Making my own Gerbil Food

[Thea]

Ah okay, great

So sorry - emergency question! Is red millet the same as finger millet? I bought both red and white thinking red was finger millet as that's what google said, but on the nutrition calculator it says red and white have the same nutritional values..! Bit worried I've bought the wrong thing.

I've mixed everything else and even though the values will be a bit off without the red millet, I'll feed it to the gerbils tonight as they need food! If red millet and finger millet aren't the same I'll order some finger millet.

I'm really sorry - you must be tired of my questions!!

[LilyandDaisy]

No, finger millet is red in colour but it's a different species to "ordinary" proso millet or white/yellow millet, which is the most common kind of millet you'll find in pet shops. Millet is actually a general term for grasses that produce lots of small grains, rather than a specific species. It gets very confusing because all the millet varieties have multiple names, which is why I also put the scientific names. As far I can find, you get white/yellow proso millet which is the ordinary kind you'll find in most pet shops, but there's also a red cultivar of proso millet, which is why it's sometimes known as red millet. There may be slight nutritional differences between different cultivars of the same species, but they probably aren't greatly significant. However there is also red foxtail millet, which is a different species to proso millet, but which is sometimes sold as "red millet". I'm unsure which the "red millet" you buy from Rat Rations or any other shop would be, though proso millet and foxtail millet are not so very different nutritionally that it would be terrible if they got mixed up. Bear in mind that all the values in the database are approximations or averages anyway, because the actual nutritional value of any food depends on how and where it's been grown, so all the calculations are therefore also only approximations.

Finger millet is fairly distantly related to ordinary millet. It's hard to find and mainly only sold in Indian shops (where it's known as ragi). I found some on Ebay.

I'm not tired of the questions at all

[Thea]

Thank you so much. The red millet I bought looks very similar to the white millet, so I guess it's proso millet. That's true - of course it's only approximate, so I could try foxtail millet on the calculator? I do need the finger millet, so I'll look for some on eBay. Do your gerbils like it, if you've tried it with them? I've mixed everything else together so I really should get it, and I'm sure the gerbils will be fine until then, but I don't really want to order another thing they don't like!

[LilyandDaisy]

My gerbils eat finger millet, yes. Sometimes it can look like they're not eating it because they leave the empty seed husks behind, and the seed husks look almost identical to the whole seed.

[Thea]

Okay great - so far I've found generally the seeds other people's gerbils have been less keen on, so have mine. I'll order some tomorrow.

[mygerbilprince]

As a person who has experimented with making gerbil food, be sure you really want to do it and check to see if you would rather use a store bought food mix. It was around 50 USD for me to start my seed mix, also I find that some things run out sooner than others so you have to buy another bag of a certain thing, which can make it hard to stop making your own mix without having any scraps.

[Thea]

It's a little late for me to make the decision as it is fully made - but I completely agree. Mine cost around £40 if not a bit more (so around 55 dollars) which is more than I hoped, although being honest the ingredients could well last the gerbil's lifetime seeing how much I have left, and the many seeds I didn't use despite them liking them (because of proportions). Definitely is a big decision though, I'm still nervous that they aren't getting everything they need! Although I do feed a fair amount of other things as well as the daily mix (herbs, veggies and occasional treats) so it's never going to be perfect.

I'm not saying no to shop bought mixes at all, it would just be nice to use my own mix while I can. When the gerbils get older it may be that I change their diet, or of course if one has an illness that needs a dietary change.

The last ingredient (finger millet) came today, it was actually one of the main things in the mix at nearly 200g of it - but it made the proportions correct and the gerbils seem fine with it. The mix is all ready now and they seem to be getting on with it just fine I feel much better knowing every ingredient I have tried on them and they like each one. Thanks again to LilyandDaisy, and for other's advice. The gerbils and I are grateful for everyone on the forum!

[LilyandDaisy]

I think when I started mixing my own food I spent about £50 on ingredients, but that was for about 4kg of ingredients. I worked out my mix costs about £7.50 per 500g which is not too bad. It should be cheaper in future now that I know which ingredients the gerbils like.

You do have to take into account that the nutritional quality of dry ingredients declines over time, even when stored in an airtight container, and ideally they should be used up within a few months.

[Thea]

Ah okay, that isn't a bad price, really. I was thinking about using the Erin's Ark food in future, but some ingredients in there the gerbils don't like so much.

Oh, shame But makes sense. In future I'd definitely be spending less, because I bought a lot they didn't like and bought some very overpriced foods in the beginning that I later found for much cheaper! I'm not entirely sure HOW I can use it all in a few months, as I have quite a lot of some things. The lentils actually had already been in the cupboard for a while but sealed up - is that bad? I don't think they'd been there too long.

[LilyandDaisy]

Lentils in a sealed packet should be ok. You could freeze anything you don't think you can use up within a few months.

[Thea]

Ah okay, good to hear.

That's a relief about the food - I don't have loads of freezer space currently but I'll put in what I don't think I can use.