Food for baby gerbils

Question
Sean,
We have a litter of baby gerbils that are 13 days old now.  When the time comes that the babies are weaned from their mother, is there any special food I can give them to help their transition?  I have read somewhere that Cheerios was good for them.  Do you have any opinion?

Answer
Hi Beth!

You don't have to give the gerbils any special food (and indeed, I don't recall any weaning foods being availble for rodents on the market right now), they will start exploring their environment before their eyes are even open by pushing themselvs around and "tasting" things they come across.  Once their eyes are open you may notice them sampling the adult's food.  By the time they are ready to be taken from their mother and separated by gender, they will be eating solid food perfectly fine.

Plain Cheerios are probably fine for them, in moderation.  I used to give human breakfast cereals (no sweetened or dyed kinds, please) to almost all the animals in my house, including my parrot, until I recently read an article in Bird Talk in which they stated that the added iron found in breakfast cereals is bad for birds.  I'm not sure if the same holds true for rodents, but nevertheless I stopped giving my animals breakfast cereals as treats.  Instead I give them spray millet, dried sunflower flowers (the actual dried mature flowers with the seeds in them), and every once in awhile, the odd kibble or two of cat or dog food.

But like I said, a Cheerio here and there is not likely to hurt them.

Thanks for the question, and feel free to ask me any others you may have!