Post by mothman on Nov 1, 2014 22:27:06 GMT -8
Yet another update on Pepper and Joey, lol.
Joey continues to be reclusive, though he seems to be warming up slightly to my wife. He still takes treats by hand just fine on those times when he is out, but frequently takes the treat and goes away with it. Today while giving him an opportunity to sand bath he was quite willing to let me sprinkle sand on him and kind of pet him a bit (was trying to give him the idea of the sand bath, as so far neither of them get it)
Pepper, interestingly, has gone backwards a bit as far as his interest in us. He also typically now takes hand treats and then motors away to a 'safe spot', whereas previously he was more likely to sit on my hand while eating it, and even come and sit on my hand even without a treat and allow me to hold him. He seems a bit more skittish now, and more likely to scamper for cover if we startle him, whereas before he was more calm.
I was taking him out for out-of-tank play about every 2nd day, but wonder if that was too frequent for him as a youngster. Thinking I'll leave them in the tank for a bit longer between play time and see if that settles him a bit.
Pepper has also adopted Joey's habit of being more reclusive, and both gerbils are asleep far more than they are awake, at least during the day. They were only up and about today for maybe 1/2 an hour, that we saw, and we were home for a good portion of the day. We know they are awake some overnight, but we're hoping that they get some of their daytime energy back, as Pepper at least used to be more active at certain times of the day.
On a positive note, we saw Joey climb up to the cage topper for the first time today, without any urging on our part! It was quite cute as both gerbils ended up in the topper, and my wife gave each of them a raisin, and they sat by each other nom-nomming together. Then Joey wandered over to the exit ramp, and kind of sniffed, looked around, then Pepper came over, climbed down, and Joey followed, almost like Pepper was showing Joey how to do it.
I plan on waiting a few more days and then moving the food up, and if he's fine with that, then move the water up too... which if it works out will be perfect timing for our first tank cleaning next weekend, so I can fill the tank afterwards with more substrate.
Joey continues to be reclusive, though he seems to be warming up slightly to my wife. He still takes treats by hand just fine on those times when he is out, but frequently takes the treat and goes away with it. Today while giving him an opportunity to sand bath he was quite willing to let me sprinkle sand on him and kind of pet him a bit (was trying to give him the idea of the sand bath, as so far neither of them get it)
Pepper, interestingly, has gone backwards a bit as far as his interest in us. He also typically now takes hand treats and then motors away to a 'safe spot', whereas previously he was more likely to sit on my hand while eating it, and even come and sit on my hand even without a treat and allow me to hold him. He seems a bit more skittish now, and more likely to scamper for cover if we startle him, whereas before he was more calm.
I was taking him out for out-of-tank play about every 2nd day, but wonder if that was too frequent for him as a youngster. Thinking I'll leave them in the tank for a bit longer between play time and see if that settles him a bit.
Pepper has also adopted Joey's habit of being more reclusive, and both gerbils are asleep far more than they are awake, at least during the day. They were only up and about today for maybe 1/2 an hour, that we saw, and we were home for a good portion of the day. We know they are awake some overnight, but we're hoping that they get some of their daytime energy back, as Pepper at least used to be more active at certain times of the day.
On a positive note, we saw Joey climb up to the cage topper for the first time today, without any urging on our part! It was quite cute as both gerbils ended up in the topper, and my wife gave each of them a raisin, and they sat by each other nom-nomming together. Then Joey wandered over to the exit ramp, and kind of sniffed, looked around, then Pepper came over, climbed down, and Joey followed, almost like Pepper was showing Joey how to do it.
I plan on waiting a few more days and then moving the food up, and if he's fine with that, then move the water up too... which if it works out will be perfect timing for our first tank cleaning next weekend, so I can fill the tank afterwards with more substrate.