Mealtime is a delightful adventure for your gerbils. Imagine them frolicking through a field, nibbling on plump seeds, juicy roots, and the occasional crunchy insect. While we can’t replicate a wilderness, we can offer a balanced diet that reflects their natural foraging instincts.
A combination of a high-quality dry food mix and a sprinkle of fresh fruits and vegetables each week will keep your gerbils happy, healthy, and full of energy. Whether you choose a pre-made mix from the pet store or embark on the creative journey of creating your own, here’s what you need to know about gerbil nutrition.
Finding the Perfect Food Mix
To keep your gerbils happy and healthy, their food needs to be just right. Think of it like their tiny superhero fuel! There are two main choices: store-bought mixes or homemade.
Store-bought mixes are super convenient – just grab a bag and you’re good to go! Plus, the labels tell you exactly what’s inside. But some mixes might have surprise ingredients like crunchy biscuits or colorful bits that aren’t the healthiest. If you see those, you can just pick them out before feeding your gerbils.
Homemade mixes let you control everything that goes in. That’s great if you want to be super sure your gerbils are getting the perfect blend of protein, fat, and fiber. Just remember, doing it yourself means a little research to make sure the mix has everything your gerbils need – the amounts can change a bit depending on their age and activity level.
Protien and Fiber and Fat, Oh My!
Young gerbils are little balls of fluff with big bursts of energy! Just like growing kids, they need more protein and fat in their diet to keep them fueled for all that playtime. As your gerbil gets older and enjoys a more relaxed lifestyle, their need for these nutrients slows down.
Fat is super important for gerbils, no matter their age! It helps keep their fur shiny and gives them the energy to zoom around. The exact amount they need can vary between 3% and 8%, depending on their age and activity level. Think of it like this: a gerbil mom with babies on the way or a gerbil who loves to run on their wheel might need a bit more fat for an extra boost!
Here’s the deal:
- Too much fat: This can lead to them becoming a little chunky, trouble having babies, and even heart problems.
- Not enough protein (less than 15%): This can stunt the growth of young gerbils, making them stay little for too long.
- Too much protein (more than 20%): This can be hard on their livers and kidneys, and even give them itchy skin.
Portioning your gerbil’s food is just as important as what you feed them. Usually it is recommended to serve a single gerbil about one tablespoonful of your dry food mix per day, and that no more food should be added until the bowl is empty. Gerbils are picky and have a tendency to eat what they prefer first and often avoid other foodstuffs while these are present in their bowl. Some people have adopted the practice of feeding every other day because of this. Scatter fed gerbils should have their bedding checked through daily to ensure they are eating everything.
Always make sure the food intake is varied enough to make sure that your gerbils receive adequate micro-nutrients, and also to prevent boredom setting in. If you feed treats on top of their staple diet, make sure the treats are always in small portions and not offered more than once per week.
Commercial Gerbil Food
If you only keep one or two gerbils as a pet, this is the best way to go. Buying commercial is convenient but requires a bit of food label savvy as not all brands are actually healthy for gerbils. Some companies package their food for multiple animals that actually have very different dietary needs. So before grabbing the least expensive bag on the shelf, check that you avoid junk filled food which:
- contains wafers, crackers, or biscuits
- uses any sort of chemical dyes
- drowns the mix with too much millet
- contains lots of corn and sunflower seeds
- does not meet the protein and fat requirements
The best commercial dry foods will be all natural and have the correct fat and protein percentages listed on the label. Always make sure the mix is fresh and hasn’t been lying on the shop shelf for a long period. Most of the nutrient values diminish over time and ingredients such as vitamins degrade very rapidly. Some brands are deficient in Calcium, and need to be supplemented accordingly with products that are high in Calcium, such as dry dog biscuits.
If you’re unable to find any gerbil specific dry food brands, rat food is a suitable alternative because they share the most similar dietary needs.
Be wary of food that has too much junk filler in it.
