|
Post by LilyandDaisy on Oct 10, 2023 6:12:53 GMT -8
A switch in Twiglet's brain has flipped this week as she senses the onset of winter.
Normally I scatter their food over their platforms, and they just eat as much as they want and leave the rest, so their platforms are usually covered in various seeds, which I top up as required. Yesterday I entered the room to find the platforms completely cleared of seeds and both gerbils sitting there looking very expectant. This can only mean one thing! The switch in Twiglet's brain that tells her to frantically hoard food in preparation for winter has flipped and she is now in "gather every seed you can find and hide it" mode. I have noticed with other gerbils that this can sometimes happen around October time and it seems to happen very abruptly.
I imagine it could be something to do with the shortening days. Gerbils are somewhat insulated from the dropping temperatures, living indoors, and it's been warm this week anyway, but it's possible that when daylight hours drop to a certain level it has some effect on a gerbil's brain which gives them this urge to collect food.
I always find it amazing to see these little remnants of wild-like behaviour in captivity.
Twiglet also carries seeds in her mouth when she's hoarding, which is a behaviour I first noticed in my past gerbil Lily and I thought it was very unique at the time but it turns out it's not that uncommon. My past gerbil Tilly also used to do it.
Has anyone else noticed any seasonal hoarding (or other) behaviour in their gerbils?
|
|
|
Post by TJ's Rodent Ranch on Oct 10, 2023 9:04:53 GMT -8
Very interesting! I was wondering why the food bowl was suddenly emptying so quickly... all my gerbils (9, plus 7 pups) have been hoarding their seeds in various places, and I wasn't sure why. I guess it just didn't come across my mind that they were hoarding for the winter. I've also noticed they're a little less active, digging much deeper holes and building more secure, warmer nests. I was actually just thinking it's time for me to insulate their tank. My gerbils are in a small room that has a very large window. Two of the tanks are set in that window - great in the summer, they get lots of light and sunbathing, but very cold in the winter. I have to stuff a sleeping bag or warm blanket between the two tanks and the window, which seems to do the trick. They've all slowed down and seem to be conserving their energy, only using it much to hoard food.
I also find it very interesting when wild traits and instincts carry over into captivity, always really cool to see.
|
|
|
Post by LilyandDaisy on Oct 10, 2023 16:04:14 GMT -8
Very interesting! I was wondering why the food bowl was suddenly emptying so quickly... all my gerbils (9, plus 7 pups) have been hoarding their seeds in various places, and I wasn't sure why. I guess it just didn't come across my mind that they were hoarding for the winter. I've also noticed they're a little less active, digging much deeper holes and building more secure, warmer nests. I was actually just thinking it's time for me to insulate their tank. My gerbils are in a small room that has a very large window. Two of the tanks are set in that window - great in the summer, they get lots of light and sunbathing, but very cold in the winter. I have to stuff a sleeping bag or warm blanket between the two tanks and the window, which seems to do the trick. They've all slowed down and seem to be conserving their energy, only using it much to hoard food. I also find it very interesting when wild traits and instincts carry over into captivity, always really cool to see. That's interesting. Mine often go very puffy when it's cold which is really cute. They always hide away on overcast days too, though I don't know why. Twiglet is being unusually outgoing at the moment, which I'm pretty sure is because she wants me to feed her. She was actually fed three times yesterday, plus generous treats. I felt sorry for her because she was acting like she was half-starved. I'm going to start hiding her food so she has to forage for it more.
|
|
|
Post by TJ's Rodent Ranch on Oct 10, 2023 17:53:08 GMT -8
Yes, that's actually something that I forgot to mention. Mine have probably doubled in size (from their fur puffing up) recently. It's always very interesting to see their behavior change throughout the season. I've always been, I wouldn't say curious but perhaps... amazed at how a gerbil can be kept in captivity from birth, and still these wild instincts show through. That's probably a question/answer better fit for a scientist, it's just always been rather fascinating to me.
