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Post by stellamaris on Sept 12, 2021 17:15:04 GMT -8
So I've had Scooby out once before, but he was younger and more skittish.
Today was a lovely summer's end day, so I encouraged him into his tiny carrier, and we went for a walk. I passed a couple of fellows who exclaimed over him. One guy told me about the hamsters he'd had as a kid.
Scooby was out from under his hidey, and had his nose stuck through the bars so he could smell the smells. Very cute. And brave!
Later we met a woman who was interested, but she didn't maintain social distance - kinda stuck her face maybe 2 feet from him. Freaked him out a bit, and he stayed in his hide a couple minutes.
But he recovered and was soon out sniffing the air.
When we got back, I held his wee travel cage up to his topper, but he surprised me and refused to leave the wee cage. I spun his wheel and rattled his dish to no avail.
So we went out to the kitchen where he watched me make some Ramen noodles. Then we went to the table, where I ate while he worked up the nerve to leave his cage. He finally went exploring around the table top (first time!), and as I'd hoped, didn't try to jump off. (He did, however, try to climb into my noodle bowl!)
He's asleep in his wee hide for now. When he awakes, I'll see if he's willing to go back to his home.
What great little pets gerbils are!
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Post by Mygerbiliscute on Sept 12, 2021 17:32:21 GMT -8
That is so cool!
What type of carrier do you have? I've never seen any of those in the pet shop.
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Post by stellamaris on Sept 12, 2021 18:02:52 GMT -8
It WAS pretty sweet. I was just trying to get him used to being carried around in the small cage for if he needs a vet visit, or whatever. I was pleasantly surprised when he seemed to enjoy it!
The cage is about 9" (23 cm) long by 6.5" (17 cm) and 6" high. Less than 3" plastic base, white plastic covered metal bars with a handle. The base is just high enough for him to leave a trail of substrate wherever we go. 😄
I put a small bendy bridge in for him to hide under, and he seems perfectly comfortable. He just climbed back into his topper a few moments ago, and is having a nap. And perhaps dreaming of the great outdoors.
I wonder if he's going to start demanding to go for walks now, like a dog. I hope I haven't created a monster! 😯
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Post by teambenji543 on Sept 12, 2021 18:14:36 GMT -8
Haha! I’ve never brought my gerbils outside, but my guinea pigs definitely enjoy “walks”. (A.K.A, a bit of outside time to eat grass.) I have a gerbil carrier, so maybe my gerbils would enjoy some fresh air. Although I would NEVER let them out as I don’t trust my gerbils to not run away!  |
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Post by stellamaris on Sept 13, 2021 6:53:08 GMT -8
It's this cage:
Prevue Hendryx SP1304BLUE Pet Products Travel Cage for Birds and Small Animals, Blue
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Post by Markpd on Sept 13, 2021 11:38:41 GMT -8
Glad he seemed to enjoy it , I take it you didn't come across any dogs then? I'm sure they'd be interested in him, but I bet he won't want to be neat them! I contemplated building an outdoor run for gerbils just before I got my boys (obviously including mesh for the roof and floor too). The idea was to place the run on the lawn (I don't use fertilizers or pesticides) so they could investigate all the different plants and have a much larger space to run around (I'd be there watching them all the time they're there). The run would include some hideys so they could take cover. The idea came from when we had rabbits as kids, they'd spend a lot of their time in the runs through the warmer months. Also at that time I had a Hamster, I built a larger wooden box for him which I put outside and mostly filled with earth, I let it grow wild and later put him in it, he loved exploring it! One day in there I saw stop, then furiously tug at something, at 1st I thought he'd found a tasty root, but then as he managed to get it out I realised he was having a tug of war with an earthworm!  Which he then greedily devoured!  Back to the gerbil run idea, (we discussed it in a thread somewhere here btw, 1+ yr ago), I was put off it because of the tricky part of trying to get them back into whatever I used as a carrier, and the risk of them escaping at that point. Anyway, later on I forgot about it, but I also found that Avon is very reluctant and nervous at leaving their cage. When I put him on the sofa, he would almost straight away want to go back, Blake is definitley more adventurous, but even then, after 5-10 mins he would want to return to their cage, but both would get panicky if they couldn't. Although they now both enjoy leaving their cage for a while to mess around in the Rotastak sat next to their main cage, and Blake loves going to the sandpen I made for them . Avon very rarely goes their under his steam, though he will usually explore around there for a few minutes if I put him there. |
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Post by catnut on Sept 13, 2021 14:17:39 GMT -8
glad Scooby liked his outdoor adventure for the most part, i have taken gerbils outside but it was rare because i know they are very skittish and it can scare them more than they'd enjoy it. I had a good carrier for them but put twist ties to make sure there were no escapes.
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Post by yeti218 on Oct 4, 2021 22:40:12 GMT -8
Pretty cool story. For some reason I found the idea of him keeping you company for lunch very charming. I also want some noodles now...
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Which he then greedily devoured! 
), late 70s
