After the amazing experience of Barley and her sisters, we had decided to take a break from gerbils. We had done very well sticking to our resolution until we popped into our local pet shop for some supplies. No trip to the pet store would be complete without a little look at the baby animals, what harm can it do? There was a sign on one of the animal tanks that read ‘Male gerbils, six months old. Please ask a member of staff’, so we did. Their original owner had found them a handful, anyone who knows happy healthy gerbils will understand what they meant, so they had returned them to the pet shop, which is far better that leaving them in a corner and ignoring them. We were given the gerbils for free, which made them even harder to refuse.
Baby Gerbils:
Barley & Rogue
We have had pairs of gerbils in the past and thought four would be fun. We were very lucky at the pet shop, they only had four and they were all girls just what we wanted. They were also all different colours.
Having four gerbils is an incredible experience, they are all such characters. Barley has the biggest personality, always learning new tricks to get her into trouble. Barley can climb out of the cage when the door is open, somehow managing to pull herself up with those little hands. With two cats in the house we have to be very careful she doesn’t end up as a cat toy!
Our pair of grey agouti girls were complete opposites but they were very happy together. Lumpy was a chubby little quiet one and Bumpy was always trying to get into trouble. It is hard to believe looking at the pictures but we could tell them apart. As youngsters Lumpy had a sore nose, nothing serious but it was their one distinguishing mark. With age Lumpy also became a little rounder :-) and also became known as ‘Chunky’. Also if there was any doubt Bumpy was usually the one hanging off the furniture.
Fudge was my moment of weakness. Derek was away for the weekend and I had just popped into the pet shop for a little look. Fudge was all alone there were no other small animals in the shop, not even hamsters! It was love at first sight, the round little gerbil came up to the glass and pressed his little nose on it. We didn’t have any gerbils at the time, though we did have Crunchie our little rattie friend. I knew I shouldn’t get him, Derek and I always like to be together when we get additions to the family, but he was so lovely. The assistant at the pet shop was surprised anyone wanted Fudge, he wasn’t a baby gerbil and the assistant also said he bit who ever went near him. I didn’t care I had been bitten by gerbils before and there was something about Fudge, he didn’t look like the biting type to me. On seeing the travel box the assistant stuck in his tank Fudge went straight in, no kidding he was very keen to leave that pet shop.