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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 30, 2022 14:48:39 GMT -8
Good to hear that Mali has gained weight Thea . Is she a small gerbil in general or just skinny? Astra and Twiglet are surprising me with how small they are. Astra is 47g and Twiglet is 52g, and they are 4 months. They are also both very small, more like 8 week old pups to look at. However they seem healthy and happy and they eat well. Astra is obsessed with the wheel which I don't think helps. I don't know if I have the heart to make her take a break from it but perhaps I should. They also haven't gone into heat yet, that I have seen (gerbils aren't usually very discreet about it). I wonder if, like in humans, it could be they reach a certain weight before they start ovulating? Tilly went into heat quite young at 6.5 weeks, when she was probably about 55-60g (I can't access my database at the moment). Hopefully Astra and Twiglet are just genetically small. Tilly now weighs more than Astra and Twiglet put together! |
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Post by Markpd on Jul 30, 2022 16:14:02 GMT -8
Wow! That's quite a weight difference! lol
I recall Avon was obsessed with the wheel in his younger days, I think on just a couple of days I did remove it at night time as I was worried he'd run himself to exhaustion, although he never did.
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Thea
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Post by Thea on Aug 3, 2022 0:24:24 GMT -8
LilyandDaisy - Mali is a small gerbil in general rather than just being skinny which definitely contributes to her low weight. She is skinny, but not unhealthily skinny. Pippa and Mali were very similar weights at Astra and Twiglet's age to them - I think they're genetically small as they're definitely a lot smaller than Rolo and Storme were, so perhaps Astra and Twiglet are, too? Mali still looks almost pup-like, but I guess that might be the way for a long time!
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Post by Markpd on Aug 17, 2022 10:31:03 GMT -8
Added 2 lots of measurements, Avon's weight seems to have stabilised, but Blake has put on a little weight again  Avon ... date .... Blake 63g .... 15/08/20 .. 65g 70g .... 01/09/20 .. 65g 74g .... 22/09/20 .. 70g 74g .... 07/10/20 .. 73g 76g .... 20/10/20 .. 76g 78g .... 09/11/20 .. 79g 81g .... 24/11/20 .. 84g 81g .... 14/12/20 .. 83g 93g .... 12/01/21 .. 93g 93g .... 03/02/21 .. 92g 94g .... 26/02/21 .. 91g 98g .... 15/03/21 .. 95g 107g .. 06/04/21 .. 102g (cut treats from 3 to 2 per day) 108g .. 20/04/21 .. 101g 112g .. 04/05/21 .. 105g (cut feed to 15g/day, may have only been a tiny cut) 106g .. 18/05/21 .. 108g 99g ... 01/06/21 .. 107g (cut feed to 12g/day, increased Avon's treats to 4) 99g ... 16/06/21 .. 107g 99g ... 30/06/21 .. 104g (declanned this date!) 93g ... 14/07/21 ... 95g
97 .... 22/07/21 ... 94 97 .... 28/07/21 ... 95 92 .... 11/08/21 ... 96 90 .... 25/08/21 ... 97 (increased feed to 14g/day, been unable to feed Avon 4 treats/day, he ignored them!) 92 .... 16/09/21 ... 99 93 .... 30/09/21 ... 99 95 .... 15/10/21 ... 96 (declanned again 3/10) 95 .... 27/10/21 ... 95 91 .... 10/11/21 ... 93 (Mostly been able to feed Avon treats again, but only if I drop them in front of him, he won't take them from my fingers! lol) 96 .... 24/11/21 ... 96 92 .... 09/12/21 ... 97 97 .... 24/12/21 .. 102 (Avon is beginning to take treats more often from my fingers again  ) 98 .... 07/01/22 .. 100 103 .. 22/01/22 .. 107 107 .. 07/02/22 .. 114 108 .. 21/02/22 .. 116 104 .. 07/03/22 .. 120 (Cut Blake's feed to 5g/day) 113 .. 21/03/22 .. 120 120 .. 04/04/22 .. 110 (Cut Avon's treats to 2, and feed to 5g) 117 .. 18/04/22 .. 115 110 .. 11/05/22 .. 117 (forgot to set a 2 week reminder on my phone! Hence overshot  ) 111 .. 25/05/22 .. 121 (03/06 cut Blake's feed to 4g/day)
115 .. 22/06/22 .. 115 (as above, forgot again! Cut Avon's feed to 4g/day). 108 .. 06/07/22 .. 109 105 .. 20/07/22 .. 107 109 .. 03/08/22 .. 111
109 .. 17/08/22 .. 115
106 .. 31/08/22 .. 110 103 .. 15/09/22 .. 112
99 .... 29/09/22 .. 113 94 .... 13/10/22 .. 113 98 .... 01/11/22 .. 112 97 .... 15/11/22 .. 116 87 .... 29/11/22 .. 105 (found Avon severely ill the day before, see my 'Avon ill' thread for more info). 88 .... 13/12/22 .. 108 ........ 27/12/22 .. 108 (after apparently making a full recovery, Avon passed away suddenly on the 26th  ) |
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Post by tanzanyte on Aug 21, 2022 11:36:17 GMT -8
Have you still cut down on the food or did you increase it slightly hence the weight gain?