|
|
|
Post by LilyandDaisy on Oct 12, 2023 11:07:25 GMT -8
I gave the gerbils a massive sorghum spray. It should keep Twiglet busy for a while. She fills her mouth with as many seeds as she can, until her cheeks bulge, and then runs underground to store them.
|
|
|
Post by betty on Oct 17, 2023 9:18:27 GMT -8
Tha video is just adorable!!!! Love her.
|
|
|
Post by LilyandDaisy on Oct 17, 2023 9:45:25 GMT -8
I expected to come back to find the spray picked clean, but instead it had completely vanished. I assume at some point Twiglet got tired of picking the seeds off and just took the whole thing underground. Which I wish I could have seen.
|
|
|
Post by LilyandDaisy on Oct 28, 2023 12:21:06 GMT -8
Twiglet hopes you can commiserate with her plight this evening. She's starving to death because she hasn't been fed in like 3 hours (the sunflower seeds don't count because they were just a snack) and the human is ignoring her meaningful loitering around the food bowl. She's also feeling extremely hormonal this evening but Astra seemss to object to being repeatedly chased and mounted which is so weird. The human also seems to object to being peed on. Life is so unfair...
|
|
|
Post by LilyandDaisy on Nov 3, 2023 12:42:54 GMT -8
The food obsession continues! Twiglet has been trying to bully me into feeding her more by constantly chewing my sleeves whenever my arm is in the tank. Today I had some mashed sweet potato for lunch and gave the gerbils a bit, which they really enjoyed. I glanced over at the cage while eating and there they were, watching me hopefully: So of course I had to give them a bit more because those little faces are just irresistible. Then later on they saw me eating chocolate and tried it on again but I draw the line at sharing chocolate... Despite so much extra food, especially fatty seeds, they haven't gained any weight but they have lovely glossy coats.
|
|
|
Post by Markpd on Nov 19, 2023 5:05:22 GMT -8
So adorable! And yea my boys sit like that staring at me for treats or to be let out I've not noticed my current or former boys hoarding food, is this something to be more likely done by female gerbils? Or it could be because I scatter their food over their platforms, which are covered in bedding, so hard to see the food. That said they regularly leave some food up on the glass ledges, so they definitely aren't clearing all the food away. Twiglet hopes you can commiserate with her plight this evening. She's starving to death because she hasn't been fed in like 3 hours (the sunflower seeds don't count because they were just a snack) and the human is ignoring her meaningful loitering around the food bowl. She's also feeling extremely hormonal this evening but Astra seemss to object to being repeatedly chased and mounted which is so weird. The human also seems to object to being peed on. Life is so unfair... Lol, bless! Btw, what temperatures are you guys seeing your gerbil rooms drop to? Looking at the app for my thermometer, the lowest temp recorded so far this winter is 17.7C, and by the time I get in from work the heating has been on for a while, so the lounge and the gerbils have warmed up, so I don't see fluffy coats (so far). The lounge will be colder this winter, as I'm now shutting off the PC during the day (it runs distributed computing for science projects when it's on), so I'm expecting to need to use the heater mat this winter. I'm thinking I should use it when temps drop down to about 15C? What do you guys reckon? (it's a thermostatic controlled mat).
|
|
|
Post by LilyandDaisy on Nov 19, 2023 8:25:26 GMT -8
So adorable! And yea my boys sit like that staring at me for treats or to be let out I've not noticed my current or former boys hoarding food, is this something to be more likely done by female gerbils? Yes, there is evidence that females hoard more than males. There is also this brilliant anecdote from a book about lab animals (which by the way does contain some graphic photos in the anatomy section): My room is usually at 16-17C in the evenings but occasionally drops as low as 14C (usually if I open a window briefly). I don't really worry about gerbils and cold as they're very hardy. I'd probably only be concerned if the temperature were below about 12C for a sustained period. I tend to only use heat mats for sick or frail rodents and sometimes Syrian hamsters because they can go into torpor if it's too cold.
|
|
|
Post by Markpd on Nov 19, 2023 9:13:32 GMT -8
Lol, at the 50lbs of food gathered! Re temps, good to know
|
|