----- Original Message ----- From: "J Doe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2001 5:17 PM Subject: Re: Newbies Need Help!!! At wits end!!! (UPDATE)
> Again, thanks to everyone who has offered advice and help. This list has > given me almost as much info in two days as I have been able to find on the > internet in a year! To answer the questions I have received from everyone: > > 1. Our gerbils (and forgive me because I probably don't think of them in > "proper" genetic colors) are Ember (golden blond with a white stomach and > bright red eyes, hence the name) Argente and Tanzi (black all over with a few tiny > white patches (looks like she was on the outskirts of a shaken paint brush) > with black eyes, she is named after Tanzanite the gemstone). Black. They all have a few white/grey hairs, especially under the chin. Ember is the > one that still shows a bit of the red nose, is she light enough in color to > be more likely to have allergies? No. Pink-eyed gerbils have poorer eyesight. Pied gerbils tend to be anemic. Otherwise colour has no bearing on health. > > 2. UPDATE: We changed their cage last night. I had found a tablet of > newsprint art paper and ran it through the paper shredder. We used this and > a bit of timothy, (but I think some aspen will have to be added until we can > get a different litter because they can now move their house around with no > trouble). Newsprint is not the best paper. The dye could be poisonous if they ingest it. Also it will stain Ember's coat. White unbleached paper is best. Recycled loo paper or kitchen paper are ideal and you can even give them the cardboard inner tube as a toy! Don't bother to shred it up. The gerbils will do that. > Moulting was mentioned. I have never heard of this with gerbils, can you > explain? All furry animals moult but unlike many animals who have specific moulting seasons and where hair losss at this time is excessive, gerbils moult continually and slowly. You can often see variations in coat colour as the coat moults. You will not get a handful of hair by stroking a moulting gerbil. > Sand was mentioned and I have thought about this myself as chinchilla dust > is soooooo dusty. Should I get play sand or aquarium sand or does it > matter? Chinchilla sand can be used to clean a gerbil's fur but gerbils should never be kept on sand. The grains are too fine. They are likely to cause eye and nose irritation when the gerbil burrows through it. > I actually work at a pharmaceutical company that makes various antibiotic > ointments (bacitracin, double and triple) and various hydrocortisone creams > (0.5%, 1.0%, with aloe, without aloe etc.) Would this be an option if their > noses seem to get infected from overcleaning? I would be careful. Powerful medicines safe for human use are not necessarily safe for rodents. if you are going to use human ointments then something natural like tea tree oil would be preferable > Another question, we have bought the cotton fluff pads in the past and > cotton bedding. I have read that this can cause "plugs" in their intestines > and lead to trouble. What do you all think? Yes. Fibrous products like these can easily block intestines. Loo/kitchen paper is by far the safest bedding. Cheers Sue
