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Post by RitzieAnn on Feb 24, 2008 21:33:50 GMT -8
Interesting xymenah. I've never seen a rodent (hamster/gerbil/rat) look good on lab blocks. Now, I've got SOME mixed into my food.... but it's certianly not the main staple. What kind of blocks are you feeding?
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Post by xymenah on Feb 25, 2008 15:54:18 GMT -8
I am feeding a Pellet/block that is made my Mazuri... it says hamster and gerbil diet... cant find anything that is just gerbil around, really annoying. I might get around to making my own mix one day but I only have 3 boys atm and they were just being rather picky when it came to the mix. I wanted to make sure they would not get deficiencies so this is what they are on for now until I can come up with something better. They do get treats so it isn't that boring. They are all pretty good weight and one is looking a little round :S not too happy about that. Their coats are nice and shiny and that isnt due to sandbaths as they dont get those as often as they should. They run all over digging and doing normal gerbil things. I am however currently looking into making my own mix. Maybe something where they will actually like all of the things in it. I am still researching this.
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Post by RitzieAnn on Feb 28, 2008 8:56:28 GMT -8
Our chinchilla eats Mazuri chinchilla pellets. but I've still seen first hand a LOT of rodents who don' tlook good on them. :S
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Post by xymenah on Feb 28, 2008 17:50:55 GMT -8
Well there are exceptions to every rule. My gerbils act healthy and do normal gerbil things and they look healthy and there coats are nice and not greasy... maybe I just lucked out and these 3 are doing well on it. I dont know. Pet food is a very controversial topic for all species of animals and knowing truely what is good and what isn't is becoming really difficult. If I get the chance to make a home made diet I will give it a try. I have tried several things and just havent had anything work out. So for the moment until I get that figured out they are staying on this. They seem happy enough with it. I will continue to do my research and of course suggestions are always welcome.
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Post by RitzieAnn on Feb 28, 2008 18:27:09 GMT -8
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all of them are bad. Personally I don't feed only pellets because that's not their natural diet. Naturally they'd eat a lot of seeds, so that's what is "mostly" in my food. I do have blocks added to my food though, and they do get eaten.
Making your own mix isn't very efficient for small scale, but when you get lots, it's so much cheaper! I'm down to 5, and I was measuring it out... oh goodness.... lol. I'm not used to feeding 2 tanks only. I keep thinking I"m missing somebody's dinner!
It's easy to do, and one thing I'm enjoying is to get the foods when they're on sale! My bin always stays pretty full, and since a lot of the foods overlap in ingredients anyway, I've had no issues.
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Post by xymenah on Mar 2, 2008 10:00:00 GMT -8
Well it looks like I may have to change to some kinda mix again anyway since I couldnt find more of the pelleted food at the store. I just hope I dont have any pickyness problems again wasting a bunch of food and causing an imbalance in their diet that could lead to medical issues. I guess I will have to watch carefully what they eat when they do to see what they are and arent eating.
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Post by RitzieAnn on Mar 2, 2008 10:02:35 GMT -8
...and this is why most of us don't feed every day! I usually feed every 3 days... but sometimes, depending on my tank, I've waited as much as 5 days for them to eat their "left overs"
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Post by xymenah on Mar 2, 2008 11:55:06 GMT -8
I don't feed every day. I feed 2 times a week. which is about every 3-4 days or something like that. I also scatter feed because I have 3 in the tank and don't want someone deciding the bowl is his. So it is hard to tell what is being eaten or not until I do a bedding change.
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Post by RitzieAnn on Mar 2, 2008 20:20:03 GMT -8
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Post by xymenah on Mar 3, 2008 10:27:51 GMT -8
i have read that people say 16% protein for gerbils max... however this is not the case if you ask vets which say 20-22% protein see why all this info is controversial there isnt just one answer and that goes for feeding all animals... even in humans... I find that there not being one straight answer it actually quite aggravating. Anyway it doesn't matter now it was a temporary thing for a few months since my boys were being picky for some reason. Now it is back to finding a mix that hopefully they will not be picky about since I cant get a hold of the Blocks now. I was gonna switch them back anyway but was hoping for a little longer on the decision making time of what one or if i could try making my own. www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=682
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Post by excelstor on Mar 5, 2008 12:50:36 GMT -8
hi our gerbils like the plain Bran Flakes from Asda (wallmart in the USA) they seem to like the texture. also the leaves that can be found around the fresh corn on the cobs go down well.
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Post by zazi on Mar 17, 2008 1:05:59 GMT -8
If you are using cat food and worried abut the protein levels, you could try renal food for cats which is low protein cat food.
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Post by Shooting Star on Mar 18, 2008 21:03:05 GMT -8
I haven't been following this thread, but after skimming it... - You can use the Nutrition Calculator that's stickied at the top of this board to figure out the fat and protein levels of a homemade mix.
- In-depth information about gerbil dietary requirements can be found here: books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4758&page=140 But we mainly link to Ed's diet guide, because it's more reader-friendly, and we figure he knows his stuff.
- My current mix is 1 part Vita Seed Cockatiel to 2 parts LM Classic Rabbit. It seems to work well, but I'm hoping to find a source for some "straights" to make a better mix soon (the feed store in my town sucks).
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Post by ajherring on Mar 19, 2008 10:36:08 GMT -8
From my experiences so far, no commercial food is good for small pets and most even bad for them. Only good commercial foods are the really expensive stuff (like with ferrets its Natural gold) and with rats its Regal Rat and even then they got to be added to. Right now, my rats get 0 rat commercial food. They get a mix of other stuff. I'm debating about buying them lab blocks because most rats won't eat it.
I would like to know more on a professional field of the commercial gerbil food before I use it. My ferrets get kitten food right now.. since I got to order the ferret food online and its just as good for them. Its a high quality kitten food.
Anyway, If given the option of just doing commercial or going 100% mix if I could... I rather go with mixing it myself.....
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Post by robotponys on Jan 4, 2012 19:01:38 GMT -8
By Zouave, adapted by Robotponys I made it a bit simpler and stuff. I hope you don't mind, it's also more gerbil orientated. Ingredients 1/2 to 1 lb. dry rolled oats (cheap from the bulk bin) 5.3 oz. box puffed wheat cereal (use organic, with low sugar and salt content) 6.4 oz. box puffed rice cereal 1 12 oz. box Total Cereal (great minerals and vitamins 1/4 to 1/2 lb. roasted, unsalted soy nuts (high protein content, contains vitamin K) 1/2 lb dried fruits such as bananas and cranberries (may be replaced with fresh fruit weekly treats or removed/reduced) 1/2 lb dry pasta 1/4 lb sunflower seeds (high in fat and protein, better as a treat, gerbils LOVE them) 1/4 lb muesli (optional, includes rolled oats, granola, pumpkin seeds and raisins) Remember, use common sense and make sure sugar, salt, and fat levels remain normal. Everything is optional, adjust and replace as needed. Mixing and Storing Mix everything together in a huge bowl. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. You may want to refrigerate this in case of insect eggs from ingredients. You could always replace some seeds with a commercial mix for ease. It's probably not a good idea to use lab blocks or pellets because they will pick out everything but them.
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