Post by southeastus on Aug 31, 2021 17:54:22 GMT -8
I decided to name my younger solitary gerbil Harriet the Spy, after the fictional nosy little girl. 
[I adopted her a week ago from a pet store where she had been living alone for at least 3 weeks. Just a few days ago I found another long-term solitary gerbil at another pet store, and I may introduce the two eventually. I named the newer one Kinsey Milhone, after a fictional adult Private Investigator. These gerbils are both very curious].
Anyway, so today I took Harriet out of the tank into a small bathroom, so small that when I spread a large bath towel over the cold tile, it covered about half the space. There were 5 boxes to run into, her beloved wheel (a Nite Angel, which I am very impressed with), her sand bath, and a few seeds scattered around. There was also me.
It was good to see her running around, more like the way she was built to run. She also spent some time on the wheel; I suspect the familiarity was soothing. She also spent a lot of time exploring me, running all over me and digging into my hair, but when will she learn that I'm not good to eat? I've had her for a week, but she still does test nibbles on a daily basis. I don't think my previous 2 gerbils had to test it out so many times. At first, when Harriet was new, I tried not to jump and startle her when
she bit, but by now, I hope she does get startled so maybe she'll learn to stop it!
It's not just me she nibbled, though. She also nibbled: the books I put at the bottom of the door to close the gap, the door stop, the towel, my hair, my clothes, the boxes....
The hardest part was trapping her to put back into the tank. I kept trying to encourage her to go into a box and when she finally did, I turned it up and closed the flaps and carried her back. She was scratching at the box so frantically I wondered if the outing was worth the stress, but once back in the tank, she came right into my hand for some seeds, and proceeded to run on the wheel. She loves that thing so much I almost named her Wheeler.
[I adopted her a week ago from a pet store where she had been living alone for at least 3 weeks. Just a few days ago I found another long-term solitary gerbil at another pet store, and I may introduce the two eventually. I named the newer one Kinsey Milhone, after a fictional adult Private Investigator. These gerbils are both very curious]. Anyway, so today I took Harriet out of the tank into a small bathroom, so small that when I spread a large bath towel over the cold tile, it covered about half the space. There were 5 boxes to run into, her beloved wheel (a Nite Angel, which I am very impressed with), her sand bath, and a few seeds scattered around. There was also me.
It was good to see her running around, more like the way she was built to run. She also spent some time on the wheel; I suspect the familiarity was soothing. She also spent a lot of time exploring me, running all over me and digging into my hair, but when will she learn that I'm not good to eat? I've had her for a week, but she still does test nibbles on a daily basis. I don't think my previous 2 gerbils had to test it out so many times. At first, when Harriet was new, I tried not to jump and startle her when
she bit, but by now, I hope she does get startled so maybe she'll learn to stop it!
It's not just me she nibbled, though. She also nibbled: the books I put at the bottom of the door to close the gap, the door stop, the towel, my hair, my clothes, the boxes....
The hardest part was trapping her to put back into the tank. I kept trying to encourage her to go into a box and when she finally did, I turned it up and closed the flaps and carried her back. She was scratching at the box so frantically I wondered if the outing was worth the stress, but once back in the tank, she came right into my hand for some seeds, and proceeded to run on the wheel. She loves that thing so much I almost named her Wheeler.
), late 70s
