Yes is the short answer – gerbil can eat orange, white or purple carrots as often as any other fresh fruit or vegetable – they are totally safe for gerbils in gerbil-sized doses.
Carrots are a common veg in most people’s homes and so are more likely to be offered as a treat – especially as most humans don’t eat the nubbins at either end – perfect for a gerbil-sized portion.
They are even found in some gerbil foods and treats as standard – in the form of dehydrated slices or cubes. Sometimes they are quite big, so I break them down into smaller pieces to spread out the yumminess between my tanks.
Carrot Nutrition Facts:
Carrots themselves are a root vegetable – and quite difficult to grow if you have ever tried it yourself. The carrot lives underground growing deeper and wider everyday if the ground is soft enough and there are no stones are in the way – with soft fluffy leaves poking high out of the ground at the other end.
Most carrots you find in store are orange (although apparently all carrots were originally purple?) – but there are plenty of heritage varieties out there to choose from for yourself and your gerbils.
They are high in quite a few nutrients – the most well known being Vitamin A (great for seeing in the dark as my parents always used to say) – but they also contain vitamin C and potassium as well as fibre – and great tasting too!
However, most of the calories from carrots are as sugars – so don’t pick these as a weight loss food – however if you eat them unpeeled, you are spreading out the calories and getting more of the nutrients – just wash them instead. Luckily for gerbils they only get a small amount anyway so these sugars won’t affect them greatly.
Some carrots come with their tops attached – others not so much; some come organic and small – others come commercial and big. It’s a personal preference.
Ways Gerbils Can Eat Carrots:
There are several different ways to eat a carrot – as with all foods, so below is a quick breakdown of the most common ways.
Fresh Carrot Flesh – this is the most obvious way to feed carrots – as it is one of the ways we eat them. Just break or cut off a slice (or use the nubbins that you don’t want) and give to your clan.
They are fresh and hard when new, but do go a bit bendy after a while – so don’t leave it too long before offering them to your gerbils if you want your gerbils to have the best (no point feeding them a nutritious food if all the best nutrients have be oxidised already).
If you put in a whole carrot for them to graze on – beware that it will go black and mouldy quite quickly at room temperature. So watch out for that.
Dried/Baked Carrot Chips – these are human food that is an alternative to potatoes (which gerbils shouldn’t eat). These are thin slices or chips of carrot that have been baked in an oven and so are hard but brittle. If you are going to give your gerbils carrot chips make sure they are totally natural – home made even.
Commercial chips are most likely baked or fried in various types of sugars (not good for your gerbils (or you really) and may have herbs, pepper or other ingredients added. You can make your own carrot chips at home for yourselves too.
Dehydrated Carrots – these are absolutely yummy and easy to make – however, as you are reducing their size (taking out the water of which they are more than 60%) – you are increasing their nutrients and sugars as a percentage. So what used to be contained in the size of one normal carrot is now contained in something that is about a third of the size of a carrot – so giving your gerbil a gerbil-sized portion now could be too much sugar and nutrients – or a great one-off treat.
Clearly not worth making a whole batch of these for just your gerbils (she says helping herself to a whole bunch…)
Can Gerbils Eat Other Carrot Parts?
It isn’t just the fruity flesh that gerbils can eat – the carrot tops are a great source of taste and nutrients – and look great..
Carrot Tops – these are actually edible for humans too – but we rarely eat them as they taste quite bitter – even though they are full of nutrients. Just like with the carrots themselves when offered to gerbils – make sure you fully wash them and offer them as fresh as possible before they go all droopy.
Ideally you would only buy organic or use home raised tops to make sure they aren’t loaded with farming chemicals (as the tops are the only bit sticking out of the ground).
You can eat them too yourself of course, cooked in with soups, and other pies and bakes – don’t just let your gerbils have all the fun!
Carrot Seeds – as with all seeds, they are concentrated forms of nutrients that are aimed at not being eaten by animals (otherwise they won’t be able to do their job and grow into a plant). Therefore some seeds have toxins or very high levels of certain nutrients in them to make them unappealing or give them a headstart in life.
I don’t know enough about carrot seeds to say they are safe for gerbils to eat – so I wouldn’t feed them to my gerbils. Humans, however, can use carrot seed oil for a variety of health issues.
Carrot Plant Flowers – these do exist (as with all vegetables) – however, most of the family of plants that carrots come from (the umbelliferae – think cow parsley and hogweed) can cause allergic reactions on contact to their sap – so best avoid picking any bare-handed.
Wild Carrot Plants – as with all common plants, there is always a wild version somewhere – and this still grows in the States and Europe – however, as above, the sap can cause a contact allergy in many people.
Also, due to it’s lack of domestication it will have very small flesh and poor tasting parts – and there could be great difficulty in identifying it 100% (as there are a lot of things it looks very much like – including hemlock).
It is probably best to just stick to an actual carrot.