My gerbils won't eat Vegetables fruit or treats, etc.?

Question

I have male two Gerbils, that I've had for about 8 months now, and they don't seem to have any interest at all in eating anything but the food that comes in the commercial seed/nut packages.

But there is one exception, one of my gerbils will eat green peas(not the pod) occasionally.

I've tried plenty of other foods including

-Organic washed baby carrots

-Organic spring mix(washed)

-Yogurt drops

-Whole grain bread

-Spinach leaves(raw)

-Apple slices

I bought my Gerbils at 10 weeks old from a good reliable local pet store.

I just want to know if there is any way I can get them interested in other healthy foods, so they get all the nutrition they need.

Answer 1

you probably should call a vet

Answer 2

Try pumpkin seeds.  They are a great treat for your gerbils.  Also, a small piece of Milkbone dog treats is good too, especially for protein if they are skinny or ailing.  

One thing my gerbils always like are a small piece of grape.  They go nuts over those.

I own 6 gerbils and all of them have different tastes.

Answer 3

some gerbils just don't like certain types of food..the only thing you can do is try more foods....try some celery my gerbils love them

Answer 4

remove the sunflower seeds from their food if there are any. they prefer those to anything and probably get full on those. also offer different treats to see what they like. its not uncommon for animals to prefer some foods to others.

Answer 5

I've found cooking the carrots helps.

Cut them into bits and steam them?

My boys love their apples and Triscuits, and cooked pasta.

You can try taking the food bowl out for a couple hours and leaving the veggies where it was.

Hopefully they make he connection and snag a bite or two, and learn it is food.

Afterward, put the seed mix back in and see what happens.

Some small animals that are picky are that way because of the diet they had growing up. As in, before you bought them.

Some breeders don't offer fresh fruits and veggies, so they don't know to eat anything that isn't the mix. :]

Answer 6

If you are leaving it in there for a while and they won't eat it I'm not sure if there is anything you can do.  I have five gerbils and they all have different eating habits.  Of my three males, one won't touch vegetables and the others will.  All three of my boys will eat everything in their food dish.  

However, my girls are extremely picky.  They will eat a few pieces of some vegetables but their food dish is always half full.  The only seem to want to eat the sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.  I'm sure they eat some of the other stuff but not as much as my boys do.  It makes me worry sometimes because one of my girls is very thin.  She is very active and alert but out of all my guys, she is the most picky eater I have ever had.  

They will get plenty of nutrition from the regular seed mix.  Every gerbil has a different eating personality.  You can try to take out the sunflower seeds and the fattening seeds and see if that helps.  Gerbils tend to want to eat the fattening stuff first!

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