----- Original Message -----
From: "LEENKNEGT-LIOEN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2000 4:27 AM
Subject: :C Questions about materials etc.
> Hi all,
> I have a creative mood. There for some material questions.
> Is it OK to use a plastic 1,5 liter bottle and make holes in it, to make
> a house/tunnel?
I wouldn't suggest using any kind of soft plastic in a gerbil home. They are
capable of chewing up the plasic, and can choke on it. I lost a gerbil from
chewing on plastic. I had used a butter dish for a sand bath. The gerbil
chewed on the dish and I believe he choked on it. I found him dead next to
the bowl. This happened over a year ago, and I haven't given any of my
gerbils plastic items since them.
> What about using lego blocks, good idea or better not?
I've seen sites that mentioned making houses out of legos, but I don't know
if that is really safe.
> If you want to make your own kookies, what is the best thing to make the
> cereals and so on stick together, honey, peanutbutter, something else?
Sometime during the past year on the GML, someone posted home made recepies.
That info may be found in the archives.
> It way sound weird, but is their anything dangerous about a shoe? I once
> gave my hamster an old shoe and he loved it as a sleeping place and also
> for gnawing.
I would be concerned with using a shoe. For one, it may not be clean enough
for them. If they were to chew it up, it possible they can choke on the
fibers or get intangled around thier feets and legs. Also, if the shoe were
made of leather, it's possible that if the gerbil swallowed some of the
leather, the leather could swell up in thier belly and cause an impaction.
I would stick to cardboard and wooden toys for the gerbils. These seem to be
the safest.
Ann-Marie Roberts
T&T Gerbils, member of the AGS
Pup Count Project creator and maintainer
Please visit my website and pup count project at:
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Reserve/1928/
> THANKS everyone!
> Sarah
>
