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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 21, 2004 1:23:17 GMT -4
>> The gerbilarium to be tidied every day and thoroughly cleaned out every three months. << "Three months"?! I am not making this up. The LINKThe AGS site says it should be cleaned every 2-3 weeks. I suggest people e-mail the people at the RSPCA who clearly have an uncorrected typo.
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Post by adara on Feb 21, 2004 18:16:30 GMT -4
Actually DF if they are housed in a gerbilarium with peat 3 months is [usually] absolutely fine. If they are on shavings or another substrate though then yeah every couple of weeks.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 21, 2004 22:16:14 GMT -4
The RSPCA site said nothing about "peat" in their cleaning advice - and that I also find hard to believe, that three months is OK (although I suppose I'll take your word for it). Even IF that is true (about the peat) their advice is misleading and subject to easy misinterpretation. I wonder how many people, with just an inch of aspen, don't clean it for three months as a result of that RSPCA advice.
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Post by adara on Feb 22, 2004 14:12:31 GMT -4
I know it's hard to believe but seriously, peat absorbs everything and anything. I've never EVER had a stinky tank or gerbils sick from not cleaning them out.
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Post by adara on Feb 22, 2004 14:14:04 GMT -4
Oh, and it does say what to bed them on. "Plenty of burrowing material (potting compost and chopped straw or hay) and clean white kitchen paper or soft hay for bedding." 'Potting compost' is the same thing as peat
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 22, 2004 21:45:27 GMT -4
I think then the RSPCA site needs a Glossary of Terms and Explanations - and a clear statement that "tanks with beddings of aspen or Carefresh need to be cleaned every two to three weeks". If their explanations were unclear to me I can only imagine how unclear they are to a gerbil novice especially a youngster.
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Post by adara on Feb 23, 2004 12:56:45 GMT -4
DF: Yeah that might work only aspen and carefresh are VERY hard to get hold of over here. I'd say the majority of rodent owners that don't know jack about their pets still use pine bedding [people keep saying that here in the UK it's ok but it really REALLY isn't!] as it's the most widely available bedding. I've never ever seen aspen and Carefresh is very expensive and only available in small amounts. But yeah, the RSPCA aren't exactly a good bunch anyway so I wouldn't expect anything but crap from them
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 23, 2004 22:44:58 GMT -4
Yea, that's another thing. I thought the U.K. was advanced in animal care, but apparently people there can't even get something as basic as aspen, or even Carefresh! What's up with that?
Maybe someone could make lots of money distributing the stuff to pet stores!
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Post by rasputin on Feb 23, 2004 22:55:22 GMT -4
I imagine there are less people grinding up aspen trees in the UK. You're right -- maybe someone could make the big bucks as a distributor for aspen.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 23, 2004 23:54:12 GMT -4
Like Christmas trees, you'd grow them on controlled farms. I wonder if aspen is native to the U.K. and if the climate is not too cool for it. Apparently not native to the U.K.: ASPEN(Unless that site is exclusive to North American ranges).
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Post by adara on Feb 24, 2004 7:02:11 GMT -4
I believe aspen is native to the UK www.uksafari.com/britishtrees.htm but I think it's mainly used for furniture and flooring [could be wrong about that though]. I too think it's utterly ridiculous that an alternative to horrid shavings isn't available.
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Post by calvinator1 on Feb 24, 2004 11:34:03 GMT -4
Is there a special peat you use, or can you just head down to the local hardware store and pick up whatever they have (that doesn't have added chemicals etc.)?
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Post by adara on Feb 24, 2004 13:15:00 GMT -4
I use potting compost with no added chemicals. I always buy a fresh bag though [i.e. don't use stuff that's been open and left out in the greenhouse or something. I did that once and my gerbils got mites - I didn't do it again ]. It only costs like 99p for a bag. I usually find I need to open it and let it dry a little for a day or so too, as it's a moist substrate but is usually packaged a little too moist for gerbs.
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Post by coolgerbil29 on Mar 18, 2004 21:22:03 GMT -4
Weird. I clean my cage every week!
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Post by adara on Mar 19, 2004 19:13:17 GMT -4
Well yes, if you've got a cage as opposed to a tank, I'd imagine you don't house your gerbils on peat and straw.
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