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home made gerbil food :D [dried fish & mealworms inside]

binkyCodie

Mama Doe
sorry I'm really proud of this :lol:

since all gerbil food is pretty poor / doesn't fit what I want in a food, I decided to make my own food! he seems to really like it, I put the bowl in and he has been snacking away for 10 minutes straight before popping off, and he's back again now. I have never seen him this interested in food or a willingness to eat :love: I'm so glad its a success, I was super worried he wasn't going to like it or even try it. I hope this improves his quality of life with a better food for him, but also encourages him to eat. he's always left the majority of his commercial food tbh, he hates it.

his mix contains: Puffed Rice, Bran Flakes, Quinoa, White Millet, Oats, Pumpkin Seeds, Chia Seeds, Buckwheat, Hemp Seed, Cashews, Mini Whole Fish, Mealworms, Flaked Peas, Carrot Flakes, Goji Berries, Parsnip

I wanted apple cubes too but they were out :(

obviously this works out a lot more expensive than a commercial food, with most being around £5 or less. but you get what you pay for. when they're 50% corn and not fitting a gerbils nutritional needs...I think its a waste of money anyway. in total the food costs £14, with +£4 shipping. I'm sure if I brought this stuff in bulk from a whole foods kinda place it would work out cheaper, but rn living at home I have nowhere to store such large items of food. so I brought what I needed from Rat Rations :D

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puffed rice + bran flakes

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quinoa, white millet + oats added

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pumpkin seeds, chia seeds + buckwheat added

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dried fish (stinky :mrgreen:) + mealworms for animal protein

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parsnip, goji berries + carrot flakes

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all mixed together!

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I N H A L E T H E F O O D
 
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I'm still playing around with my spreadsheet trying to balance out a decent gerbil diet, my foster will probably be rehomed by the time I finalise it. :shock:

Do you know what yours works out at and if so would you mind sharing the breakdown with me as I'd love to get her on something more suitable.

I make my own rat and mouse food though and I agree they are definately better for it.

If you have lots it can work out more cost effective but you need to be able to store big vlumes of multiple ingredients to see a real benefit.
 
Worth the expense if this is the response :D So much less waste, too? So you know every penny goes into Liquorice, not in the bin ;P

indeed!! he's really loving it, hes been out eating sooo much today :love:

I'm still playing around with my spreadsheet trying to balance out a decent gerbil diet, my foster will probably be rehomed by the time I finalise it. :shock:

Do you know what yours works out at and if so would you mind sharing the breakdown with me as I'd love to get her on something more suitable.

I make my own rat and mouse food though and I agree they are definately better for it.

If you have lots it can work out more cost effective but you need to be able to store big vlumes of multiple ingredients to see a real benefit.

this is the spread sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cdn3PWEzUHJss7X0Boz288gWoPEO37gX63g0j1j0kUI/edit?usp=sharing

I think I did everything correctly..I hope so :oops: I found the percentages a tad bit difficult and had to do a lot of googling for it. they seem about correct.

& heres gerbil micro nurtients when I compared the burgess pellet for rodents w rats. rats & gerbils have very similar diets actually. the rat pellet is actually beter for gerbils (14% protein & 4.5% fat, a bit low), and still hits the right vitamins too https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17zqxLODmFoAIp_xxbvCqmAvs5WYZfnuFCBGUBPp_mBE/edit?usp=sharing
 
Thank you. My current one is working out at 13.43% protein and 6.69% fat but I'm also confused about where it should be as it seems to be different on different sources. I also came up with Adult Gerbil 12-14 protein and 6-8 fat after lots of googling so maybe mine is ok after all.
 
Well done :thumb:

I think that it's similar to human food in that preparation from basic items and mixing it yourself is going to be far better nutrition wise than anything bought ready mixed.

Also, now that you know it's successful you could search around to try and source the individual foods from different outlets. Even if you can't buy in large quantities there could still be places which stock the items at a cheaper price. Maybe try sources where the focus is not on rat food, as I think that niche markets sometimes will be more expensive.
 
So I've now been told that 15% protein and 5% fat is better if I want to aim for a more natural diet. My foster is a little overweight so this will probably suit her better.
 
Well done :thumb:

I think that it's similar to human food in that preparation from basic items and mixing it yourself is going to be far better nutrition wise than anything bought ready mixed.

Also, now that you know it's successful you could search around to try and source the individual foods from different outlets. Even if you can't buy in large quantities there could still be places which stock the items at a cheaper price. Maybe try sources where the focus is not on rat food, as I think that niche markets sometimes will be more expensive.

Rat rations aren't too bad for the actual ingredients but the postage is a killer. I try and get the basic seeds and stuff from the supermarkets. Puffed rice etc usually the supermarket ownbrand cereal is useable as they tend to be alot lower in sugar than the branded ones.
 
So I've now been told that 15% protein and 5% fat is better if I want to aim for a more natural diet. My foster is a little overweight so this will probably suit her better.

I personally follow
<6 month gerbils need 15-16% protein and 7-9% fat (or nursing gerbils)
<2 year gerbils need 12-14% protein and 6-8% fats.
>2 year gerbils gerbils need 10-12% protein and still 6-8% fat

which seems to be agreed among breeders and other various studies, I'll see if I can dig it up later!
 
Well done :thumb:

I think that it's similar to human food in that preparation from basic items and mixing it yourself is going to be far better nutrition wise than anything bought ready mixed.

Also, now that you know it's successful you could search around to try and source the individual foods from different outlets. Even if you can't buy in large quantities there could still be places which stock the items at a cheaper price. Maybe try sources where the focus is not on rat food, as I think that niche markets sometimes will be more expensive.

oh for sure yes. sadly with the pet food industry for small animals, gerbils are not that popular! I have plenty of friends & family who've gone "wot" when I said I have a gerbil :lol: plus, many food brands lump hamsters & gerbils together (sometimes even mice too!!) which have vastly different nutritional needs. gerbils need a lower protein but higher fat diet, hamsters need a high protein lower fat diet (17-20% protein and 4-6% fat, vs a gerbils 12-14% protein & 6-8% fat). unfortunately companies have no interest in separating them as they're "the same". unfortunately most of these joint foods actually don't suit either animal, but lean in the hamsters favour. its quite sad tbh. there is no decent food imo that hits what I look for, the correct nutrients, and without corn. even when the food is just listed as "gerbil" (a rarity) its still not suitable.

you get what you pay for tbh, a food that costs a £5 will have the quality of a food that costs a £5. sadly, there are no other foods that are more expensive and suitable......... I would happily pay £10, £15 for a decent food mix. sadly the only option is to make your own.

Rat Rations isn't too bad - they don't just focus on rat food but sell mixes for other animals, as well as "straights" as they call them, which is the individual ingredients. their pricing really isn't that bad, but as Amy said, its the postage tbh. in the future I'll probably purchase in bulk which will make it cheaper, either from rat rations or elsewhere. I only brought what I need. I have nowhere to store it and with possibly moving out, I didn't wanna take massive bags of food with me :lol:
 
so, I don't think he's too keen on the small seeds as he's left most of those :lol: sucks as thats apart of his complete diet.....but I can readjust when I make it again and remove those out next time.
 
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