> Meg Hurley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>
> >He did have a broken front tooth. I knew that. It has completely grown
> >back. Could that have been the problem? He broke the same tooth a few
> >months ago and didn't lose any weight then, though.
> >
> From: Julian and Jackie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Have a look at the teeth and make sure they are meeting evenly.
It is not uncommon for the teeth to grow back slightly out of line. Despite
constant trimming, they never grow back properly. This means that the
gerbil cannot gnaw and most gerbil mixes require gnawing. I currently have
2 gerbils like this. They are both permanently on alternative diets. Each
day they get baby food and a mix of soft foods like oats, weetabix, sesame
seeds, bananas, yogurt etc. They can also chew anything that uses the back
teeth e.g meat, mealworms.
Here is a test to see if the teeth are meeting properly. Give the gerbil
the cardboard inside from a loo roll. He will immediately try to chew it.
If his teeth are meeting correctly, he will manage to do so. If they are
not, he will not be able to make any impression on it, although he will
probably keep on trying to.
Cheers
Sue
