Post by peebee on Mar 10, 2006 4:07:24 GMT -8
Apologies for the length of this. It is only a month since we first brought our gerbils home.
We've filled our boys' tank with compost (from garden centre) and wood shavings( apparently dust-extracted but wood type not specified, from Pets at Home, UK) as suggested in books we found, so that they would be able to burrow in their tank and make underground dens - which they do. We use shredded re-cycled paper, hay and other 'safe bedding' (paper flakes and paper wool made from plant fibres, it says; again from Pets at Home) as bedding.
My concerns are i) that the substrate is too coarse for burrowing - there are sharp little bits of wood in compost and shavings;
and ii) that in the last ten days Pablo has developed a reddish-brown discharge from first one and then both eyes - at first the vet prescribed eye drops and then a systemic antibiotic ( the latter we only gave him for three days) before she did some research and discovered that a discharge is common to all gerbils. Benji, our other gerbil, shows NO sign of excess discharge. We've decided not to give Pablo any more medication, altho' the vet suggested continuing with the antibiotic for a few more days. The boys have a sand bath when they come out of their gerbilarium for a run-around but the vet suggested having a permanent supply of sand. (They like to eat it too - chinchilla sand - we assume this is normal.)
Sometimes the discharge looks very liquid and profuse - especially after the eye drops - and sometimes very sticky. I wondered whether the eye drops might have made things worse. Will Pablo be able to regulate this on his own? Does it matter if he doesn't? What is the discharge for anyway? He doesn't appear to be ill - good appetite and just as active and inquisitive as his brother.
And does anyone think that the substrate or/and bedding might be contributing to any of it? We are considering ordering aspen shavings. Does this need to be mixed with other materials for the building of successful burrows? Has anyone else used compost?
Please advise. Thanks very much.
Mod Note: Topic posted twice. Topic can be found in the "Housing" Forum
We've filled our boys' tank with compost (from garden centre) and wood shavings( apparently dust-extracted but wood type not specified, from Pets at Home, UK) as suggested in books we found, so that they would be able to burrow in their tank and make underground dens - which they do. We use shredded re-cycled paper, hay and other 'safe bedding' (paper flakes and paper wool made from plant fibres, it says; again from Pets at Home) as bedding.
My concerns are i) that the substrate is too coarse for burrowing - there are sharp little bits of wood in compost and shavings;
and ii) that in the last ten days Pablo has developed a reddish-brown discharge from first one and then both eyes - at first the vet prescribed eye drops and then a systemic antibiotic ( the latter we only gave him for three days) before she did some research and discovered that a discharge is common to all gerbils. Benji, our other gerbil, shows NO sign of excess discharge. We've decided not to give Pablo any more medication, altho' the vet suggested continuing with the antibiotic for a few more days. The boys have a sand bath when they come out of their gerbilarium for a run-around but the vet suggested having a permanent supply of sand. (They like to eat it too - chinchilla sand - we assume this is normal.)
Sometimes the discharge looks very liquid and profuse - especially after the eye drops - and sometimes very sticky. I wondered whether the eye drops might have made things worse. Will Pablo be able to regulate this on his own? Does it matter if he doesn't? What is the discharge for anyway? He doesn't appear to be ill - good appetite and just as active and inquisitive as his brother.
And does anyone think that the substrate or/and bedding might be contributing to any of it? We are considering ordering aspen shavings. Does this need to be mixed with other materials for the building of successful burrows? Has anyone else used compost?
Please advise. Thanks very much.
Mod Note: Topic posted twice. Topic can be found in the "Housing" Forum