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Post by dietpeppers on Jul 4, 2005 11:22:18 GMT -8
Last night, I was watching one of my gerbies chew and chew and chew on her plastic tunnel, hanging on - I thought she was just chewing, but was getting tired of hearing the noise so I got up to give her some cardboard for her to chew elsewhere. Poor thing! She wasn't chewing to be chewing, she was stuck on the tunnel somehow. I'm thinking she may've got stuck between the crack where the tunnels go together. I was so scared for her, but as I removed the lid where the tunnel was stuck in, I put her over the bin I use to change the others. I couldn't get her lose!!! At this point, she was very scared and was ready to eat me up, so I ran and got a glove and a plastic tie I use in the tanks to hold stuff for her to chomp on instead of me, but she had wriggled and wriggled and got herself loose. I think she may've pulled out one of her claws. She was bleeding a little while I looked at it. At first I thought it pulled off her whole paw, but it's still there and she did stop bleeding. I coddled and cuddled her until it stopped bleeding and she's doing very well today. She's back to "burrowing" on the sides of the tank, etc... but man she had me scared to death last night.
Since that accident happened, I've removed all plastic tunnels from all the tanks. I'm going to clean them up really well and get rid of them, never to use them again. I'm sure it was a freak accident, but one time is enough, never again will I allow such a thing to happen. I'll get them some pvc or something to use, but definitely not the plastic tubes.
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Post by reallybes on Jul 4, 2005 20:17:26 GMT -8
Oh geez. Sorry you & your gerbil had to go through that. I guess those plastic tubes aren't all that safe after all.. at least she's doing normal activities again It is very wise you decided to remove all plastic tubes, wouldn't want that happening again ... PVC should be good, that's what I use for my gerbils and they don't have any problems with it and it's durable and lasts a pretty long time. Glad to know everything is fine now!
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Post by maxthegerbil on Jul 8, 2005 4:02:28 GMT -8
Hi dietpeppers. I`m glad to hear she`s recovered from her frightening ordeal. That`s the trouble with these plastic tubes. They are usually clipped together in two parts, as apposed to being molded completely, which I think manufacturers need to look at to be honest as tiny claws can easily get stuck between the gaps, as your females obviously did.
I would advise only wooden and cardboard objects for gerbils, purely because of their chewing nature. Plastic must be sharp and undigestible if swallowed accidently. Wood is a little more biodegradable! I recently purchased two larger sized `Chube Tubes` which are basically large durable hard cardboard tubes designed for rats, ferrets, mice, hamsters & gerbils. They come in various sizes and colours and although made from cardboard, they are quite thick and take the gerbils a while to chew! You can find them through eBay sellers or pet supply stores. I`m in the UK however, so I`m not sure of they are available in the U.S? If anyone has a link, can you post it please? I bought mine off eBay from a pet store seller. They are great fun for gerbils! They hide in them, scrape inside them, chew at the ends and some have metal link ties attached to them and could be suspended from a wooden shelf inside a glass aquarium?
I hope you can get a few of these because they are great and very, very safe! x
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Post by mice on Jul 8, 2005 4:20:24 GMT -8
Oh dietpeppers, I'm sorry you had to go through that, it must have been awful for both of you, I'm glad she's ok.
My mum had a similar situation with my first gerbil, although this incident occured with a cardboard tube. My boys was getting old and was rather fat, he'd managed to just get himself wedged in a kitchen roll tube and had just got himself into a complete panic and so was unable to chew himself out, so my mum had to pull him out. Needless to say she got a chunck taken out of her finger to say thank you but he was fine.
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Post by doomgerbiluk on Jul 8, 2005 4:46:14 GMT -8
Postal tubes are great, they alst ages. Tubes form inside carpets are also good. Also the tubes A0 paper comes on. If you knwo of anyone working soemwhere where these tubes are thrown away it's worth asking them to save you some.
