What seeds can gerbils eat?

[LilyandDaisy]

I'm looking for some information on different kinds of seeds I can feed my gerbils, beyond sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I'm specifically wondering about:
Radish seed
Beetroot seed
Dill seed
Coriander seed
Carrot seed
Celery seed
Niger seed
Spinach seed

Are any of these safe for gerbils? I would appreciate any other suggestions too.

[jal]

I don't know about the seeds you mentioned. I have the Rodipet Senior gerbil food which has quite a few unusual seeds including: clover seeds, camelina seeds?, quinoa, alfalfa seeds, red clover seeds, sesame, evening primrose seeds, poppy seeds, golden and brown linseeds, nettle seeds and black sesame. I imagine quinoa, sesame and linseeds would be the easiest to get hold of, they usually sell them in health shops.

[LilyandDaisy]

Apr 16, 2020 1:10:02 GMT -8 jal said:

I don't know about the seeds you mentioned. I have the Rodipet Senior gerbil food which has quite a few unusual seeds including: clover seeds, camelina seeds?, quinoa, alfalfa seeds, red clover seeds, sesame, evening primrose seeds, poppy seeds, golden and brown linseeds, nettle seeds and black sesame. I imagine quinoa, sesame and linseeds would be the easiest to get hold of, they usually sell them in health shops.

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm trying to increase the range of treats I give my gerbils as they don't really like sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds and mealworms are so fattening.

I've decided to switch to Rodipet food too. I put my first order in earlier in the week. I like the fact that Rodipet include dried flowers, leaves and roots in their mixes, which is something the pet shop mixes never have.

[jal]

The Rodipet food smells really nice! It seems more natural than most gerbil mixes. I believe they may have changed it a bit recently, at least the senior version, as there seem to be fewer dried flowers and leaves in the mix now. My gerbils aren't too keen on them tbh, but they love all the different seeds and the dried raspberries. I sometimes give them a sprinkle of the Rosewood Nature's Salad and they do nibble on the leaves in that, though their favourite bits are the puffed wheat and maize.

[gerbilord]

i don't have the Rodipet mix, I use a food mix from an online shop called Erins ark: www.erinsarkpetshop.com/store/c4/GERBIL_FOOD.html
they have lots of seeds in the blend that sound interesting and the gerbils go crazy for: Canary Seed, Safflower Seed, Niger Seed, Red Millet, Yellow Millet, Organic Sesame Seed etc. and also contain all the dried flowers and leaves so its much better than those pellet foods you get from normal stores. before getting it I did think about rodipet mix and I think that's a great mix too!

[LilyandDaisy]

I've looked at the Erin's Ark mixes too, gerbilord , but my concern was that they don't come with any nutritional analysis or information, and even on emailing to enquire about it, they don't seem to be forthcoming with information (that is to say, they never replied). I like the concept of that kind of mix and they seem to have good reviews, but I'm very cautious about these homemade mixes after hearing about cases where hamsters got quite ill and some died from a different homemade mix being sold online, which turned out to be deficient in some vitamins. Of course it might be a perfectly balanced mix, but I don't really think they should be selling it unless they can prove it is balanced. 

Rodipet is a bit more expensive, but they have great customer service and have given detailed answers whenever I've had questions about their products, so I feel quite comfortable with their food mixes.

[Markpd]

Only just come across this thread, interesting because Erin's Ark food is exactly what I have bought my Gerbils!

The shop is (mostly or totally?) run by a young lady who started off on you tube (same name), even in her earlier videos she's surprisingly knowledgeable, I know later on she was going to do a vet/nursing course before moving to Scotland, although I don't know what happened about that in the end. Anyway, just a little background to her.
Going back to her Gerbil mix, I noticed that someone in her reviews asked the same question you did, I didn't see any reply. I suspect she doesn't know. I assume if we had the proportions of the various food items we could work out the nutritional info?

Regarding replies from her, I too thought she hadn't answered me about something, turns out she had, but it had been caught in the spam filter, did you check that? Oddly, the only reason I found out is that her 2nd email got through 1st without any intervention, weird!

[LilyandDaisy]

Aug 3, 2020 16:19:33 GMT -8 Markpd said:

Only just come across this thread, interesting because Erin's Ark food is exactly what I have bought my Gerbils!

The shop is (mostly or totally?) run by a young lady who started off on you tube (same name), even in her earlier videos she's surprisingly knowledgeable, I know later on she was going to do a vet/nursing course before moving to Scotland, although I don't know what happened about that in the end. Anyway, just a little background to her.
Going back to her Gerbil mix, I noticed that someone in her reviews asked the same question you did, I didn't see any reply. I suspect she doesn't know. I assume if we had the proportions of the various food items we could work out the nutritional info?

Regarding replies from her, I too thought she hadn't answered me about something, turns out she had, but it had been caught in the spam filter, did you check that? Oddly, the only reason I found out is that her 2nd email got through 1st without any intervention, weird!

I'm haven't heard of any anecdotal issues related to Erin's Ark food, so it will probably be fine for yours. I just tend to be cautious with food and prefer to support businesses who make that information available. Questions have been raised about these mixes in some of the hamster groups I'm in.

I checked my spam inbox but I didn't find anything there.