Gerbils not interested in animal protein

[Juli]

Our gerbils have shown zero interest in any animal protein I've offered them - live mealworms (actually, Hazel ate a couple early on but has shown no interest since then), live Dubia roaches (we have a bearded dragon, so keep a colony of roaches for her), chicken, egg - they're just not interested. Is it maybe just because they will never have seen any of that before so don't recognise it as food?

Any suggestions for what else I can try?

Their general feed is Erin's Ark Mega Gerbil blend, which I got after seeing Markpd recommend it and it is sooo lovely   Before that we had Gerry Gerbil, but they weren't really that interested. Now that we have the Erin's Ark food, we can put some on our hands and they come right up and eat it out of our hands enthusiastically  

[LilyandDaisy]

You could try waxworms. They're very popular with my gerbils. Very fatty though, so don't feed too many.

Gerbils can be unwilling to try new foods. I find if you repeatedly offer them they sometimes eventually decide to try it.

Generally, if their main diet is varied and balanced and they have animal protein available if they want it, I wouldn't worry if they don't eat it. They're unlikely to be missing out on anything critical.

[betty]

Yes, mine will always choose a wax worm over a mealworm or a roach - although they did use to love the locusts for sure...

I find my normal gerbils are a lot less fussed over animal protein sources than my duprasi are. Duprasi can smell a morio worm at 50 paces - and are 0-60 in less than the time your brain takes to command your fingers to let go!

[Juli]

Thank you both. That’s very helpful, and interesting about the difference with the duprasi.