Post by butsam on Feb 24, 2004 9:52:54 GMT -8
Now, most gerbils exercise naturally on their own just fine...but I do have an experience to share. Please note I have only had gerbils for 1 week, so I am no expert or even near! I have done my reading, though.
After an especially hard workout on an exercise wheel by my gerbil Finch (he can be such a show-off sometimes! I decided to reward him with a sunflower seed.
He immediately realized that this sunflower seed was given as a result of the hard workout and ran on the wheel (with periodic breaks, but faster than I had seen either of my 2 gerbils run, and longer average duration as well) for ~30 minutes!!! No doubt, he wanted another sunflower seed, and was willing to work long and hard for it! This was a couple days ago...and now whenever I come home, he makes a dash for the wheel to try and impress me!
So there you have it...if your gerbil exercises for awhile, give a sunflower seed and they will intensify their workout!
I have found to a lesser extent, corn and their favorite seeds (not sure what they are called...they are small seeds with a reddish shell in my gerbil/hamster mix I bought) also work, but never to the same extent as this sunflower seed did the trick.
It seems as if sunflower seed = dessert, and if it's given as a reward then they will sure work hard for it! Just take into account this is the response of 1 gerbil, and I have only had 2 gerbils for about 1 week, so this is in no way scientific...but give it a shot! Multiple seeds may need to be given to stimulate the response in some critters (of course not all at once...spread it out over time so they don't just have dessert for dinner).
Of course, the wheel I use is safe...it's the solid wheel that comes with SAM CritterTrails 2.
Sam
After an especially hard workout on an exercise wheel by my gerbil Finch (he can be such a show-off sometimes! I decided to reward him with a sunflower seed.
He immediately realized that this sunflower seed was given as a result of the hard workout and ran on the wheel (with periodic breaks, but faster than I had seen either of my 2 gerbils run, and longer average duration as well) for ~30 minutes!!! No doubt, he wanted another sunflower seed, and was willing to work long and hard for it! This was a couple days ago...and now whenever I come home, he makes a dash for the wheel to try and impress me!
So there you have it...if your gerbil exercises for awhile, give a sunflower seed and they will intensify their workout!
I have found to a lesser extent, corn and their favorite seeds (not sure what they are called...they are small seeds with a reddish shell in my gerbil/hamster mix I bought) also work, but never to the same extent as this sunflower seed did the trick.
It seems as if sunflower seed = dessert, and if it's given as a reward then they will sure work hard for it! Just take into account this is the response of 1 gerbil, and I have only had 2 gerbils for about 1 week, so this is in no way scientific...but give it a shot! Multiple seeds may need to be given to stimulate the response in some critters (of course not all at once...spread it out over time so they don't just have dessert for dinner).
Of course, the wheel I use is safe...it's the solid wheel that comes with SAM CritterTrails 2.
Sam