red specks on nose... alergy? or other?

[pooky]

one of my gerbils has a couple small red specks on his nose. i cant tell if it is small specks of dried blood, or if it might be sore patches, or something which i havent encountered yet. i dont know what it might be from, but my guess is that he might be alergic to something in his cage, or he rubbed it against something, maybe while digging in the corner. the newist things in his cage are a new type of chew block, and one of those things that are made up of sticks attached together by metal rodes, so that it can be bent into any shape, such as a half circle shelter.

any ideas what caused these red specks? what should i do to help them heal? unfortinatly i have yet to find a gerbil vet where i live, so im not sure if i will be able to take him to one before i have to leave on holiday again... it dosent seem to serious, but then again, inm not an expert in these matters.

any input whould be greatly appreciated.
thanks

[RyanF]

If you can get some good pictures of it that would be better, because it's hard to say without seeing them.

[pooky]

ok, i hope to have pics later today.

also, 2 days ago i checked again and they were there, but then just yesterday they were gone again oh well. pics as soon as possible.

[meganb52]

Usually red specks on the nose are a sign of allergies. The tears of gerbils contain a substance called porphyrin, and it will stain the fur a red color when there are excesses of it. Culprits are usually the bedding. You may try switching to a non-wood bedding if you haven't already, or try newspaper, paper towel or other soft dust-free bedding to see if it helps. Other things that can cause this are barred cages where the barring is too close together. Mouse bar spacing is too small for gerbil heads, and they'll rub their noses raw sticking their heads between the bars. Rat bar spacing is more appropriate for gerbils. Hopefully these hints will help you out. Hope he feels better soon!

-Megan

[pooky]

slightly over a month ago, i switched from a "care fresh" bedding (non-wood), to aspen bedding. i didnt notice the specks before, so i dont think that is the problem, but it could be (but i would have thought i would have noticed them before now).

anyway, here is the pic of tacos nose:


this is the only picture i got where you can actually sort of see the problem. i know its not the greatest quality, but the camera i used is not the greatest quality either.


if you look at where the arrow is pointing, you can see there are a couple of red spots. in real life, i find that it looks like small specks of blood, but it might not be.

i apoligise for the quality, and i hope this pic helps you see the problem. any input would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

EDIT: i just remembered: there are two new items in tacos cage. a chew block (which on the packaging said it was safe for gerbils), and a weird wooden thing (which on the packaging said that the wood was safe, but it didnt say specifically weather it was safe for gerbils, so it might have had some pine or ceder in it).

here is a pic of the chew block (the wooden thing underneath the chew block is not part of the chew block):


and here is a pic of the weird wooden thing:


so maybe it is the weird wooden thing. but i have seen pictures of other peoples gerbils with the same wooden things, but there gerbils are still fine. maybe mine is differant. any thoughts?

pooky

[queen of the nile]

Many gerbils get these red specks. It isn't blood, rather, gerbils' nasal/eye mucous is reddish naturally. I'm not sure why you've been noticing it more lately, but I wouldn't worry.

[pooky]

i don't know why i haven't noticed it before either. i guess maybe i should be checking my gerbils over for problems more often . but any way, thanks for help every one, i appreciate it a lot.

pooky