Where To Shop
Recommended Brands
Phone: 512-453-8800
Website: Facebook Page
Location: 9012 Research Blvd, Austin
Note: Family owned, friendly staff
Phone: 888-839-9638
Website: www.petsmart.com
Location: Several throughout Austin
Note: Shipping available
Phone: 512-452-1560
Website: www.tomlinsons.com
Location: Several throughout Austin
Note: Delivery available through Instacart
Phone: 877-738-6742
Website: www.petco.com
Location: Several throughout Austin
Note: Delivery available through Instacart
LEFT: High quality food featuring oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and other small grains. This is a custom breeder-developed food. RIGHT: Low quality food with only 10% protein, drowned in millet for filler, starchy corn, and over processed colored “biscuits”.
Homemade Gerbil Food
The idea of a homemade mix is hopefully to better what is commercially available. It belongs mainly in the realms of the large breeder, or someone who keeps a very large collection of gerbils! Food is often bought in as ‘straights’ and mixed as needed to form the staple diet. Try to avoid using cheap ingredients whenever possible, as this negates any benefit you are hoping to achieve by making your own food. Some of the drawbacks of homemade mixes is getting the ratios of fat, protein, fiber and other main ingredients just right. Storage of the ‘straight’ feeds may also present a problem as they take up a lot of room. Saying that, once mixing the ingredients are mastered the feed has the potential to be far superior to any commercial brands that are available.
To calculate nutritional information for any of the recipes, determine the percentage of protein, fat, etc. in that food and multiply that percentage by the percentage of that food in the mix. In other words, if your mix uses one cup each of ten ingredients, you would multiply the protein percentage of each ingredient by 0.1, and then add the numbers together. For example, if peanuts contained 28% protein and represented 10% of the mix (1 part in 10), then they would contribute 2.8% protein to the mix. If corn contained 8% protein, it would contribute .8 percent, and so on. You can find nutrition facts for any food on the Internet.
Staple Dry Ingredients
- Bird Feed – These can include various bird foods, especially those that contain smaller seeds, such as a foreign finch, canary or budgie mix. Other suitable bird foods to add in small quantities are racing pigeon mix, high protein chicken feed for egg layers, Cockatiel mix or Parrot mix. A good birdseed mix is usually a good place to start for home made mixes because gerbils by nature are natural seed eaters.
- Horse Feed – Food for horses can be used too. These usually consist of rolled oats, corn, barley and Alfalfa. Be sure to avoid molasses flavored as it has too much sugar.
- Dry Bulk – This is the best section found in most grocery stores and health food stores. Dry bulk will have a variety of nuts, grains, pasta and dried fruit that can be added to to your mix. Don’t feed any salted or roasted nuts but opt for nuts in their raw state. Same for fruits: avoid any dried fruit that is treated with sugar or syrup.
- Cereal – Puffed, natural and no-sugar cereals are a great choice to add to your dry food mix as they are made of what makes up a gerbil’s main diet. In addition cereal is fortified with vitamins and minerals that humans and gerbils alike will benefit from. Examples of recommended cereals are Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, and Cheerios.
- Fresh or Freeze Dried Insects – Most pet stores will carry crickets and meal worms which are high in protein and low in fat. The safest way to go is to use freeze-dried insects, they are fairly nutritious and are less messy to use. Live insects can escape, lay eggs, or get lost in the bedding and re-emerge later as beetles or bigger insects.
- Pasta – Whole wheat dried pasta is okay to give your gerbils, but only in moderation. Avoid adding rice to a dry mix. Rice should be cooked and given as a treat separately.
- Dairy – Dried yogurt drops found in pet stores are a nice addition to your dry food mix. If you buy yogurt drops made for humans be sure to check that it does not contain too many preservatives.
The bulk section of your local grocery store is a great place to shop. If you add nuts, variety is key, especially ones that are still in their shells because they can chew through it for fun. Good examples are Pine Nuts, Cashews, Almonds, Acorns, Beechnuts, Brazil Nuts, Pistachios, Peanuts, Chestnuts, Pecans, Walnuts and Hazel Nuts.
