>I started giving my gerbils two or three live
>mealworms a week to ensure they are getting enough
>protein. Is this a good idea?
No, mealworms are LIVE and they will hatch into nasty
beetles. My hubby tried using them for live fish food for
our fancy goldfish, until a) some got out of the container
and got into some favorite leftovers of mine which I
found out on a 2 am munch run and b) had some hatch
out into beetles in the fish room.
>I've read that giving
>gerbils flesh foods will make them more likely to
>eat/attack their babies....I've also read that giving
>gerbils mealworms will satisfy their protein/flesh
>food urges so they _won't_ cannibalize their babies.
>Ah, the conflicting info you can find on the internet
>these days! :) Does anyone have any advice?
I don't feed them meat or live food so they don't get
the idea. A good quality catfood as a treat works.
>One other thing...we have two pairs of gerbs, one (M
>and F)about 10-12 weeks old and the other (M and M)
>about 6-7 weeks old. Both were bought in pet stores,
>and none of them are all that friendly. They put up
>with you once you've got them out of the cage
>(barely!), but they always run away and hide when we
>reach in to catch them. We have to trick them into a
>container and lift them out of the cage that way. Am
>I doing something wrong? I only handle them about two
>times a week each because I worry that I'm totally
>freaking them out by going in their cages. Could I
>have a weird smell on my hands, or be handling them
>too much or not enough?
It's a good thing to wash hands before handling any
gerbil, and between cages, and afterwards. Use a
good hand sanitizer. This will also mean you won't
be transferring any gerbil smells between cages,
which can provoke attacks (you handle one from
cage A, then one from cage B, and the other one
in cage B attacks the one you handled).
Use treats to get them used to the idea that 'the hand'
and the 'big noisy human' are good things. And do
this several times a day. Once they get used to the
idea, you should be able to get them to stay on your
hand and be picked up (about a week).
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
