|
fruit ?
Oct 31, 2005 10:21:41 GMT -8
Post by sandy on Oct 31, 2005 10:21:41 GMT -8
As I posted on another thread, I am against feeding gerbils fruits and veg unneccessarily.
In the absence of contamination from other stock or from kids or people with unwashed hands handling them, I'd say the greatest source of diarrhoea in gerbils is from unwashed fruit/veg or simply too much water in them. If you think about it, gerbils in the wild don't dine on grapes and lettuce. Juicy grass stems are probably the most veggie sort of food they might get, and instead they subsist on seeds, grasses and insects. We need to guard against trying to feed gerbils a human diet.
One of my gerbils was a classroom rescue (the teacher didn't want her any more) and she had been given a single grape every day. She had chronic diarrhoea! Granted, she loved that grape, but she was so much healthier on a straight diet of mixed seeds, alfalfa pellets and a bit of dry cat food (a protein source instead of bugs). The runs stopped and she started gaining some weight and getting lovely and glossy.
The only gerbils that I will occasionally give very clean stick of celery to (other than travelling gerbils) is weanlings that haven't figured out the water bottle, and once they learn (it only takes about a week) no more veg.
I have NEVER seen diarroea in my gerbils other than that one that came in from outside, and she was soon cured simply with the diet change.
|
|
|
fruit ?
Oct 31, 2005 12:13:14 GMT -8
Post by shrimply on Oct 31, 2005 12:13:14 GMT -8
My gerbils get very little fruit but anything they get is not only washed but peeled as well.
|
|