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Post by yeti218 on Dec 7, 2023 16:58:45 GMT -8
My gerbil has been eating sand from his sandbath. He's estimated to be 3 years 9 months and has never eaten sand before that I've noticed.
He's been having some health problems recently (weight loss, mobility issues) so I'm wondering if the sudden interest in eating sand is related to his illness.
Why might he be eating sand?
I have removed the sandbath for now.
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Post by gingerandbasilgerbil on Dec 7, 2023 17:20:11 GMT -8
How often is your eating the sand? From a quick Google search it said that gerbils sometimes eat sand to aid digestion. What I have heard is that if the gerbils eat tones of and it's bad bit if it's eating small amounts it's not that bad. My questions to ask. What type of sand do you use? How often does your gerbil eat the sand? Is there anything else in your gerbils cage that could be a concern (for example pine, cedar, fluffy beddings,or others like alfalfa hay) Could your gerbil be getting old?
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Dec 7, 2023 19:44:23 GMT -8
A lot of gerbils will occasionally eat a little sand, but I believe very frequent sand eating is often due to a nutrient deficiency and/or health condition. The medical term for this would be pica.
I have had younger gerbils who were eating lots of sand and I found it stopped when I gave them a calcium-based mineral stone. So that could be worth a try with your gerbil. It may not necessarily resolve any underlying health issue but it might help the symptoms.
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Post by yeti218 on Dec 8, 2023 14:31:19 GMT -8
I've put a mineral block thing in there for him, he did give it a couple chews before going back to bed. I'll see how much he uses it and maybe put the sand back in there in a bit to see if he still wants to eat it.
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Post by tanzanyte on Dec 17, 2023 12:11:42 GMT -8
Has the mineral block helped at all?
We found ours have all preferred the Himalayan salt blocks to the mineral blocks but I believe they are all helpful when they are older and unwell. It definitely helped when Vanilla had kidney disease and I’ve noticed they’ve all licked or chewed the block occasionally.
Ours do chew sand as a teeth cleaning exercise, but it’s occasionally and when they are grooming.
Have you tried reintroducing the sand bath to see if he is leaving it alone now?
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