 2004 5:33:33 GMT -8
Almost like me and spinach LOL!! I would rather starve first. I think that many nuts are okay like penuts that are raw and unsalted. In another thread some one said pine nuts. I am not sure if any are poisonous or not. I do know that many nuts are high in fat content like penuts and some high in protien like soy nuts. As long as you don't feed them too many (like sunflower seeds) then it should be okay. Let us know how it goes!! I'm sure our gerbils would love the change too. I'm thinking of going to get some pine nuts myself.
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Post by andrea on Aug 10, 2004 5:37:26 GMT -8
i mentioned pine nuts, a lady that came for one of our pups gave us a bag, her gerbils love them, i never thought about them before, but they do love them, but i would be careful i thiink they maybe a bit fatty like sunflower seeds. the pine nuts the lady brought round where a packet brought from a health food shop.
Andrea
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Post by j on Aug 12, 2004 21:05:49 GMT -8
lol pine nuts? never even heard of those. Guess I'll have to look. nobody knows about seeds they sell in garden places? I figure can't be anything wrong with them if they're taking them out of vegetables or whatever... But then again they might spray or use something on them so they didn't go bad or bugs eat them..
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Sept 10, 2004 3:27:12 GMT -8
Mongolian gerbils eat almost all seeds! In some pet shops you can buy bags of one kind of seed. Mostly in the bird section. Be aware that not all seeds have the same fat content. Especially nuts are fat!
I cannot say exactly which are good right now, because I'm at my school (free from my intenship address for one day). I will look for it at home. And will come back on this.
By the way, here information on what wild Mongolian gerbils eat: Gerbils were seen feeding mainly on the Mugwort Artemisia sieversiana, although A. commutata, Salsola collina, a Saltwort, Setaria viridis, a Bristle Grass and the Lyme Grass Leymus chinensis were also eaten. Gerbils were seen foraging in barren areas and it was assumed that they were feeding on seeds. Gerbils dug whilst feeding and might have been also eating roots. Although not mentioned in the article it is possible they were seeking invertebrates. The remains of two winter food stores were discovered and both consisted entirely of the seed husks of L chinensis. Interestingly the dried plant sold as Millet Sprays for Budgerigars in UK petshops is a Bristle Grass. As an experiment I gave some to four pet gerbils who devoured the entire spray in minutes.
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Sept 10, 2004 3:29:05 GMT -8
Oh and personally I like to give my gerbils these small seeds: In Dutch we call it "trosgierst", but I donĂ½ know the English word for it. Just as extra treat! Here some pictures: I will look for other seeds for you.
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Sept 10, 2004 3:33:24 GMT -8
Oh and Andrea, do you mean with pine seeds, the seeds in the cone? If so, my gerbils like them too! They gnaw the whole cone into pieces to get access to their seeds.
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RW
Member
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. Puppy 6/6/07
Posts: 530
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Post by RW on Sept 10, 2004 5:11:33 GMT -8
Oh and personally I like to give my gerbils these small seeds: In Dutch we call it "trosgierst", but I donĂ½ know the English word for it. Just as extra treat! I buy that for my gerbils, too. It's called millet in the US. RW
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Sept 13, 2004 3:09:24 GMT -8
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Post by andrea on Sept 13, 2004 4:24:52 GMT -8
Oh and Andrea, do you mean with pine seeds, the seeds in the cone? If so, my gerbils like them too! They gnaw the whole cone into pieces to get access to their seeds. I think so?? to be honst they came in a packet from a heath food shop .. If I was to pick some of these up from the local park would it be ok to give to the gerbs?. would i need to clean them, freeze them.. I am really don't want any bugs in my babies Andrea
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Post by queenofthenile on Sept 13, 2004 7:13:33 GMT -8
It really depends on which type of pine you have in your area. Here's a link on specific trees: www.thenutfactory.com/kitchen/edible/facts-pine.htmlI use pine nuts in Dolmades. It is a greek food that has rice, pine nuts and sometimes meat wrapped in grape leaves.
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Post by r8ch on Sept 13, 2004 12:30:23 GMT -8
Hi
yup Peter thats millet. All my animals enjoy millet. As for the pine nuts, next time you go shopping Andrea, check out how expensive they are! lol
R8ch
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Post by j on Sept 13, 2004 20:30:43 GMT -8
Thanks guys. Guess I'll have to look around more for foods.
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Post by andrea on Sept 13, 2004 23:30:08 GMT -8
Hi yup Peter thats millet. All my animals enjoy millet. As for the pine nuts, next time you go shopping Andrea, check out how expensive they are! lol R8ch Are they expensive, a lady gave us some when she came for a gerbil pup. I will have to look when I next do some food shopping now Ours love millet as well, just be careful its a stimulant.. Kinda like smoking some pot! (not that I know about that - Innocent grin ) so you may get a load of gerbil high and buzzing around like little bullets LOL .. Andrea
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Post by queenofthenile on Sept 14, 2004 7:01:40 GMT -8
Are you sure about that Andrea . In the US and Canada many of the gerbil foods have a millet base.
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