Nutrition tips for gerbils

Feeding your gerbil a basic staple diet of commercial dry seeds or pellets will provide the main part of its diet. It is best to give your gerbil and reasonably varied diet, which is also high in nutrients. Gerbils can be fed seed mixes or block feeds, which have definite differences.

Seed Mixes: These are loose mixes of seeds, sometimes with pellets or dried vegetables added. Most of these will be nutritionally balanced, but only if your gerbil eats everything in the mix. Many gerbils will pick out their favorite bits and leave the rest, which can lead to a dietary imbalance if there are components your gerbils consistently avoid. Also, if the seed mix is heavy on sunflower seeds (which are quite fatty), the gerbil may just feast on these and ignore the other seeds, which provide the nutritional balance.


Pellets or Lab Blocks: these have the advantage of being nutritionally balanced. Pellets are smaller and lab blocks are the larger chunks of food. Both are good, although some people believe the lab blocks are the most ideal because of thorough scientific research behind them, and the lab blocks are now being packaged for the pet market. Unlike loose mixes, the gerbils can't pick and choose which components they eat so the blocks and pellets assure a balanced diet. On the other hand, lab blocks and pellets are all in one piece, and don't allow for such selectivity, and have some scientific evidence behind them for nutrition. However, this type of diet offers little variety or interest so while pellets or blocks make a good basic diet, some supplementation is recommended. The best solution is to give the gerbil variety while still providing good nutritional content. Thus use seeds in a controlled way, possibly picking out the sunflower seeds to use as treats and in training, and use the block and pellets as the main source of nutrition.

Treats and supplements that can be added to the diet include :

* fresh fruit and vegetables (in limited amounts at first to avoid diarrhea) such as carrots, broccoli, apples and berries. Carrots are good treat to give your gerbil because hard foods help their teeth. Watermelon rinds are high in nutrition, so they make great treats on hot days.

* nuts (sparingly; high in fat)

* sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (sparingly; high in fat)

* whole grain bread (plain or toasted)

* breakfast cereal (unsweetened types only)

* raisins, currents

* small bits of cheese

* small amounts of egg (scrambled or boiled)

* occasional meal-worms

* occasional dog biscuits (good for chewing)

Making homemade gerbil treats:

Gerbil are omnivorous, which means they eat both vegetables and meat. Their natural foods include grains, seeds, vegetables, and insects, and they will like corn, oats, or wheat mixed with dry dog food. Premixed hamster food from a pet store has complete nutrition, but some hamsters won't eat it.

Gerbil Treats Recipe

1/4 a teaspoon of peanut butter 1 box plain Cheerios cereal variety of vegetables such as carrots, celery, small dog biscuit or stale or fresh bread bird seeds and sunflower seeds small amount of cheese

Spread peanut butter on dog biscuit, stale or fresh bread. Stick cereal on top and press in some of you hamster's favorite small foods such as bird seeds or sunflower seeds. Next, press in vegetables around the Cheerios. Press cheese around the vegetables to cover.
Other treats that can be fed to your hamster include:
Acorns, Almonds (shelled), Beechnuts, Biscuits, Boiled Potatoes, Brazil Nuts, Bread (fresh or stale), Cashew Nuts, Chicken (cooked), Cheese, Coconuts, Crickets, Currents,Homemade Dog Biscuits, Fish (cooked), Hazel Nuts, Meat (cooked), Pecan Nuts, Peanuts (shelled or unshelled), Pistachio Nuts, Prunes, Raisins, Sweet Chestnuts, Sultanas, Toast, Walnuts

Never feed a hamster any of the following:

Buttercups, Chocolate, Garlic, Onions, Rabbit Mix (containing antibiotic ingredients), Raw Kidney Beans, Sweets, Toffee, rhubarb, and potato leaves.

The amount of feed given to a gerbil is also important. A routine should be set up to feed the gerbil every 24 hours, approximately at the same time. Night time is quite good. Try to get a feel for how much the gerbil will eat within a day, and then keep on feeding that amount. Try not to give too much to avoid spoiling within the period. Remove any uneaten food from the previous day before feeding to prevent any illness. Treats need to be limited, gerbils can die at a young age from obesity. It is a good idea to keep their food portions small.
Although gerbils are small, they still require a fresh water supply to maintain their internal organs. Because gerbils come from dry climates, they do not need a lot of water, but don't make the mistake of thinking water is not important. Make sure they always have a supply of fresh, clean water in a sipper bottle. This water should be replenished regularly into a bottle sipper. Try not to allow the water to get stale.

ABSOLUTELY no salt, salt is very bad for them, so just make sure that the nuts are washed throughly, and they are plain, also don't give more than one nut a week, they have a lot of fat in them, and the fat can build up quickly