lizb
Member
Posts: 140
|
Post by lizb on Dec 10, 2014 8:26:41 GMT -8
This post is difficult for me to write partly because I have no proof, and partly because the idea makes me so angry I can't see straight. If you read my post about Thanksgiving, you know I left my three boys in my housemate's care while I visited family. The housemate is extremely responsible. However her family visited. One of the guests was a 10-year-old boy with serious, undiagnosed emotional problems. (She believes autism, the parents don't want to test. I'm not going to make an armchair diagnosis. Screaming, hitting, stealing, lying - bad.) So, 10 year old now has a serious fascination with gerbils. Yeah. When I left on Tuesday I had three active, mostly tame gerbils. Upon my Friday return, they're constantly hiding, running for cover at every noise and not excited about human hands. I know the child was unsupervised on the floor of my room at least once, and he harassed my housemate's gerbils. Two out of my three have gotten better/more trusting. One (Digger) has not. He no longer wants to be handled, won't take treats from me.
Gerbil lovers, what would you do?
|
|
|
Post by gerbillover9612 on Dec 10, 2014 8:59:51 GMT -8
Oh no!! thats such an awful thing to come back too </3 Im glad Luke and Christopher have come out of their shell more. Maybe try getting your scent around their cage, leave a few treats around aswell and spend as much time as you can with them. Sorry thats not very helpful I really hope someone else cane help. I hope Digger warms up to you again xxx
|
|
|
Post by eleda on Dec 10, 2014 14:36:22 GMT -8
My boys were pretty spooked after my nieces came to visit (4, 3, and 1) They had supervised time with the gerbils every day and were pretty well behaved for being so young, but it still took the guys a little while to calm down after they left. granted, digger has had some time since thanksgiving, but I'm sure his experience was more traumatic than what my gerbils experienced. I would fall back to basic taming techniques again, as if starting from the beginning, and like GL9612 said try to interact frequently. It may help to work off some of your anger/frustration before reaching out to Digger since he may be able to pick up on your mood. Try to be calm when interacting with him.
I don't know how helpful this info is, but it is my thought of the matter. =( I'm sorry your babies had to endure a rough houseguest.
Edit: also, you mentioned "possible harm" in the title, but didn't say as much about that in your post. do you suspect he's been injured?
|
|
lizb
Member
Posts: 140
|
Post by lizb on Dec 10, 2014 15:43:05 GMT -8
Eleda, as for the possible harm... I can't say for sure. But I caught the child *deep breath* going after my housemate's gerbils (who were rescued from a mailbox!) and trying to grab one of their tails. I stopped him before anything could happen to either of the other gerbils.
BTW Child's mother sat him down and told him that isn't nice...
Thank you both for the support.
|
|
|
Post by qtoffer on Dec 10, 2014 20:57:16 GMT -8
Most ten year-olds are noisy and make quick sudden movements. Four days of that would frighten any animal not accustomed to children. I assume you checked them over for injuries - not necessarily at the hands of the child - one of my gerbils once tore off a toenail and I figure that she got spooked by a noise and hurt herself while diving for cover. Are the other two gerbils picking on Digger at all? If you can rule out an injury or a change in the gerbils' social hierarchy (either related or unrelated to the holiday), I'd say that your gerbils probably just got spooked by the intrusion. I'd suggest extra treats for a few days. Break out the big guns and offer them a special treat that smells and tasted irresistible - maybe a small bit of banana, peanut butter, sugar cookie, or potato chip. A little bit won't harm them and will hopefully encourage them to bond with you again. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Arwen (F) and Eowyn (F) 11/12/2011 - 20 gallon with 20 gallon topper Goldberry (F) 11/12/2011 - 20 gallon with 20 gallon topper
|
|