Store bought food? Millet?

[pixie22]

There’s so much conflicting info out there on what to feed gerbils. I’m trying my very best to give my gerbils what they need but I’m still having issues. Currently my gerbils are on Kaytee Forti Diet pro, with some dried mealworms mixed in, along with Timothy hay. I’ve been noticing some of my gerbils having loose stools and some arent looking very good on it. If you guys have any links to a good gerbil mix (either a recipe for making it homemade or a store bought mix), I’d greatly appreciate it!
I recently bought a bag of millet meant for birds which I read is good for them. I’m also thinking about switching to orchard grass hay unless you guys suggest sticking with Timothy.
I do have pregnant, nursing, and baby gerbils here so I need diets to meet those requirements while also not making my boys too chubby haha.

[tanzanyte]

Is it definitely down to the food or could there be something else causing these symptoms? I know Tyzzers disease and e-coli are mentioned with diarrhoea and are serious, but does anyone know of anything else? Are you able to get to a vet to get them checked out and make sure it is just food related?
It seems odd with no fresh foods in their diet as this is the usual suspect for loose stools.

There's a few threads here for homemade food:
gerbilforum.proboards.com/thread/34620/homemade-food
gerbilforum.proboards.com/thread/31802/food-recipe-healthy
gerbilforum.proboards.com/thread/28407/planned-homemade-mix-feedback

The latter one has a bit of discussion regarding rice in their diet, so you may want to remove or reduce that.
If you type homemade food in the search box it'll come up with quite a few threads if the 3 above aren't quite what you were looking for. However with the wide variety of ages and stages you need to cater for you may need to add this to your search.

I've used meadow and Timothy hay, I think it's down to personal preference, although they mostly chew it up for substrate so this shouldn't affect their stools.

[betty]

Millet is great for energy and pups - I use it all the time for mine.

Timothy hay is low in sugar (for a grass) than other grasses so that is why is is prefered in small animals I believe - but yes - as said - gerbils don't really eat loads of it anyway - so not sure if that would change if you offered a more sweeter grass? Great for teeth and fibre though.

If most of your gerbils aren't looking how you want them on the foods that you are feeding them - then yes, I would suggest a change for sure. Even if the issue is elsewhere in their environment - changing their food shouldn't make things worse at least. For the best quality remember to only buy from stores that look like you would eat food from them - if they store their food badly, have food in the windows or sell the food outside; have split bags taped up; or have open sacks for help-yourself - the nutrients in these foods will be compromised and whatever it says on the packaging won't hold true. This is why I am cautious with whole brand 'it's a bad batch' as often the same food is stored completely differently by the stores selling it.

What else are you putting in their enclosure - food, treats, toys and substrate - as any of these things can cause bad condition or loose stools.

And finally - I make up different mixes from my same ingredients for my different animals - and have labelled tubs for each. So from the same base I have a mum and pup mix and a standard adult mix. All the small more-nutritios bits for the pups usualy go in when dad is on play time - so mum and pups get first dibs (I scatter feed it right by the nest). Also giving dad bigger things to eat while he is out makes him less hungry for when he goes back in - but yes, youusually always have chubby dads - they don't miss a trick while they are stil with the pups. Once they are out after the second litter is born - thye soon lose it again...