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Post by dietpeppers on Jul 9, 2005 22:34:20 GMT -8
I have some really thick cardboard tube a friend gives me from where he works. They come with paper on them and he saves them for me. My degus are able to go through them as well if that gives you an idea of how large they are. Some of my gerbils are more violent than the others I guess because in a few of the tanks, they're been sawed down, LOL while the others have barely any chews on them. The plastic tubes were all a part of my daughter's setup. I put over $300 (stupid move) into her gerbils and regret it every moment. The only good thing, as I put her gerbils in a larger cage, the babies I separate into same sex pairs were able to have homes without me buying more, LOL. I'm cleaning most of these tubes up and will be listing them on eBay as I don't want to have any of them in here anymore. These gerbils are all spoiled and have so much other delights to play with, I don't want this happening to them ever again. Postal tubes! I get tons of stuff in the mail, freebies, etc... and sometimes I get posters. Those get cut into 3rds and passed out through some of the tanks. I also have an abundance of postal boxes from buying all the time on eBay... I just throw those in the tanks too. They chew up so much cardboard, I have to pull some of the shreds out every week or so because the tanks get deep if I don't. All that, who needs plastic tubes?? Definitely not my gerbils. The little lady has recovered well by the way. Now she happens to my little sidekick. She's right here asleep in an snuggly on my desk right now, hehe. After her accident, I've sort of taken over with favoring her above all the rest. *wink* You can actually see two of those cardboard tubes here... one is long and the other by the ladder is shorter. I have tons of them and all the tanks have them. Some of them I've bundled together in a triangle of three for the gerbils to play in - they love that! Of course, one set is in a 29 gallon tank and almost buried from all the bedding and shredded boxes... think that gives them a thrill because I watch them burrowing out of them, LOL tinyurl.com/crarw
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Post by dietpeppers on Jul 9, 2005 22:51:02 GMT -8
tinyurl.com/dvnhoYou can see them better here... and how I strap them together. The gerbils love them like that and play on them a lot when they are awake. These are my degus, they love them just the same though - I basically wanted to show the tubes and I happened to have a photo of them in their cage.
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Post by maxthegerbil on Jul 10, 2005 0:13:15 GMT -8
Hi dietpeppers. Your Degus are ADOREABLE!!! I have four mongolian gerbil boys and love them to bits, so I know how you must have felt seeing one of your gerbils getting caught like that. It`s a horrible feeling and we always blame ourselves for their injuries. Your Degu cage looks just brilliant and they look extremely happy in there! I must look into Degus more.....! x
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Post by doomgerbiluk on Jul 10, 2005 0:19:37 GMT -8
Very nice I use PVA school type glue to join tubes together in the same arrangement.
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Post by malabui on Jul 10, 2005 2:58:17 GMT -8
-Personally I don't use plasic tubes because my gerbils are more likely going to chew them (which is not good for them) than go through them. -The claw of your gerbil should grow back after a few weeks (one of mine lost one due to fighting) but you'll need to keep an eye on how its growing because when it does grow back, it will grow back straight instead of curved like the others and you'll need to clip it so it doesn't catch on anything.
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Post by dietpeppers on Jul 11, 2005 0:53:48 GMT -8
Maxthegerbil, thank you for your compliments! I just love thise little guys (degus). Change their cage around once every two weeks and use my boxes I get stuff in from eBay in there. There's a taller one in there now - but they are so much like gerbils in one nature - they CHEW. So what I decided would be their burrow box has been my worse nightmare because they chewed right in the bottom of it and bedding is everywhere, LOL! I should've known, afterall, one of them has the nickname of "destroyer" But yes! Do your research, they're very sweet. I've never been nipped and I handle them all the time. Some people have some that follow them around like little puppies, hehe. You have to be very careful in their diet because you might as well say they are diabetic. Anyhow, if you want more information, send me a message privately and I'll get you some really good links.
malabui, THANK YOU for that information because I had no idea!!! I'm a nervous wreck clipping the claws of my cats, I think I'll just faint when I help hers out, LOL.
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Post by maxthegerbil on Jul 11, 2005 3:52:19 GMT -8
Hi dietpeppers. Well yesterday I done some reading up on Degus and you were right in saying that they can never have any sugar due to their intollrance to it. This can include fruit of all kinds and even molasses, which can be found in some rodent mixes.
