24 gerbil treats

[gerbilord]

I know its early and also a whacky idea, but I've seen some people make gerbil advent calendars...
You can buy them from pets at home and other shops where they are ready-made, but the treats inside are all processed and don't sound too good or healthy, so I've decided to fill my own this year, but I need 24 treat ideas...

At the moment I have:

-sunflower seeds
-pumpkin seeds
-meal worms
-dried flowers/herbs
-walnuts (halved)
-pine nuts
-almonds
-goji berries
-dried carrots
-oats
-homemade *healthy* treats - made them before and they loved them :)
-selective naturals treats
-pea flakes

Any more ideas? It would have to be dried if it was food, as I'm not keeping the calendar in the fridge, I'm also thinking of adding toys as well (toilet tubes, safe tree branches etc)

Thanks :)

[betty]

What a cute idea!

Millet piece?
Dog kibble (mine love it)
Dried apple/pear
Sultana
Whole hazelnut in a shell

[Pim]

Pine nut
whole peanut in shell
dried fruit (mine love blueberry and apple)
Cheerios
Natural Peanut butter dog treats (mine love)
Natural Peanut butter

[betty]

Ooh yes - mine love a plain Shreddie (other malted wheat breakfast pieces are available)

[gerbilord]

Finished the list:

-sunflower seeds
-pumpkin seeds
-walnuts
-pine nuts
-raisins
-pea flakes
-selective natural's treats
-homemade hay treats
-toilet tube with hay inside/seeds/tissue paper
-dried herbs/flowers
-dried carrots
-meal worms
-peanuts (whole)
-dried fruit
-shreddies/cheerios
-peanut butter treats
-millet piece
-whole hazelnut
-sultana
-star-shaped chew toy
-toilet tube cut out in christmassy shapes
-apple sticks
-cherry tree branch and leaves
-goji berry

(in case anyone wants to do the same)

(The fill-able advent calendar is from hobby craft but you can find them anywhere and also make your own if you want.)

[betty]

Thanks for sharing - I SO want to see some of the finished products!

I remember making sinple open-door picture advent calendars before for friends - but haven't made a container one?

However, 'lightbulb moment' a friend gave me a teabag one last year with a tiny carboard box for each day all nested in a solid carboard frame with the festive image on the backs of the cubes - ie open each one and turn it around for the christmas image to gradually appear.

However, I am think thing the tiny boxes could easily be made out of toilet roll innards - and the whole display can be chewed to pieces as part of the fun?

Let me see if I can find a link to the calender for you...

[betty]

Yay - it was like this - but mine wasn't this colourful!!!

Christmas Tea Shop

[Markpd]

Lol, sweet idea

[LilyandDaisy]

According to egerbil, cherry wood isn't safe so personally I'd leave it out.

www.egerbil.com/safe_woods_for_gerbils

[gerbilord]

Oh really? I'll swap that with something else then... Maybe bramble or hazel...

[betty]

I'm in two minds about cherry wood as it is on safe lists for other jirds on german forums - but has never been listed as safe for gerbils (?) so yes, if you can get fresh hazel or hawthorn (only bramble leaves would be suitable - and even they have spines on the back of them!)) from a local hedgrow - they would love it anyway - so best play safe where you can I suppose?

[gerbilord]

definitely. We have quite a lot of diversity around here so I'm sure I can find some safe options.
Interesting about the cherry though, I wonder why it is unsafe for gerbils...

Now that I think about it, I have a fig tree in the garden, a grape vine, and a rose bush (obviously won't use the rose for the same reason as the bramble) but I have seen grape as listed as safe, so I might try that out.
Do you know if fig is considered safe/unsafe?

[betty]

Good question about the fig - never really seen it on any safe/unsafe lists recently (I tend to stick with all the woods I already know as safe) - however figs are part of the ficus family which are usually deemed unsafe as they are very 'sappy' - but sometimes there is a species in every family that is different to the rule?

I wouldn't 'recommend' it - and certainly not fresh if you were going to try it - perhaps oven drying it to be sure it had no sap left would be a first cautionary step (unless you hear other people feed it all the time and have done for years).

Grapes, their leaves and their vines are all safe - I feed them all the time from my own plant - and commercial raisins and sultanas.

Rose petals (fresh and dried) and hips (dried) are also safe and something I have fed for years - although I only feed dried hips from commercial sources as I have always been concerned about the itching hairs inside that I have never bothered to find out how to remove? I have never collected and dried my own rosehips for my gerbils - perhaps a challenge for this autumn?

[tanzanyte]

I love this idea. Thank you for making a list. The Works have some wooden ones on 2 for £20 which may work out cheaper than Hobbycraft wooden ones, and they also have cardboard options.

Betty, when you say a whole hazelnut do you mean in the shell or just the whole nut? We have a hazelnut tree and I've managed to grab some before Mr Squirrel took them all. However my girls weren't sure what to do with it even though I cracked it slightly, I was hoping they would be able to chew at the gap to get the nut, but wasn't sure if I was being optimistic? I was hoping it would be a bit of enrichment.

[betty]

Whole or in a shell (it just takes them AGES to chew off the shell though so that gift can last through to New Year!).

All of mine eventually got it and chewed a hole - maybe it is a boredom thing - they don't want to get in immediately - but eventually it annoys them enough?