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Post by AndreaS15 on Feb 7, 2006 13:33:30 GMT -8
Hey All,
So I have skinny gerbils. I have now added sunflower seeds to their regular diet in hopes to help fatten some of them up.
I have catfood in my diets, and i try to give the skinnier ones yogert drops. I give them timothy hay also, do we think I should switch to alfalfa?
I'm thinking of adding more cat food to thier feeds also.
Any tips or tricks on helping plump up some gerbies?
I want mine big like Sandys! ;D tee hee
Thanks!
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SuperGirlH
Member
Are you lookin' at me punk?
Posts: 299
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Post by SuperGirlH on Feb 10, 2006 10:54:26 GMT -8
I would also like to know the answer to this one!
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Post by AndreaS15 on Feb 10, 2006 11:04:29 GMT -8
I am guessing no one is answering because I've allready written the snaswers?
Yes - add cat more food?
Yes - add alfalfa?
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Post by ashgerbil on Feb 10, 2006 12:04:55 GMT -8
shrimply appears to think that hamster food fattens up gerbils ;D try any type of seeds/nuts, such as pine nuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or just a bag of mixed nuts ;D do you have shaws egg biscuits over in Canada? people over here feed them to pregnant gerbils as a supplement thing, but they make good treats as well  some gerbils are naturally skinny though, just like humans really! ;D and some gerbils are just too active to be fat really  my boys (leo and ash) are blobs but they don't really do much apart from eating and sleeping but the girls (suki and dusty) are really hyper and are thinner, no matter how many treats they eat! |
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Post by doomgerbiluk on Feb 10, 2006 12:38:07 GMT -8
OK a couple of things here
Young gerbils are usually skinny
As they reach towards 1 year they often 'thicken up'
Males get bigger quicker.
Gerbils do not suffer high cholesterol heart disease but being overweight due to a fatty diet is not good for them.
Feed a good balanced diet and if your gerbils have good coats, are active and eat most of their feed (make sure they don't just eat their favourite bits) please don't worry about their weights.
Fattening up any animal is a bad idea.
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Post by AndreaS15 on Feb 10, 2006 12:55:24 GMT -8
One female in particular is 'boney'. She's going to be 2 in April. She wasn't like this before and her sister is not like her either (or the daughter who lives with them).
All my gerbs eat everything in their dishes (well one guy likes to leave the millet, but since he's a skinny guy i let him).
I don't have 1 overweight gerbil, so adding a bit of bulk I don't believe will hurt them.
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Post by doomgerbiluk on Feb 10, 2006 13:02:48 GMT -8
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Post by sandy on Feb 10, 2006 13:38:36 GMT -8
As I said somewhere else, I mix my own gerbil food because otherwise it is very costly. I buy the bags at the local farm supply shop: wild bird seed mix, 1/2 pail. This includes millet, black sunflower seeds and various other seeds alfalfa pellets, 1/2 pail 1 cup dry cat food depending on what else I have on hand, sometimes I add rice, dry chick peas, pumpkin seeds, oats, raisins, slivered almonds, etc. Or I give them as treats. If I have gerbils that are overweight they get 1 measure per week not twice a week, and that seems to do the trick. Or I give them lab block for awhile. I think gerbils HATE lab block, even though it is probably good for them.  By the way I see a big difference in weight in gerbils with different exercise preferences and also with different ages or stages in life. A reproducing female will usually be slim. Breastfeeding takes it out of them! Tamihi, by the way, has not had pups in quite a while and is getting positively corpulent. She almost looks like Milky Way did! |
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Post by AndreaS15 on Feb 10, 2006 13:44:56 GMT -8
This is a list of the things I have in my feed.
Just recently it has changed a bit, as I'm trying to save $$ buy buying larger quantities.
Dried Fruits
Raisins, Apple, Cranberries, Blueberry, Coconut, Raspberries, Papaya, Pumpkin, Banana, Pineapple,
Dried Veggies
Carrots, peas, Parsley, Alfalfa leaves, Potatoes, Parsley flakes, celery flakes, Red & Green peppers deiced, Cabbage flakes, leek flakes, diced Zucchini, tomato flakes, Spinach flakes,
Seeds
Oat kernels, Millet (red & white), Pumpkin, Safflower, Sunflower, Rose hips, corn, barley, milo, wheat (middlings),
Nuts
Peanuts (Spanish), almonds, walnuts
Cereals & Other
Corn flakes, wheat flakes, Barley Flakes, Oat groats, Wheat bran, cornflower, Soya bean meal, Extruded rabbit pellets, Cat food, Alfalfa or Timothy (hay and sometimes cubes), Dehydrated alfalfa meal, heat processed soybeans, soybean meal,
Treats & Other – Cheese, Applesauce, Cranberry juice, Lettuce, Tomato, Carrots, Broccoli, grapes, apple, clover, boiled egg, cucumber, Dog Cookie, spray millet, Cat/Kitten food, Dried corn on the cob, honey bars, Frozen Fruits & veggies (summer treat)
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I like to mix 8 in 1 “ecotrition” (www.eightinonepet.com), and a wild bird mix with millets and small black sunflower seeds. I mix in cat food (Tecnical right now & Royal Canin). I have also bought a couple Hamster/Gerbil mixes (one was given to me) that I have put in.
There are now less Dried fruits & Veggies (so expencive) though it's still in the mix just not as much.
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my boys (leo and ash) are blobs but they don't really do much apart from eating and sleeping but the girls (suki and dusty) are really hyper and are thinner, no matter how many treats they eat! 
