Strawberries are a common snack thatâs sort of become a summertime staple. This fruit contains some excellent vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B9, vitamin C, manganese, potassium, iron, magnesium, and phosphorous. On top of these health benefits, strawberries taste phenomenal. So, with all of the perks that come with strawberries, you may be wondering: Can gerbils eat strawberries?
In short, yes, you can and should feed your gerbil strawberries. Strawberries make for an excellent and safe gerbil snack that can be fed as frequently as most other fruits and vegetables. There are a few things to know about strawberries, though.
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What Do Gerbils Eat In The Wild?
In order to better understand why strawberries make for a nice snack for gerbils, it helps to know what gerbils naturally eat in the wild. Gerbils have only been kept as pets for a short amount of time, so that means that theyâve been roaming throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia for thousands of years. During this time, their digestive systems have evolved to efficiently digest and process the food that gerbils most commonly eat.
So, this is why itâs so important to feed your gerbil a diet thatâs close to what theyâd eat in the wild â their bodies are optimized that way!
In terms of what they eat, gerbils are classified as omnivores while primarily sticking to an herbivore diet. This classification means that gerbils eat a wide selection of foods, but they primarily end up eating plant matter. Because of this, gerbils are able to get most of their essential vitamins and minerals through a healthy mix of grains, fruits, and vegetables.
In the wild, gerbils are scavengers, eating any food that they manage to find. Although the area that gerbils live in determines what food is present there, a general trend is still present. The most common foods making up a gerbilâs diet are nuts, seeds, fruits, roots, grasses, bulbs, insects, and bird eggs.
What Makes Strawberries Healthy?
After looking at what gerbils eat naturally, itâs pretty clear why strawberries make for a healthy snack. Although gerbils generally donât have access to strawberries in the wild, itâs still a fruit thatâs totally fine for their digestive systems.
As weâve already pointed out, strawberries are high in essential vitamins. Because of the fact that gerbils can successfully digest strawberries, they can actually benefit from the nutrients within the strawberries. Now, if your gerbil is eating a healthy seed mix, their nutritional needs should already get met from that. However, the extra nutrients that come from strawberries wouldnât hurt gerbils at all.
Despite these benefits, strawberries do have a drawback, and that is that a lot of their calories come from sugar. Gerbilsâ bodies canât process sugar like humans can, so that means that they need special considerations. Fortunately, itâs not difficult to feed gerbils strawberries successfully.
How To Properly Feed Gerbils Strawberries
The main reason why strawberries canât be fed to gerbils frequently is because of their high sugar content. Because gerbils canât process sugar as well as humans can, their diets need to consist of a lot less sugar. This makes it so that strawberries are a great occasional snack, but they should be nothing more than that.
In terms of amount and frequency, a small piece of strawberry given 2-3 times per week is generally a safe amount. A âsmall pieceâ would be about the amount of strawberry remaining after youâve eaten one â the small bit at the end of the bottom of the stem. As you get to know your gerbil better, youâll get a feel for the exact amount that your gerbil should be eating.
If you do opt to feed your gerbil strawberries, then you need to make sure that theyâre having all of their dietary needs met. While strawberries are nutritious, theyâre not a staple part of a diet.
You must first ensure that youâre feeding your gerbil a high-quality seed mixture, as this is what gives them the nutrients that they need to live. Once youâve made sure that your gerbil is having their dietary needs fulfilled, then you can work on giving them treats. Vegetables are more of a once-daily treat, while fruits such as strawberries can be given, as stated earlier, about 2-3 times per week.
It helps to remember that strawberries would be used more as a way to keep a gerbilâs diet interesting, instead of it being a dietary staple.
Ways Gerbils Can Eat Strawberries
There are several ways that gerbils can eat strawberries! They donât have to be limited to eating the strawberry remains off of your strawberry stem. Below are some of the most popular ways that strawberries are eaten, and whether or not theyâre good for gerbils to eat, too.
- Fresh strawberries â This is, by far, the most common way to feed gerbils strawberries. Fresh strawberries can be bought organic or can be picked from a farm or in your own backyard! Gerbils can eat the stalk, a small piece, or the whole thing if itâs a very small strawberry. Just make sure to clean it out of your gerbilâs cage immediately as it can start to rot quickly.
- Dehydrated strawberries â These are also a very nice treat for gerbils. One thing to note about this kind of strawberry is that theyâre much more condensed. Since about 90-95% of the water has been removed, smaller pieces of strawberry have higher amounts of sugar. Keep this in mind when portioning your treats.
- Dried strawberries â These strawberries have had even more water removed than dehydrated strawberries, meaning that theyâre even more dense with their sugar content. Once again, be mindful of how much youâre feeding your gerbil.
- Strawberry jam â Although it seems like a nice treat, strawberry jam should not be fed to gerbils by any means. Jams contain a massive amount of added sugar, in addition to pectin or lemon juice, which are not healthy for gerbils. Stick to the natural fruit in order to be safe.
âOther Great Gerbil Snacks
âWhile strawberries are certainly a great snack for gerbils to eat, it shouldnât be the only snack that you feed your gerbil. Diversity in your gerbilâs diet is the key to health! Due to the fact that there arenât any good gerbil treats commercially available, other fruits and vegetables make for other tasty and healthy snacks.
