Hope you guys don't mind me posting this here. I feel like venting. I feel like it fits more with this forum than the gerbil forum I was just on. I was breeding a few years ago and quit when I had a large litter that brought me up to 17 of them. That was a little over 5 years ago. I just had the last one from that litter put to sleep today. (Another died last month). He had an external tumor growing for the past year and it finally got to be too much. He wasn't in pain up until today. I think he might've lived this long because the tumor was external, usually they're internal and cause complications faster.

But 5 years is OLD and unheard of. The average is 3 years, 4 if you're "lucky". So I now have people sending me replies that I must be mistaken about the age blalblabla. He was my loudest and pretty trained. Nothing like having to deal with the extra emptiness and quiteness it is in here tonight and having to read that crap. I know when they were born.

Yeah so I feed them a "raw" diet and kept it boring and simple. Sometimes I sprouted their seeds but most of the time I didn't because I couldn't keep up with it having so many of them.

It's more what I DIDN'T do that kept them alive so long.

- Quit using water bottles because they're made with cheap plastic, smelled like plastic and I'm sure tasted like plastic. They're also painted and gerbils like to chew them and scrape the paint off. The glass water bottles were no better, they smelled like rubber and metal. I made them drink out of glass bowls.

- I didn't "treat" them ridiculous foods like Cheerios because they looked "cute" holding it like it was a giant donut in their hands.

- I never put Neosporin on any of their wounds to prevent infection like other people did. Uh, they're animals. They will clean it naturally and heal naturally. They'd lick the Neosporin off anyway!

- I deprived them of chew toys like paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls because even though they just chew it and not eat it, they're still getting the glue on their tongues. I never felt comfortable giving them a glue-y paper towel roll.

- I also deprived them of "chew toys" such as pizza boxes, frozen food boxes, washed out milk cartons. etc. I'm sure licking the ink off a box goes through their systems and builds up. They're tiny and have tiny livers.

- Didn't really buy any "toy" sold at petstores. Even logs are plastic looking. I gave them real logs.... Freshly cut from people doing yard work.

- I never fed the mothers "dog food" or "milk bones" for extra "protein" so they could make milk. Heck, I don't even feed my dog "milkbones" why would I feed a herbivore that?

- I don't feed "food" from petstores. That stuff is shiny and plastic looking and even un-sproutable.

- I added Goji berries to their food instead of raisins like other people. I decided to do that after reading they come from the same country gerbils originated from. My common sense tells me if it's a food they might find in their natural habitat then go for it.

- I didn't use plastic in their tank. Gerbils are known for getting "scent gland tumors" because they rub the glands on everything to mark it. My theory is they keep rubbing it on cheap plastic and treated wood toys and would pick up the wood coatings and plastic toxins and get "tumors" that way. Out of 17 and I only had 2 with those scent gland tumors and that was in the beginning. The mother died from it and none of her offspring did. Enough Said.

- Also noticed the ones who ran on the wheels more lived longer. Yay for Exercise.

Amazing huh? Of course I won't tell *them* this.

That's a great story. Its amazing how the things you learned about your own healing applied to having a healthy, long lived gerbil. And its funny that the folk on the gerbil forum think you are mistaken about the lifespan of your gerbils.

Sorry about the loss of your Gerbil, still at least he had a long healthy life.

I once had a mouse that lived to be 2 and half which most die around ayear,usually before of either breathing difficulties due to sawdust litter or tumours. She was healthy and active and very playful and friendly and got caught by a cat that managed to get in my house. I was devastated, although most people thought it is only a mouse. I fed mine sprouted grains fruits vegs and seeds.

The other info you gave was interesting about cardboard chew toys.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2008 07:48AM by Ariel55.

Years ago I subscribed to a newsletter called "Health & Beyond" By Chet Day. It was a review of interviews he did with health oriented professionals and lay people from a Natural Hygiene point of view. I remember one of the interviews Chet did was with someone who had done extensive diet testing using mice. It was a fascinating interview and I tried to find it again and I have all of newsletters (4 years of em) but theres so many and they are organized by date not subject so its going to take some looking to find the interview. I'll look some more when time permits and if I can find it I'll post the interesting parts here. I remember that the mice who were fed a fresh raw diet did well while the other groups had problems. The mice that did well and were eating raw lived much longer and healthier. The results the interviewee got were similar to the results you saw. Thanks for posting your experiences . . ;-)

Condolences, and thanks for sharing your story!

likeitornot--
So sorry about your gerbil, but thanks for sharing your great story. The results are really impressive.

Sharrhan:


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