Max was 116g at his heaviest the other month, but we managed to get him back down to 108g. Then we've been away so my stepdaughter has been looking after them and he's now a trim 103g - I'm sure it won't last now that we're home. I think we just get sucked in too easily by them both standing there with their pleading eyes.
Hattie (our newest member) is a teeny weeny 60g. I'm wondering if she's the age the previous owners said when they handed her over, but I know Thea's Mali is similar so I'm hoping she is 1.5-2 years and just a small gerbil. We'll just have to see how long she stays at such a small weight. I don't know if doing a split cage makes them put on weight given that there isn't much for them to do or much room, but I'll keep tabs on it once I start the process.
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Post by Markpd on Aug 23, 2022 12:22:56 GMT -8
As above Avon and Blake have been on 4g/day since June, but I'm more certain now that Blake has been able to gain weight because he spends longer in the sand and playpen where I scatter some left over seeds from my bread. I think he's hoovering most of it up! lol, looks like I will have to stop that again (or at least greatly reduce it). And yes their pleading eyes are hard to resist  , and with Blake he does the extra cute thing of tilting his head sidewards a little and putting one front paw on the divider (to be fair that's usually how asks to come out, rather than for food, but still  ). |
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Post by tanzanyte on Aug 23, 2022 14:18:54 GMT -8
Oooh they are sneaky! So it would appear it's definitely treat based weight gain for both of us then.
I give Mymble half the amount of food that I give the boys and when I clear out her outside enclosure she has soooo much food stashed I'm beginning to think she lives on air. I put half an inner tube from a roll of fabric that runs behind her cage and she hides everything in there. It takes us ages to clear it and sort the food out again. Yet the boys eat everything and have no stash.
Ah the head tilt - that's totally a winning move. Ours don't do that, they'd likely be even bigger if they did. I get the paws up and the leaning out looking around as if to say where is it. I seriously need to get tougher!
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Post by Markpd on Aug 25, 2022 14:17:43 GMT -8
Lol  |
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Sept 23, 2022 14:23:06 GMT -8
Astra and Twiglet (who I mentioned were quite small before) are growing into perfectly-proportioned, healthy-looking gerbils. Astra is 63g and Twiglet 72g now, and they are 5 months old. Astra is very round and fluffy and Twiglet is long and sleek.
I'm slightly mortified to say that Tilly, who gained a lot of weight during the introduction to Wispa, peaked at 118g! I finally moved them into their 120cm enclosure a few days ago and she has already shed 9g. I think I would be happy with her around 95-100g as she is a big and muscular gerbil, and the chunky look suits her (not 118g of chunky though). Also I would prefer her to always be a good few grams bigger than Wispa for clan stability reasons.
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Post by Markpd on Sept 26, 2022 11:25:04 GMT -8
Heheh, she did put on weight! Good to hear updates on other gerbils weights  |
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Post by Markpd on Sept 29, 2022 10:14:08 GMT -8
3 updates to the table I posted on Aug 17th, Avon seems to be drifting downwards a little atm, whilst Blake has crept up very slightly, but that might be just natural variation? FTR, I no longer dump spare seeds from my bread all into the play pens, a little goes into each pen and some into Avon's 1/2 of the cage.
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Sept 29, 2022 10:24:53 GMT -8
I think their weights can naturally vary by about 5g without necessarily indicating a real loss or gain. Both Avon and Blake are about what I'd expect for middle-aged males.
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Post by Markpd on Nov 30, 2022 12:17:32 GMT -8
4 more updates since last time, Avon was pretty steady up to the 15/11, then with his recent illness his weight (unsurprisingly) dropped off sharply. And that figure was just after he ate loads whilst at the vet! Atm he seems to be eating normally again . Curiously Blake dropped off a similar amount, but he's just fine! |
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Post by Markpd on Dec 29, 2022 17:44:25 GMT -8
Updated the table again, as reported elsewhere, Avon passed away suddenly on the 26th , after apparently making a full recovery and being fine just 2 days before. I do wonder what his weight would've been, but of course I didn't think to weigh him then (probably would've been a fairly accurate weighing though as I don't think he'd long passed). Blake seems to be holding steady (despite him being a bit ill 1 evening a couple of weeks ago!). |
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Thea
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Post by Thea on Jan 2, 2023 11:08:13 GMT -8
Sorry about Avon's passing Glad that Blake's weight is steady, hope he's ok now after being ill? I haven't weighed my girls for a while actually so I really should. I think they've both gained a bit of weight though - they seem healthy but I've been feeding them a bit more and they also kick bedding into their wheel so often that they don't get much of a chance to go on it! They were both very light though so I think that's not a problem. |
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), late 70s
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, and with Blake he does the extra cute thing of tilting his head sidewards a little and putting one front paw on the divider (to be fair that's usually how asks to come out, rather than for food, but still 
).