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Post by therealsmith on Jul 17, 2021 3:38:42 GMT -8
Hi all,
New gerbil owner here. I've had my gerbils about a week and am trying to encourage them to get used to me and walk onto my hand - giving treats seem the best way to do this.
Unfortunately the only treat they really seem to love is sunflower seeds - they ignore carrots and the small baked strawberry treats I got from the pet shop. I've read that you shouldn't give gerbils 'too many' sunflower seeds, but no idea what that means! I assume I should avoid filling their food bowl with them, but is it OK to give a couple of seeds every day? One a day? One seed a week?
Any guidance appreciated - thanks a lot!
Adam
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Post by betty on Jul 17, 2021 7:58:34 GMT -8
I would say in a daily serving of my gerbil food there would be anything up to 5 or so sunflower seeds anyway - so if you take all the sunflower seeds out of your food before feeding and then give them while taming - you are as good as even anyway on a daily basis.
If your gerbil is normal and healthy otherwise, then a few weeks worth of slightly too many for bonding and then back down to normal from then on; again, isn't going to cause a massive problem.
I think the worry about too many sunflower seeds overall - all the time - is harmful long-term in the same sense that obesity and high-fat diets are in older humans.
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 17, 2021 8:12:29 GMT -8
Yes, I wouldn't worry too much about the sunflower seeds, but you could also try rolled oats, cheerios (broken into halves or quarters) or flax seeds.
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Post by therealsmith on Jul 20, 2021 10:51:50 GMT -8
Thank you both, thats really helpful! I've started removing sunflower seeds from their food mix to compensate.
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