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Post by sunshine on Jan 7, 2005 13:01:26 GMT -8
I am not sure what section to put this under so I appoligise if this is the wrong one. I had my three male gerbils out tonight as usually and I noticed that one of them (Blue) has lost his two top teeth I am not in the habit of looking in his mouth so I am not sure how or when this happened. He was very fat and used to bleed alot from his nose but this stopped when I changed to Carefresh bedding so I assumed he was allergic to sawdust. He has also lost a lot of wright but I assumed that was with the sawdust change. My main worry is what can I fed him with? I am assuming that he will not be able to eat food properly (accounting for the weight lose) and also what can I do to stop his two bottom teeth from going into the skin on the top (will clipping them back be enough? I know when I took my dwarf hamster to the vets he said that there was a chance the teeth could shatter when clipped). Lastly and most importantly really will he be OK without his teeth? He does seem healthy enough and he is only a year old just now. Any help appreciated.
Thanks
Sunshine
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Post by queenofthenile on Jan 7, 2005 17:24:21 GMT -8
His teeth may or may not grow back. Keep checking in his mouth for little stubs coming through. If they are going to grow back it will take about 2-3 weeks to get to the right length. If they don't grow back, you will need to get his lower teeth clipped periodically because they will continue to grow.
As for things to feed, you can try anything that is soft. Some gerbils will eat coaked oatmeal or kashi, or applesauce (you can try it mixed with catfood and KMR). When this happened to one of my gerbils, she refused to eat the soft foods, so I ground up her regular food into smaller pieces that she could chew with her back teeth. I used a mortar and pestle to grind it up.
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Post by sunshine on Jan 8, 2005 7:20:50 GMT -8
Thanks for the advice. I have now been to the vets with him to get his bottom teeth clipped back because they were digging into the top of his mouth. Has anyone any idea how are why this happened to him? It seems really strange he was fine when I had him out the other day and was doing so well after I changed to Carefresh bedding and when I took him out last night his teeth were just gone and there is just a little hole where they should be. He seems to be getting on good other than that and is eating some small pieces or nuts, raisins etc so now I just need to find more foods that he will eat I might try to grind some of his down a bit for him. He is still housed with 2 other male gerbils and they eat all the small food as well rather than their own.
Sunshine
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Post by queenofthenile on Jan 9, 2005 6:51:02 GMT -8
The most likely causes are a fight, or falling off of a high object (at least 5 inches).
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on Jan 11, 2005 2:37:39 GMT -8
That is indeed a possibility. Another is a diet deficiency (shortage of some minerals), especially a shortage of calcium.
And hwen the teeth grow back, keep an close eye on it. Sometimes it will grow not in the right way, which can acuse elephant teeth (too long teeth), as with the bottom teeth.
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