{"topic_id":"exotic_nutrition_gerbil","category":"exotic-pet-nutrition","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_nutrition_gerbil\ncategory: exotic-pet-nutrition\ntitle: \"Gerbil nutrition — seed-based diet and supplemental protein\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Merck Veterinary Manual — Gerbil nutrition — seed-based diet and supplemental protein\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/exotic-health/mvm_gerbil.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-28\ntokens_estimated: 0\nverified: true\nverification: c1_substring\nsource_document: \"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Merck Veterinary Manual\"\n  title: \"Gerbil nutrition — seed-based diet and supplemental protein\"\n  url: \"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-07-28\"\n  ref: \"\"\n  doc_type: \"professional veterinary reference\"\n  needs_review: false\n---\n\n# Gerbil nutrition — seed-based diet and supplemental protein\nVerbatim first-hand facts from Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference). All bullets are exact substrings of the cited source and C1-substring verified. Numeric nutrient values are NOT asserted (NRC 2006 quantitative data unavailable).\n## Nutritional facts\n- Husbandry of Gerbils The diet of wild Mongolian gerbils consists of green vegetation, roots, bulb seeds, cereals, fruits, and insects.\n- Gerbils hoard food and are not normally coprophagic , unless their diet lacks adequate nutrients.\n- Gerbils thrive on commercially available pelleted rodent diets with 18–20% protein.\n","sources":["exotic-pet-nutrition — Gerbil nutrition — seed-based diet and supplemental protein (retrieved 2026-07-28)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-nutrition","title":"Gerbil nutrition — seed-based diet and supplemental protein","url":"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals","retrieved":"2026-07-28","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-health/mvm_gerbil.txt"},"source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference)","source_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-health/mvm_gerbil.txt","tokens_estimated":217,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}