You Can Buy Homemade Food In Austin Or Have It Shipped Right To You
We’re fortunate in that we have the opportunity to network with other active AGS registered breeders here in Texas. It allows us to always provide not only quality gerbils to adopters but other unique benefits as well.
Marcia from Legends Gerbils in Roundrock, Texas makes her own gerbil gourmet food that is one of a kind. Her custom mix is vacuum sealed in a 1lb bag with no artificial chemicals, dyes or preservatives.
On her own website she goes on to say:
“Previously, they ate only about 25-30% of the commercial “deluxe” gerbil food. We stopped wasting our money on buying [it], since most of it was dye colored cereals & small bird seeds, which our gerbils refused to eat. Our gerbils eat 100% of this food. Commercial gerbil foods are filled with preservatives and unnecessary additives. So if you’re looking to go all natural, we’ve created the best recipe to include all of the necessary parts of a gerbil’s diet (filled with things they’ll actually eat!).”
Marcia
Gerbil Breeder – Legends GerbilsIngredients: Flax Seeds, Sunflower Hulled, Pumpkin Seeds, Pearled Barley Walnuts, Pecans, Dried Peas, Dried Coconut Flakes, Fried Cranberries, Dried Pineapple, Dried Papaya, Dried Dates, Dried Blueberries, Dried Apple, Dried Golden Raisins, Dried Dark Raisins, Rolled old fashion Oatmeal, Granola, Cereal flakes
Do It Yourself Homemade Recipes
Kori the Cavy Goddess’s
Heavenly, Healthy Bowlful
This is a bowl-at-a-time recipe.
Mix together:
1 part store-bought Gerbil food
1 part alfalfa guinea pig pellets
½ part Special K cereal
½ part Total Cereal
½ part uncooked spiral noodles
¼ part fresh uncooked peas
1 tbsp cracked corn
1 tbsp unoiled sunflower seeds
For treats, apple or bananas slices, or a small piece of cheese.
Shin Dao Dynasty Kibble
by Carin DeVoe
10 pounds each of:
pumpkin seeds
flaxseeds
sunflower seeds
peanuts
raisins
walnut pieces
high-quality bird food (WalMart’s Nutty Berry)
Shawsheen River Gerbil Food
by Libby Hanna
1 lb. Oxbow Healthy Handfuls TM
15 cups rolled oats (Quaker Quick or similar)
10-½ cups crimped oats (equine)
4 cups Raisin Bran or bran flakes, slightly smooshed
3 cups roasted, unsalted, shelled peanuts or peanut hearts
4-½ cups wheatberries
6 cups guinea pig or rabbit pellets (alfalfa)
3 cups flax seeds
2 cups unsalted pumpkin seeds in shell
6 cups white-stripe sunflower seeds (not black oil)
6 cups millet
3 cups red lentils or split peas
6 cups Cheerios
4 cups puffed rice cereal
1 cup pepitas (unsalted shelled pumpkin seeds
ABC Gerbils 1-2-3 Mix
by Donna Anastasi
2 parts Kaytee Supreme Rat & Mouse Food
1 part 8-in-1 Super Premium Cockatiel Blend (WalMart)
This mix provides a lot of variety and high protein at a very affordable price.
The Little Rascals’ Lunchbox Mix
by Tana Lyman
4 part rabbit pellets
1 part parakeet seed
1 part split peas
2 parts 7-grain flakes (oats, spelt etc.)
½ part flaxseeds
½ part sesame seeds
1 part texturized vegetable protein
1 part puffed brown rice
TCF Exotics Great Gerbil Mix
by Carraig Stanwyck
7½ lbs. Quaker Oats
20 lbs. wild bird seed
2 lbs. shredded wheat & bran
4 lbs. dried split peas
4 lbs. dried lentils
4 lbs. dried barley
4 lbs. Barilla macaroni
16 lbs. Pedigree Weight Loss Formula dog food
This mix rounds out to 16.99% protein, 5.03% Fat
Lots of Love’s Lotta Good Eatin’
by Dani Marshall
large bag of Cheerios® or generic
8-10 lb. bag of kitten chow
45 lb. bag wild bird seed
10 lb. bag of rabbit mix (yellow & green pellets plus yellow vitamin “circles”)
8 lb. bag cockatiel food
Knolls’ Gerbils Daily Plan
by Judith Block
By hand and eye, we mix together wheatberry, oat groats, spelt, trinticale, buckwheat and sesame seeds, then add millet, kamut, quinoa and flaxseeds, and sometimes teff grain, barley, dried green and dried yellow split peas.
