Fat?

[amy]

Hi!!
I read that gerbils don't overeat but i can't help worrying that my gerbil is fat! Please tell me what u think.


Thanks
Amy x x

[queenofthenile]

I don't know, it is so hard to tell with gerbils ! My gerbil Jasper was a bit sick and I noticed he had lost weight. He looked sooo skinny compared to what he used to look like. I fed him some more sunflower seeds and catfood and 2 days later he looked really fat. I think I just am not very good at telling the difference, or it was all just in my head ! If you are worried, just try picking out some of the sunflower seeds and feeding them to the skinnier gerbils, so that she gets just a bit less. From the pictures, she seems a normal weight, but it won't hurt her to eat a few less seeds.

[Ritzie/Admin]

I just wanted to ask that here! I've just recieved an e-mail from someone with a very fat gerbil! Almost round! He doesn't want to play anymore, doesn't run (e.g. in wheel). And if it's harmful for the animal's health?

I wanted to ask your opinions! But you have started it already! ;D

I would remove the fatty things, like sunflower seeds, peanuts, dry cat food, mealworms. And give them a lot of hay (not hay with a large protein content)! And play as much as you can with the fat gerbil, let him walk over your hands, couch, just in the room, or somewhere else.

To prevent that the other gerbil would als get thinner you can indeed feed that one sunflower seeds, etc. seperately from the fat one. Is a good tip, Leah!! I hadn't thought that one myself yet!

About their weight: Mongolian gerbils have a weight of 60-85 gram and with overweight they can weigh 120 gram. The males are 10-20% heavier than the females. In the wild there isn't a difference in the weight between the males and the females, both weight in the wild about 60 gram.

So gerbils that weight more than 100 grams can be considered as too fat! Than you can remove the sunflower seeds, etc.

[geikou]

I think a surer way to compare weight is by actually weighing them, don't you think? I agree that with gerbils it is so hard to tell by sight. They sometimes look very plump, especially when they've just woken up and their fur ruffled.

According to a kitchen scale, my gerbils are about 60g.

[Ritzie/Admin]

Not everyone thinks a gerbils is fat when he weights more than 100 gram, I personally think 130 gram is too much for a Mongolian gerbil, here a post on the GML, just wanted to share it with you all:

It depends on the gerbil. I have a 130 gram gerbil here and he's not fat, he's just BIG to begin with. He was a litter survivor and grew large fast because of that.

And what do you all when you have one. I know you can remove the sunflower seeds, peanuts, etc from its food. ANd don't give them any dry cat food, mealworms, etc. So limit the amount of protein and fat in their food. And make sure that they have enough exercise. Can you do more things?

Watch what you feed them is all, and exercise. You see to have that under control. No peanuts, sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, flax...

Geikou, a kitchen scale is indeed a good item to weigh your gerbils! I use it too! ;D

[amy]

Hi thanks everyone
She weighs 73g. Gosh! I would have thought 130g would be seriously overweight!
Amy x x

[Ritzie/Admin]

Yes, I think 130g is a serious overweight!!! If my gerbils were that heavy, I would put them on a diet! ;D

But 73, is not too much! So your gerbils is not too fat!