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Post by yeti218 on Mar 1, 2021 8:02:20 GMT -8
This is such an amazing idea, I love it, can’t wait to see what happens. Is there any risk a gerbil might overindulge on the fresh plants and end up with an upset stomach or something? I haven’t ever used plants in my tank before for this reason, but I haven’t read anywhere that this would be a risk so maybe I’m being overly cautious! I think this is a risk, yes, I’m just going to put the garden in their playpen and supervise, if they’re eating more than I’m comfortable with, I’ll remove it.
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Post by tanzanyte on Mar 2, 2021 4:42:19 GMT -8
This is why I've started small with Pepsi. He cannot leave any plant alone. It would be his idea of heaven, but after a few minutes I think I'd have to take it/him away. It really does depend on their personalities though as Max could take it or leave it and would definitely be on a path of destruction rather than eating in something like Yeti's amazing mini garden.
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Post by yeti218 on Mar 2, 2021 7:20:34 GMT -8
Yeah I dont mind destruction. I'm going to let my hamster in as well (before the gerbils trash the place), so between the 3 of them I expect someone will enjoy it.
And it wasnt expensive or difficult to grow so I thought it worth the experiment.
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Post by Markpd on Mar 4, 2021 11:31:50 GMT -8
I was wondering that too. Cool little garden anyway yeti218
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Post by yeti218 on Mar 9, 2021 7:05:49 GMT -8
This was a bit of a bust.
I put the garden in the playpen and let the hamster and the gerbils all have a few tries. They all did a little exploring, had a munch on some sprouts, but lost interest quickly, usually moving on within 30 sec - 1 min. The gerbils didn’t really do any digging or tearing up plants. Obviously I had hoped they’d enjoy it more and I’d get to watch the gerbils do some serious deforestation, but it was a low cost and low effort experiment.
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Post by Markpd on Mar 9, 2021 12:02:55 GMT -8
Hmm, interesting, oh well, good to know!
Perhaps gerbils will prefer them when they've seeded and ripened??
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Post by tanzanyte on Mar 9, 2021 14:40:00 GMT -8
That's such a shame, you'd think between the hamsters and the gerbils that it would have been received well by one of them. Do you think it was more down to an alien environment? Have you tried them in there again?
I'm still growing my little seedling nasturtiums and pot marigolds, but I'm now wondering how well that will work. Although I guess I'm doing it more for Pepsi to nibble as he has a plant fetish, rather than any deforestation and fun. I'm just wondering if it's better to put it in the play area whilst they are still shoots rather than wait until they are larger plants. Might have to do several more pots to see if there's a preference.
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Post by yeti218 on Mar 9, 2021 20:03:44 GMT -8
Yeah I left the garden in the playpen for a while, and they all had 3-4 chances to run around the playpen and explore the garden at will. They did all seem to get more interested in it each time I let them in, but still pretty lukewarm on the whole thing. It just couldn’t compete with chewing cardboard. They did have a bit of a munch though. The oats / cat grass seemed to favourite item.
I definitely think I waited too long to let them in. I’d be interested to see if plants weren’t so high and thick if it’d make a difference. Maybe I would leave areas without seeds as pathways if I did it again.
I’ll probably grow some little pots of millet, chia, flax, oats and put those in the pen earlier. Just feeling like a smaller scale attempt is what I’m more interested in right now.
the whole thing has been trampled and died. I wasn’t watering it for the last while because I didn’t want them digging in wet soil.
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Post by tanzanyte on Mar 10, 2021 13:53:01 GMT -8
It's definitely worth another go with a slightly different plan. If you know they like the shoots etc then that makes it quicker and easier. You could also build areas up and put logs in for them to go under, and make it totally different terrain rather than flat and forest like. I guess that's the main issue with having to dry it out, it's not like they are the type of plants to thrive in drought conditions. If you don't have so many plants in next time you won't need to water it all so much and it should dry out quicker without having to withhold water for several days before letting them loose.
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Post by spoink47 on Jul 24, 2021 23:37:58 GMT -8
Garden has grown really well. I stopped watering it 4 days ago in order to let the soil dry out before I let any rodents in. The soil I used retains moisture way too effectively, so looks like it’ll still be a few days before I can let anyone in, but I’m posting an update anyway. so I took a storage bin and washed it, then I lined the bottom with some gravel (which I also had washed). For soil, I couldn’t find any fertilizer free soil at the garden center, so I ended up using a product from the pet store called “coconut soil bedding”, which looks like soil but is made from coconuts and is sold as a substrate for reptiles. I planted chia, millet, flax and cat grass (which I think it just oats, actually). I had talked about using some other rodent safe plants and herbs, but then I realized that I need the plant and the seed to be safe to eat, in case some seeds don’t sprout and the rodents eat them. There’s not a lot of information about whether herb seeds are safe to eat, so I avoided those. anyway, here’s a photo of the garden on day one and on day nine. Will post again when they finally get a chance to explore / destroy it. photos are great! love your work! how are they doin' now?
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Post by yeti218 on Jul 25, 2021 13:02:23 GMT -8
Gerbils and hamsters are all doing well.
Havent tried out a second garden yet, should probably get working on that soon though!
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Post by gerbilpower on Aug 23, 2021 5:59:31 GMT -8
Looks great!
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