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Post by WinterWhiteout on Nov 30, 2021 7:36:14 GMT -8
I’ve been noticing recently that my brother isn’t paying much attention to his gerbils. They get food and water, but he doesn’t feed them every day. He just fills up their bowl and refills it when it gets empty. And for a while he was borrowing my food because his gerbil food was ‘way back in his closet and it would take a long time to get it’. They look a little fat. They have a nice niteangel wheel that my parents bought for him. He barely cleans it and-here’s the sad part- the gerbils can barely even use it because it gets pushed against the side of the tank. They try to use it and it makes a squeaky sound you can hear all the way across the house. I don’t think he fixes it or even notices it. He rarely handles them. They have wood bridges to chew but he doesn’t give tp and paper towel rolls often. Their teeth are much longer than my gerbils’. He used to take better care of them and handle them more but it’s just the minimum now. I’d say something but both he and my parents would get mad and feel like I was trying to make him feel bad. Help please! I feel bad for those poor gerbils
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Post by barryozzy on Nov 30, 2021 8:22:31 GMT -8
It sounds like he may have gotten bored of them . I recently realized that I too, have been spending less time with my gerbils and too much time on the internet. I've been trying to rearrange my schedule to fix that now. Maybe you could suggest something new and fun for them to do together? Now that winter is coming up, you could suggest he make gerbil snowflakes. Fold a sheet of paper symmetrically a few times and give it to the gerbils. Then take it out after they have partially chewed it and unfold it. He'll have to watch them to make sure they don't chew it all up, and then he can hang it up as decoration
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Nov 30, 2021 10:06:42 GMT -8
Gerbils don't necessarily need to be fed every day. I feed mine whenever their previously scattered food is gone, which is every 2-3 days.
I would suggest trying to work out a way that the wheel won't get buried or knocked so often. Perhaps you could hang it from the top of the tank, or if your tank is long enough, have a shallow end for the wheel. If the tank is tall enough, you could put it on a tall platform.
Maybe you could collect cardboard for him and give it to him as a "gift" for his gerbils every few days. It won't take him much effort to just put it in the tank.
I would hope that if you refused to give him your gerbils' food, he would go to the effort to find his own food, rather than letting the gerbils starve?
The gerbil snowflakes idea is great. I used to make those when I had my first gerbils. I also think the patterns they make look like those inkblot psychological tests.
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Thea
Member
Posts: 1,012
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Post by Thea on Nov 30, 2021 10:28:01 GMT -8
I'm the same barryozzy - not using enough of the time that I'm free with the gerbils! I like the ideas too (from both barryozzy and LilyandDaisy) --- WinterWhiteout, that's a real shame Sometimes it's easy to forget that pets have things they NEED just like we do. As for is gerbils looking a little chubby, perhaps you can gently suggest to your brother that he scatter feeds his gerbils? This would perhaps encourage him to feed them more regularly, but also mean that the gerbils have to forage for their food, preventing them from eating when they're bored as a habit. The long teeth is especially dangerous. After having a gerbil with teeth problems (had to be cut many times) I do everything I can to prevent that from happening again. Is there anything you can do for your brother? Example: Giving toilet rolls to his gerbils too, feeding them when he doesn't etc.? I can't see why he'd say no if he isn't looking after them properly. Best of luck
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Post by WinterWhiteout on Nov 30, 2021 11:13:38 GMT -8
Thanks for all the suggestions guys the snowflake idea is cool, and the time is coming soon when I boil sticks for my gerbs, so I’ll make extra for his. I think he’s kinda in the mindset of ‘chew toys as treats’ right now : / I have given him stuff before, like sticks and some paper lunch bags, and haven’t seen them so I’m guessing he gave them to them. Food wise, he fills their bowl up to the top so it lasts them about I believe a week at least. He did find his food bag yesterday finally.
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Post by Markpd on Dec 2, 2021 3:34:40 GMT -8
He used to take better care of them and handle them more but it’s just the minimum now. I’d say something but both he and my parents would get mad and feel like I was trying to make him feel bad.
I don't really understand why your parents would get mad at you, but I'll take your word for it. Couldn't you word it diplomatically so it seems more like you're trying to encourage him to look after them more?, rather than criticising him for looking after them less? e.g something like, 'I think they'd enjoy the paper snowflakes to chew as extra activity' (or whichever words you'd choose).
If he's really lost interest in them, would it be possible for you to adopt them? If you're willing and able to?
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Post by WinterWhiteout on Dec 2, 2021 14:45:01 GMT -8
What I mean markpd is that I tried to help hand tame his gerbs for him and used sunflower seeds in the process, he got mad and I got chewed out for it. He has started getting better, I haven’t heard their wheel squeak as much and he tried the snowflake idea (so did I!). Fortunately he isn’t bored to that point yet, but if he ever is to the point of giving them up, I’d gladly take them. I know what to do now though, he usually is motivated when he sees me holding my gerbils outside the cage and stuff like that. (for instance he saw me doing the snowflake thing and was interested.) If it ever gets worse I will write a paper essay about it, which has always worked for me.
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Post by yeti218 on Dec 5, 2021 9:33:22 GMT -8
Glad to hear you've had some success. Nice work.
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