Daily, we supplement with 4 UltraVite vitamins and one Earthrise Spirulina tablet. Younger gerbils receive 1-2 pieces of dried organic dogfood per day, and all gerbils are offered a few sprouted beans, sweet potato, dandelion greens, raw peas or broccoli at dinnertime.
For treats, we offer one raw almond or ¼ raw walnut, a bit of avocado, a small amount of cooked oatmeal, one or two shelled pumpkin seeds, or one small sugar-free shredded wheat square per gerbil. And Poland Springs water in the water bottle!
Fresh Fruit, Vegetables, Dairy And Meat
Providing your gerbils with a nutritious and well-balanced diet goes beyond a dry food diet. Just make sure you always know which veggies and fruits are appropriate and safe.
Fibrous fruits are better fruits to provide your gerbils over citrus fruits. Fruits like oranges and lemons can be too acidic for gerbils and also contain more water that can cause diahrrea.
Always slice veggies up into small pieces that are easy for your tiny pet to handle and consume. If your gerbil doesn’t finish his vegetables, don’t leave them to spoil inside his cage. You don’t want to risk the little guy eating anything that is less than fresh.
Always make sure you only give your gerbil fruits and veggies in tiny pieces — roughly the size of single bites or half-teaspoons. Veggies and fruits lack the protein levels that gerbils require, and if gerbils have too much of them available, they may choose to eat the produce over their “normal” food. This may result in protein deficiencies for your pet — not good. Avoid this scenario by always offering your gerbil fruits and vegetables in strict moderation. Be sure to always thoroughly rinse fruits and vegetables before giving them to your gerbil.
Gerbils should be fed fresh veggies and fruit once per week.
Recommended Safe Foods
Fruits
Apple, Apricot, Banana, Blueberry, Grapes, Honey Dew, Kiwi, Mango, Melon, Papaya, Peach, Pear, Plum, Raspberry, Strawberry, Watermelon.
Vegetables
Carrot, Corn, Cooked Potato, Cucumber, Green Beans, Green Bell Pepper, Mushroom, Parsley, Peas, Red Bell Pepper, Sage, Spinach, Squash, Sweet Potato.
Dairy And Meat
Plain or vanilla yogurt, Mozzarella Cheese, Mild Cheddar Cheese, Egg (scrambled or boiled), Tofu (packaged only, never raw). Chicken, Turkey and Fish should always be cooked and unseasoned.
Foods To Avoid
- Citrus peels – toxic
- Watermelon rinds – will cause diarrhea
- Raw potatoes – way too starchy
- Apple seeds – toxic
- Iceberg lettuce – causes diahrrea
- Uncooked rice – can inflate in the stomach
- Raw kidney beans – poisonous
- Onions or shallots – destroys red blood cells
- Avocado – toxic to the heart
- Chocolate – toxic
- Garlic – toxic
- Tomato leaves – toxic
Treats And Supplemental
If you have a sick or recovering gerbil, babyfood and KMR (kitten replacement milk) are good choices to feed your gerbil.
A very healthy alternative to sunflower seeds are dog Milkbone Treats. The biscuits are hard and meet the gerbil’s need for gnawing and tooth wear, as well as providing a source of nutrients and minerals. Do not feed your gerbils cat food.
We personally add VITA-Drops from Oasis; It’s a water soluble concentrate that provides vitamin essential for proper growth and good health maintenance. You can add it to your gerbil’s food, but it’s more effective to add it directly into their water bottle. We use 2-3 drops per 1oz. of water.
