>I am glad to say that all 9 pups have survived the night.
>They are all in a nice pile and wiggling this morning.
Congrats. :)
>I may have to haul out my 33 gallon aquarium to put them
>in between two and three week. I can't imagine nine
>active pups, mom, and dad in a ten gallon aquarium.
One of the colonies I rescued was like this, and it does look
too small. Yes, please, give them some room.
>So far I have tried to give both of my moms puppy food, but
>have had no luck. They will not touch it. None of my gerbils
>will eat any of the fruit that I give them either. I have only had
>luck with some cereal, spinach, and multi grain bread.
Try some carrot. Mine like to gnaw on them. As for the puppy
food, just a few chunks in with the mix you offer, they should
try it sooner or later. Try oatmeal mixed in the feed, a few
sprinkles are always well received.
>I would like to make my own gerbil mix. We have NO pet
>stores with in an hour of us, and they only have small bags.
>With Hanna's three pups now eating I am flying through the food.
:) I have feed custom mixed for my hamsters and my gerbils
seem to like it too....
>I want to be sure that the mix is healthy! I need to know
>how to make my own mix, that will meet the gerbils nutritional
>needs. If any of you make good feed that your gerbils are
>thriving on please let me know.
I copied a gourmet commercial mix of hamster and gerbil
food, and omitted a few fancy things that they never ate
anyway....I used Hartz' Gourmet Hamster and Gerbil diet
as a guideline. Other than the dried veggie and fruit flakes
and some strange little brightly orange colored cereal bits,
my mix is similar to better.
>For example:
>1. Is bird seed an OK way to get the seeds for them?
I just avoid safflower. These are a small whitish seed.
2. Should I add puppy or kitten food? How much?
>which one or both? What brand should I use?
Either one, go with a good brand (the cheaper brands have
a lot of filler). I don't know if they need the taurine that kitten
food has; mine seem to be doing well without it.
>3. What about the green pellets in their current mix? Is it rabbit
food? Guinea Pig food? (I know that this has vitamin C in it. Is
>this OK for gerbils?)
This is probably a pressed alfalfa pellet. They are fine.
The gerbils eat them, most of the hamsters leave them.
>4. What else should I use?
>Thank you for your concern for my little pups, and the advice
>on the food.
Janet and Liz
I start with some commercial mixes that the feed store mixes
and sells; and have them add things to set amounts of their
custom mixes.
They have a hamster mix, a canary feed mix (i.e., cockatiel #2
minus the safflower); and I have them add more of two different
kinds of millet, shelled red peanuts, and black stripe sunflower seeds.
P.S., this mix makes 200# as mixed; so I am trying with a pail
of feed in front of me to analyze it.
It contains (and not in any order):
Black stripe sunflower seeds [not a lot, but the hamsters love them]
shelled red peanuts [again not a lot but the hamsters love them]
pressed alfalfa pellets
red millet
white millet
cracked corn
steelcut oats
whole oats
wheat kernels
barley kernals
something I don't recognize but it's small like millet but not...
No flax, no beans, no soybeans
I would say take a 10# bag of wild bird seed, add 10#
of squirrel mix (if it has cracked corn in it), a few pounds
of puppy chow, a few handfuls of oatmeal; a few pounds
of rabbit pellets (the green things) and start from there.
Avoid black oil sunflower seeds (they are small looking
sunflower seeds, that are black) and safflower (smaller
than sunflower seeds, also sort of shaped like that, and
white).
Suppliment with carrots and fruit.
I feed my custom mix, and give out milkbone dog biscuits
once a week for gnawing on and dietary supplimentation
to everyone. The gerbils also get carrot chunks on occasion.
(a few times a week)
One thing I swear when we finish the redo of the website
is I am going to put a shot in of my feed mix. It is so much
easier for someone to see it than to describe it.
I can't get an exact breakdown on amounts because I use
some mixes that the feed store has rights to as a base.
In return, my exact mix is also protected by them...I can
give a copy of exactly what goes in, but the recipe states
things like 'x pounds of Hamster Mix, y pounds of (canary)
Mix, z pounds of...' and they mix their own mixes by the
unit batch, then add my additions; and bag the results.
Like I said, this makes 200#, which is roughly a month
to six weeks around here.
I hope this ramble helps more than hurts.
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch.