I read that the best foods to go for are guinea pig mix and chinchilla pellets (as apposed to mix as the mixes can have some harmful seeds etc included). So diet wise, I`m sure they are pretty much basic eaters because they can`t really have `treats` as such? I did read that some owners give the odd piece of fruit or sunflower seeds however. I don`t think I`d take the risk to be honest.
I`m not sure which veggetables they can have, but again, I`m still learning! Most of the Degu based websites I found stated that vets don`t know a great deal about these animals and still class them as `exotic` pets, like Chinchillas tend to be. This would worry me slightly because if one of my pets ever needed antibiotics, I would`nt know which drugs were safe to use? Baytril (enrofloxacin) is what vets mostly prescribe for rodents in general or a Tetracycline. This I would HAVE to learn more about because I know some small animals can be killed by unknowingly using something they react badly to, so I would like to think I knew more than the vet if it came to that!
I would love to rescue a few Degus one day, which is why I`m harping on about finding out as much as I can regarding their husbandry, which i`m sure is the right thing to do anyway. I used to keep fancy rats as pets, but the poor things are prone to respiratory illness and unfortunately suffer a great deal and as a result, live short lives as a result.
dietpeppers, how do I send you a PM? I should know all this by now! But I`m new to this site still and getting used to all the symbols and such! Excuse my ignorance! Thankyou for offering to give me some useful links dietpeppers. You can always post them on here I suppose?
Thanks a million. x
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Post by doomgerbiluk on Jul 11, 2005 6:41:16 GMT -8
Degus are fascinating and are on my 'one day' list of pets Furry Forum Global has a forum dedicated to these wonderful animals, the moderator actually does regular rescues of degus so feel free to drop by, read the posts and ask questions And before I get told off for changing topic how is the gerbil? I do hope the claw grows back fine.
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Post by dietpeppers on Jul 11, 2005 9:22:09 GMT -8
www.degus.org/That is a really good website. My degus can't stand the chinchilla pellets and those get tossed all over my floor. I still mix those in however, hoping one day they will eat them, LOL! But I also mix in guinnea pig pellets and a tiny bit of gerbil mix. Some of those websites say sweet potato but I avoid those because I don't trust them. There is a website called Brisky ( www.brisky.com ) which sells food specifically for degus - you could look into that as well. Mine like tomatoes, cauliflower, and carrots - sometimes a bit of lettuce, but only leafy. These guys love attention though, goodness! They make nests in my hair, or try, LOL! They like to chew however so you have to be careful otherwise you'll lose cords. As for sending a private message? You click on my name to go to my profile, then at the top of the page it says send a private message. Now back to my gerbil, she's doing fine - as if nothing ever happened. Her paw looks fine as well. I think it scared me more than it did her though!!! I think it also made my daughter's gerbils upset because I tool ALL the tubes out of the tanks/cages. But oh well, LOL. I saw the website that another person posted in toys about buying those cardboard tubes and I really think I'm going to get those. Entertainment and chew all in one.
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Post by maxthegerbil on Jul 12, 2005 4:49:58 GMT -8
Thanks for the links dietpeppers! I`ve had a look at the degus.org web pages and they are very good. Here are a few others I found that you may want to have a look at: www.degutopia.co.ukwww.myhomezone.co.uk/degus/Both are U.K based, but you may find reading these interesting too! I`m glad your gerbil has made a good recovery. My four lads are my wee babies and they will be five months old on 26th July. They were all rescues from the same litter. You probably know their names already, Barney, Cuthbert, Dibble & Grub! They live in pars now however die to a de-clanning. I`ve tried re-introductions, but there were squabbles, so I won`t risk any more fights. They are too precious to me and I won`t put squabbling animals together for my pleasure. I`m content to see them happy and that`s what matters. I feel they are getting beyond the age to introduce them again anyway and this is always contravercial in terms of cage splitting and long waiting times and at the end of all this, it may not work out anyway, so I`ve decided to leave well alone!
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