Is Cinnamon Safe?

by libbylovesmice Mon 04 Jul 2016, 3:59 pm

Hello! Sorry I haven't been to active, I went up to the mountains and there was no wifi! Anyways, we have these apple cinnamon Gerber puffs. that I would love to give my gerbils. Is cinnamon even safe for gerbils/mice? Sorry if this in the wrong category!

by CinnamonPearl Mon 04 Jul 2016, 4:28 pm

Maybe a mod should move this to the nutrition section? It's not really off topic.

by MouseLover Mon 04 Jul 2016, 4:49 pm

Mountains sounds nice Smile

I'm not sure but I think cinnamon's quite spicy for little critters, so I probably wouldn't chance it.

by AnonONIagent Mon 04 Jul 2016, 6:00 pm

MouseLover wrote:Mountains sounds nice I'm not sure but I think cinnamon's quite spicy for little critters, so I probably wouldn't chance it.

Yeah, remember that stupid "cinnamon challenge" that went around the internet (mostly YouTube) a while back, where people would take a mouthful of cinnamon and try to swallow it all? Now with how small mice are, just a pinch of cinnamon to us is a mouthful to them. I imagine it would be a bad idea to give mice straight cinnamon or cinnamon/sugar.

Now if the cinnamon is baked into something like those gerber bites, I imagine it would probably be fine.

by scaredymouse Mon 04 Jul 2016, 7:13 pm

The OP was asking if this was okay to give to her gerbils, so members lounge is the appropriate area for this question.

It *might be okay in gerber puffs but there are so many other flavors they like, I would just get one of those instead. But since you already have the apple cinnamon, try smelling them and tasting them, and if the cinnamon is prominent- I would say no. I know cinnamon is safe for mice in small amounts but it really is too strong for them. I imagine the same holds true for gerbils but I can't say for sure.