Re: Gerbil

by CallaLily Thu 06 Sep 2018, 10:54 am

Peachy wrote:That's a lot of gerbil bedding!!! Thank goodness gerbils don't come close to smelling as much as mice. Maybe a shelter could list them as available and let you "foster" them? I thought about doing this with my litters but it's so hard to choose who to let go!

It really is. They need so so much bedding. Probably silly but I was hoping some would go to at least a friend of a friend, so I could maybe hear how they settle in. But no one in my circle seems to care to share. The most I’ve gotten is a few laughs and eeews. Seems my friends and family kind of suck. Laughing

I mean I guess I already knew I was the “weird” one. I’m going to see about posting on some pet gerbil groups first and if that doesn’t work out I’ll see if any shelters would be able to help get the word out.

EDIT: Ok. I messaged one of my gerbil groups to ask about posting on the page - not sure if it’s agsinst the rules. I’ve sent a request to join the other gerbil group’s rehoming page so I can post there. And I went ahead and emailed a small animal rescue. They’re based in Maryland but technically work through foster homes and not an actual facility. In their FAQs I noticed they said they sometimes offer courtesy posts on their petfinder page, so fingers crossed. I’m not far from the DE/MD border so maybe?

Edit2: Yay I received a message back from the first gerbil group allowing my post. And what looks like an automated response from the rescue saying they aren’t accepting any surrenders at this time — which isn’t what I asked for so we’ll wait and see.

by CallaLily Mon 10 Sep 2018, 5:48 pm

Here are pics of the babes from Emrys’ second litter. 2 agouti, 1 black — though one of the agouti looks a bit darker so I’m not sure if that’s considered a different coat color or if eventually it’ll grow in the same or change with a molt?

by MerciToujoursMaPetiteBoop Mon 10 Sep 2018, 7:04 pm

Such wee bits of perfection!

While you're looking for homes for some of your gerbil overload, have you checked in with any elementary-level private schools in your area? Nothing against public schools (as long as they are any good, you know) -- it's just that it seems they might have more rules and less flexibility when it comes to non-humans residing in classrooms than a private school might.

The one big concern, though, would be how to make sure the gerbils receive proper care over weekends and holidays. Back when I was filling in for one of the science teachers at a private school, the other staff science teacher had 24-hour access to the classroom and could check in on the snake and the hamsters as she felt necessary.

(Don't worry -- the snake and the hamsters were separate. The hamsters were not there as feeders.)

But there wasn't much you could do about that tank full of crawdaddies -- more often than not, you'd come in Monday morning and you'd have to open the windows to vent out their accumulated stinkieness, and then fish around in the tank to retrieve the pieces of the tankmates they'd eaten over the weekend. Shake head

by CallaLily Mon 10 Sep 2018, 8:10 pm

I’ll have to check into that. I hadn’t thought of it, thank you.

I’ve got that post on the one gerbil group and I even made a Craigslist ad but no responses yet. I haven’t heard back from the rescue beyond that first response that looked automated. Maybe it wasn’t and that is that..? I’m still waiting for the other gerbil group’s rehoming page to accept my join request.

And boy have I learned my lesson to check and recheck and triple check genders and then keep checking. Every day I get the boys from the first litter out for play time, I recheck. Every time I get Cream out, I recheck. Don’t want to make that mistake again.

I think this second litter might be 1 girl, 2 boys. But I’ll keep rechecking them too. girl_sigh

by AmyLynn Tue 11 Sep 2018, 3:31 pm

We had a classroom pet when I was in a private elementary school. (It was a bunny) At the beginning of the year you where allowed to sign up "with parents permission" to be the weekend caregiver for the pet. We got to take turns taking him home for the weekend. It was so exciting when I was a kid. So I think asking some of the teachers.

by CallaLily Fri 05 Oct 2018, 10:30 am

Just realized I haven’t updated in a while.

I’ve had two responses from Craigslist so far. The first stopped messaging once they realized the four older agouti babies all look exactly the same (they wanted three distinctly different looking babies for their children). I’m still messaging with the second, so fingers crossed.

The younger babes will be 5 weeks old this weekend so I’ll be moving the two little boys into their own tank. Leaving the only girl from that litter with Emrys and Cream. Hopefully they’ll continue to get along. I’ve read more than two females in a group are more likely to have a falling out than males.

Here are some pics that I’ve snapped since I last shared here. If you follow me on Instagram you’ve already seen them.

by FosterMom Fri 05 Oct 2018, 10:37 am

A little drop of food coloring is a safe way to tell them apart until you learn them well enough to tell them apart from personalities/size/small color differences. I've used that with new fosters until I know them better.

by CallaLily Sun 07 Oct 2018, 2:26 pm

So I moved the youngest two agouti boys over to their own setup today. It’s looking like I might have a home lined up for them but my youngest is calling them Bill and Frances for the time being.

