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Proper Gerbil Diet
When it comes to feeding your gerbils it is quite simple. Your gerbil's diet needs can be mostly fulfilled with pre-packaged pet store bought food. There is a disadvantage to this type of food though. It contains way too much fatty treats like peanuts, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. The gerbil tends to pick out the good tasting stuff and leaves the nutritious stuff behind! This can cause obesity or overweight in a gerbil, which leads to heart problems! To avoid this problem and still get pre-packaged food all you have to do is pick out these fatty treats. It may take some time but it is worth it! Just offer the treats as awards and bribes for tricks, taming and training your gerbil later on. Also be sure to offer the food in a heavy-bottomed dish because it will most often be tipped making it harder for your gerbils to find!
As for the water bottle if can be bought at any local pet store. It should be a water bottle for hamster/gerbils because it is the right amount of water to offer them. If you get one too large it will waste water and it you get one to small your gerbils might get dehydrated! For you water bottle you will also need a water bottle guard. These come in handy for hanging it up on aquariums and protecting it for getting chewed on and making it spill in the cage leaving your gerbils wet or in wet bedding! This will cause them to catch a cold!! If you house your gerbil in a wire cage, plastic habitat, or homemade cage you may not need a water bottle guard. This is because the water bottle is on the outside of the cage where the gerbils cannot reach it. To hang it, just make a hook out of an old coat hanger. Don't put your gerbil's water in a bowl because it will just get bedding kicked into it, it could be used as a toliet, or spilled! It is just a bad idea! As young pups have been know to drown in a deep-water bowl so DONT CHANCE IT! Also please don't believe any rumors you hear about fresh food can provide all the necessary water a gerbil needs! This is completely UNTRUE! Fresh water should always be provided!
In addition to your gerbils regular diet fresh fruits and veggies should be offered at least twice a week! These foods provided minerals and nutrients that the regular diet cannot. But please remember that less is more with fresh foods because it will cause Diarrhea if you given them too much. So only offer these in small amounts once in a while. Dried fruits and veggies also come in pre-packaged foods but those foods tend to cost more. Not all fresh fruits, veggies, and other treats are recommended though. The following are harmful to gerbils: beans, green parts of carrots and raw potatoes. Chocolate, cheese and other human foods like sugar cereal are too rich or even dangerous to your gerbil! Sugarless cereal is fine. Some insets like Crickets, mealworms, etc. are okay to give them and are rich in protein. If you're breeding, it is not advised you feed them live bugs or meat. It could cause them to develop a taste for flesh and result in cannibalizing their babies. Other forms of protein can be given such as yogurt and cooked eggs to the nursing mother during those times.
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