I have been reading the post and a few of you have had problems with
roaches and moths. I am wondering if I too will have this problem. Where do
the roaches come from. I live in Maine and we usually don't get them here.
But I am wondering if I will start to get them because of bringing in
supplies for my animals. I only bye my supplies and food from my local pet
store. OH I will die if I start to get them. Linda
The roaches mentioned came in in some pinecones the person
self collected and didn't treat first to kill infestations. I suggest
you don't offer pinecones to your gerbils. A good hardwood
such as apple or pear wood, a peeled branch chunk at least an
inch thick and four inches long; or a piece of 2x4 dimensional
framing lumber...of white pine, and no paint or pressure treatment
on the wood, will work for gnawing purposes. Mine gnaw white
pine chunks, a piece of 2x4 about four inches long, last a pair
months. Just remove splinters before giving.
If the bedding is in sealed bags, you should not have much of
a chance there of bringing in something.
The food, freeze it in the freezer for a week before using. That will
kill the tiny moths and the bran bugs and all those sorts of critters.
Although, if you find contaminated food when you first open it,
take it back to the store.
It is true that mites can infest food, but the week in the freezer will
kill them too.
I purchase my feed as a custom mix from a feed store, they mix
to my recipe...the drawback is it is a 200# batch. I bring it home
in 50# bags, and bag it in 2 gallon ziplocks (as I got moths in my
garbage can). I will freeze several bags at a time, rotating as I
take out frozen feed and feed it. I can inspect the feed as I bag
it, and again before I freeze it, for any sign of infestation. The
baggies last through several uses with care.
Each animal or pair get a shotglass (dwarf campbell pairs get
an ounce and a half) full of feed, a gerbil pair get a dribble more
than a shot glass (about two to two and a quarter ounces) per
day. Weekly all the hamsters or hamster pairs get a large Milkbone
dog biscuit, biscuit day is the day after cage cleaning. Anything
left is tossed on cage cleaning day. My gerbils ignore the biscuits
so they do not get any. A few times a week I snap up carrots and/or
chunk apples into 8ths, discarding the core, and offer a few inches
of carrot about the thickness of my thumb or a chunk of apple to
each cage. They get cleaned out the next day, any leftovers.
The feed I use is similar to Hartz Gourmet Hamster and Gerbil
Food. My mix contains less alfalfa pellets and more millet and
a few other grains. I feed the same to both hamsters and gerbils,
the mix is a little rich for the gerbils..but can be easily adjusted
by shaking the 5 quart feed pail and scooping the sunseeds and
peanuts off the top for treating and suppliment to animals with
babies. I don't take them all, but reduce the quantity as gerbils
tend to get fat easily on sunseeds and peanuts.
Gerbils will eat the alfalfa pellets, which the hamsters don't want
to touch.
Hope this helps.
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