My middle son is taking the black male and one of the agouti males from the first litter as soon as I have their setup finished. He plans to pick names for them. So I decided to go ahead and move the name Hershey over to the black female from the second litter (my nephew chose the names Cream and Hershey).

So the new Hershey (female) is staying together with Emrys and Cream in one half of the 55. In the other half of the 55 will be the remaining three agouti brothers from the first litter. My youngest helped come up with the name idea for them — they are Jeffrey, Geoffrey, and Jeffri. Laughing

That way no one is called the wrong name. Laughing

Hopefully at some point soon I’ll pick up another tank so I can move those three agouti brothers into something bigger and give the girls the full run of the 55. And if the younger boys end up staying I’ll need a bigger tank for them too (they’re currently in the 15). Cool

by FosterMom Sun 07 Oct 2018, 5:20 pm

How do you separate the 55 so they can't get from one side to the other?

by CallaLily Sun 07 Oct 2018, 7:29 pm

I was going to upload a picture but it’s not working tonight with my poor connection.

My husband made a very snug fitting divider with a wooden frame and hardware cloth stapled securely on both sides. This leaves a gap between each side so there’s no way for fighting or anything else to be going on through the mesh.

by CallaLily Wed 10 Oct 2018, 12:36 pm

My son decided on the names Hamlet (agouti) and Horatio (black).

by MerciToujoursMaPetiteBoop Wed 10 Oct 2018, 1:20 pm

Hee hee -- is your son a Willie Shakespeare fan, or does he just dig the names?

What a coincidence, though. Before I signed in at work today I decided to read some pages in the ten or eleven books I have going these days. In A Shakespearean Actor Prepares, by Adrian Brine and Michael York, I read:

... in rewriting an old play about Hamlet he put so much humanity into the role that through the ages men and women have identified themselves with the hero, and the play has become a sort of modern Everyman. But no doubt he set out simply to write a play about Hamlet.

And I added, in pencil: (I identify with Horatio.)

by CallaLily Wed 10 Oct 2018, 1:41 pm

He’s a big fan of theatre in general. How neat that you were just reading about it. Very Happy

by CallaLily Tue 27 Aug 2019, 12:51 pm

Wow, I haven’t updated in a long time. Embarassed

In June, Horatio escaped his cage. We looked everywhere, set live traps, etc but we never found him. Sad

Hamlet was still in the cage and has been doing ok despite being alone. I thought about introducing him to my other pair of boys (Bill & Frances) but in all my reading it sounds like introducing one gerbil to an already bonded pair/group of gerbils usually ends in disaster. So Hamlet has been alone until very recently, when I discovered Oghren dead in his hanging coconut hide. Sad

We were told Oghren was about a year old when we adopted him, so he was around 2 years 3.5 months old when he passed. Currently I have Hamlet and Merin in a split tank and it’s looking like intros are going to go well.

So this leaves me with four gerbil setups instead of five. (My middle son is away at college so his tank with Hamlet had been under my care)

I also wanted to mention that a few months back I found 10 inch Silent Spinners for sale at a local pet store. Despite hearing a few complaints about this size spinner, I purchased two. I did have a little trouble with one leaning forward at a weird angle and hitting the base but discovered it just wasn’t snapped down on the stand all the way. It would still pop off the stand now and then, which I solved by hot gluing it on. Never any trouble with the second one. Don't Know

Anywho, long story short and despite some of the gerbils showing zero interest in a wheel, I really like the 10 inch Silent Spinners. They’re very similar to the 6.5 inch one, which I loved for my smaller mice (but obviously too small for gerbils). Very quiet, spin freely (unlike the stupid clunky 12 inch one), and have held up really well so far.

Wheels seem hit or miss with my gerbils. Oghren & Merin and Bill & Frances love/d their wheels. The Jeffries and the girls completely ignored them!

In case it’s not clear, I do not recommend the 12 inch Silent Spinner at all - it’s noisy, difficult to spin, and clunky. But I do recommend the 10 inch Silent Spinner - they’re quiet, spin easily, and are more sleek.

by Mosey mouse Sun 01 Dec 2019, 8:34 pm

Hello sorry I have to say a 40 gallon is too big it could work but it serves a risk that they could de-clan for three I would say 29-30 gallon is better but you could do a 35 if you want. I’m not a expert but that’s what I have read but if you want to talk to some actual breeders and people who have had gerbils for years I would visit the gerbil forum it has a guest page since they have to approve your account before you join.

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