So, newish owner of two gerbils. Treat question.

[PollyPurple]

We have two lovely male gerbils, had them for about 3 months now and we love them. They're very funny, make lovely 'chirp' type noises occasionally and are just all round fun pets to have.

My question really is about treats. So far I give them tiny pieces of broccoli or carrot about 3 -4 times a week, in the mornings. They have occasional egg biscuits and apple drops, Apple pieces as a once a week treat, always tiny bite size pieces. Love how they take food off me with their tiny paws. Could those of you with more experience advise on other treats and in particular the portions and how much per week. I have no idea if I'm over doing the treats or not.

Thanks in advance.

[PollyPurple]

They were adopted gerbils, so were about 3 months old when we had them. So they're probably about 7months old now. One black, one a light cream colour. Beautiful fur.

[nicolapompicola]

It seems to me like they're getting just about the right quantity of treats IMO, just make sure they aren't getting too much wet food.

If you feed them a mix food rather than a pellet, you can use any sunflower seeds out of that day's portion as a treat too. Or, if you'd rather buy a separate bag of sunflower or pumpkin seeds and use those, just keep an eye to their weight.

[PollyPurple]

Thanks Nicola.

We feed a gerbil mix but I think I'll have to take the sunflower seeds out, the boys tend to eat these first !

When researching what foods are OK for gerbils, it does tend to differ depending on sites! I'm still dumbfounded that the woman at the store we bought them from said we could feed a grape as a treat, luckily I researched first and found out grapes are actually poisonous to gerbils 😱 One site also says celery is OK whereas another site says celery has a high water content so not good for them! It's a minefield out there!