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Post by KatnissUna on Aug 27, 2022 14:00:41 GMT -8
I recently purchased two small salt licks for my gerbils, then realized I have no idea how to hang them :/
My friend had used pipe cleaners, but I am very hesitant to use anything with wire (plus the fuzzy part seems like a hazard), I would hate to see tails punctured or something.
The salt licks are probably two inches around, and they have a hole in the middle.
I have a large aquarium my gerbils are in, and the top is a piece of wood with holes drilled in it, so I don't think I could hang them from the lid. I have a few bracket things on the walls of the aquarium that I could probably try to use, but they're kind of low to the ground.
My main question is what is safe to use to hang the salt licks with, that they won't chew up too easily? I'm sure I can figure it out from there.
Any advice would be wonderful.
Thanks!
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Post by Markpd on Aug 29, 2022 3:37:18 GMT -8
Hmm, I'm not sure they should even have salt licks, my boys don't have any and I don't believe many other owners have them for the their gerbils either (although I do recall one owner installing one when their gerbil had kidney problems, and the gerbil seemed to appreciate it, I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not though). Looking at the safe/unsafe food list it mentions for various foods to avoid salted versions, so I would say they shouldn't have the salt licks. Out of interest, what made you decide to get the salt licks for them? What do other people think? (I see we have nothing in the FAQ about this, so I would like to add specific advise about salt licks).
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Aug 29, 2022 4:43:36 GMT -8
I generally avoid giving salt licks just because they're unnecessary if the diet is complete and in theory could be harmful if they overused them and ingested too much salt. In practice that rarely seems to happen.
I do have some lumps of pink himalaya salt which I occasionally offer a sick rodent in case they fancy the sodium. Sick gerbils sometimes crave salt but whether it's good for then is another matter. My gerbil Lily craved salt when she had congestive heart failure but salt actually makes CHF worse. So it's something to be quite careful with.
I do give my gerbils calcium-based mineral stones and antler chews which are also controversial but I haven't noticed any ill effects so far. I think calcium stones have less potential to be harmful than salt stones because calcium absorption is regulated by hormones and most animals only absorb as much as they need, the rest being excreted in stool.
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Post by KatnissUna on Aug 29, 2022 8:24:48 GMT -8
Hmm, I'm not sure they should even have salt licks, my boys don't have any and I don't believe many other owners have them for the their gerbils either (although I do recall one owner installing one when their gerbil had kidney problems, and the gerbil seemed to appreciate it, I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not though). Looking at the safe/unsafe food list it mentions for various foods to avoid salted versions, so I would say they shouldn't have the salt licks. Out of interest, what made you decide to get the salt licks for them? What do other people think? (I see we have nothing in the FAQ about this, so I would like to add specific advise about salt licks).
I have heard that salt (of certain variants) is a very good mineral for pretty much any animals, so I figured they can't be bad for them. I could be wrong though and will definitely look into it more when it comes to gerbils. I had watched them while I had it in their tank, and they seemed to really like it at least. I had a salt lick before, and I didn't hang it, and it must have gotten wet or something, because I couldn't find it anymore after that. |
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), late 70s
