Giving a frightened little guy a home!

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

I just recently adopted Frank Jr. Jr. Jr. (For any friends fans out there...) from Petco! 
He was absolutely terrified of humans when I first got him. I went into the pet store to have a passing look at the gerbs, when I noticed him. He seemed just so bored and completely unmotivated to live in his tiny tank, it looked to be a 3 gal. So, I asked the small animal handler if I could hold him. The guy sated, and I quote "Gerbils aren't handleable, and they don't like it, that's just how they are." That was my first warning as to how he was treated. Now, to any of you gerbil owners out there, as I assume most of you are, I'm sure you can testify that this is in fact not true at all! 
So, I told the guy I was a breeder, and he allowed me to handle him inside his enclosure. 
I barely peeked the tip of my pinky over the edge of the house, and he freaked out and started hyperventilating. How long was it since he had been handled!? 
Obviously, knowing me I couldn't just walk away so I took him home! 
He's an awesome little guy full of lots of character! I love him so much, and am working on pairing him with an older male of mine. He's still not quite used to the fact that perhaps I don't want to kill him and eat him, but he's getting there
I wish I had a video of him when I first put him in his new 20 gal tank, unfortunately I don't, or I would put it up here in this post. 
I could practically see him smiling. He would dig tunnel, then grab a huge mouthful of hay and hork it down, then he would drink a bunch of water, dig more, run on his wheel, run around the tank, followed by stuffing his mouth full of seeds and dried fruits, and then repeating the process. 
It's really so wonderful for him to have a good home finally. I'm so gad I gave it to him. 
It's been a little less then a week since I've had him, and I really couldn't love him more. 

Thanks for reading this! I hope you've enjoyed the story

[betty]

How lovely - and how I love Frank Jnr - so you have my vote there.

Shame that sometimes one person's view of something overshaddows everyone elses. Bless you for finding and then taking him.

Best of luck for for the next few weeks and months helping him trust humans again.

[imogen]

This is so cute! I'm glad the nervous boy is in good hands. I have 2 nervous boys and I want to succeed at calming them and being at one with them also.

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Thank you!
I'm so glad I could rescue him as well. It's a slow process, but he's warming up to me day by day.

[Markpd]

Great to hear that you gave him a good home

"Gerbils aren't handleable, and they don't like it, that's just how they are." ..... now, to any of you gerbil owners out there, as I assume most of you are, I'm sure you can testify that this is in fact not true at all!

However there is some truth in what that guy said, perhaps what he actually meant is that they don't like being petted, this does often seem to be the case, although it's not the case always. People do occasionally report very tame and friendly gerbils (latest I recall is one of catnut's gerbils who recently passed away).

But even if he did just mean handling, it's quite common that they are very skittish and don't liked to be picked up (at first at the least).
For my limited experience, my previous boys, Avon virtually never* liked to be picked up and would try and run off straight away, Blake, after about 1yr old (IIRC) would usually sit still for several seconds to be transported or petted, but not always! *Avon, in the last couple of months of his life did very occasionally briefly sit still to be transported.

For my current boys, Gan and Vila (and I still can't tell one from the other! lol), I've had them 4 months now, one of them darn near panics to get off every time (he'll walk from one hand to the next a couple of times and then might leap off!), the other will now willing walk onto my hand to be transported to their playpen, he will often just stand still (and balance beautifully) whilst I take him to it . I haven't experimented too much yet with how long he'd stay still as atm I'm still afraid he might leap off without warning too! (Oh yea, and Blake would do that occasionally straight off from sitting still!).

Perhaps I'm not doing something right? But 3 out of 4 of my recent gerbils haven't liked being handled!
I can't quite remember how Blackie was (see sig) with being handled, although I do remember he was quite happy to jump onto my hand, run up my arm and sit on my shoulder to be transported! (oh wait, I remember now that he wouldn't mind being petted for a few seconds or so, then when he was bored he would lightly nip me to say so! lol).

[LilyandDaisy]

I also think there's some truth in the idea that gerbils don't like being handled. I think very few gerbils actually get pleasure from being held in your hand (human hands are very strange things to a gerbil: warm, sweaty and often smelling of soap or lotion) but they can learn to tolerate it so that they don't necessarily dislike it. They can still enjoy other forms of human contact like climbing on us, being given treats and so on. They can even learn to voluntarily jump into a hand as a gateway to other kinds of interaction But in general, being held in a hand or stroked or cuddled isn't really their "thing".

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Jul 9, 2023 7:01:10 GMT -8 Markpd said:

Great to hear that you gave him a good home

"Gerbils aren't handleable, and they don't like it, that's just how they are." ..... now, to any of you gerbil owners out there, as I assume most of you are, I'm sure you can testify that this is in fact not true at all!

However there is some truth in what that guy said, perhaps what he actually meant is that they don't like being petted, this does often seem to be the case, although it's not the case always. People do occasionally report very tame and friendly gerbils (latest I recall is one of catnut's gerbils who recently passed away).

But even if he did just mean handling, it's quite common that they are very skittish and don't liked to be picked up (at first at the least).
For my limited experience, my previous boys, Avon virtually never* liked to be picked up and would try and run off straight away, Blake, after about 1yr old (IIRC) would usually sit still for several seconds to be transported or petted, but not always! *Avon, in the last couple of months of his life did very occasionally briefly sit still to be transported.
For my current boys, Gan and Vila (and I still can't tell one from the other! lol), I've had them 4 months now, one them, darn near panics to get off every time (he'll walk from one hand to the next a couple of times and then might leap off!), the other will now willing walk onto my hand to be transported to their playpen

Oh, well thank you for the correction. All the gerbs I've had will jump on my hand when I put it in the tank, (after I've had them for a month or so) and enjoy being handled, at least that I can see. Some of them accept pets, others don't. I think it's probably just personality and I've gotten lucky. But I wasn't aware of that! I stand corrected