Post by gerbiefan on Jan 4, 2006 15:53:48 GMT -8
Just a couple minutes ago, I finished making sure each and every gerbil is safely tucked inside their homes. I guess it was my fault that I spent the last hour trying desperately to coax two of my nearly 6 week old pups out of my closet, but it was still a bit irritating all the same.
I decided to set my playpen up in the corner, using the wall for two sides of enclosure, thus, I was able to enlarge their playpen for more room to run. One wall actually was the closet door, where at the bottom, a small gap, apparently large enough for still fairly small pups to sqeeze under with no effort, is located. I noticed this before placing the whole family in the pen, but I thought if I just watched them closely enough, I could prevent them from slipping into the closet.
Well, Smoke and Pearl were enjoying the spacious outing with their 5 pups, until they remembered that the pen was quite easy to jump over, and off they went... So I retrieved them, and decided to return them to their linked aquarium home so I wouldn't have to worry about them escaping while I was playing with the pups. It turns out, turning my back for a couple minutes to recover the parents was more than enough time for two of the little pups to slip under and into the large expanse of ...*gasp* my cluttered closet.
They darted back out, but even when nothing seems frightening at first, they get rather skittish, and quickly skittered back in. So, I put the other three away, just to ensure that I wouldn't have more to catch later on, and tried to encourage them bak out.
They were starting to edge a little closer when one of their sisters back at home decided something was really scary, and started thumping, leading to a domino effect of every other gerbil in the room either scattering noisily up their tubes or started thumping themselves. Well, let's put it this way, from then on, they weren't coming out. They behind a bin, or under this giant stuffed horse that was in one corner, and peered out, hurriedly dashing right back in as if I was some huge dog about to devour them.
So, I came up with the idea that if I put their parents in the closet, they would feel a bit more comfortable. I was right, they started following Pearl around, until they saw me, and then they hid again. I put the playpen around the closet doors, so I could have them open, but this also meant that when Smoke and Pearl got tired of exploring the closet, they could run out, and make a leap for freedom in my room, eventually, they would start running around the entire house. When they seemed to be getting tired of the closet, I stupidly put them under a nice wooden basket (large enough to accomodate them for a few minutes, and they had plenty of air, of course). Ignoring the fact that they were gnawing spastically at the wood, I found an empy section of their aquarium, and placed it inside the closet (they ate a hole in the lid a long time ago, so they don't live in it anymore), hoping that the pups would go into the hole so that I could easily transport them back to the other siblings.
After glancing at the damage that had been done to the basket, I put Smoke and Pearl back in the closet, and almost immediatly, one of the pups went into the hole in the aquarium lid. One caught, hurray!
But, the other was much more difficult. She didn't come out at all for a very long time, and when she did, Smoke leapt onto a piece of paper, resulting in a very startling sound, and there went the pup. Pearl by this point was back in the cage with the other pups (seeing as she jumped out countless times, and was becoming more of a distraction than an assistance). The aquarium was on its side, angled so that it blocked the large part of the closet from a much more manageable, smaller area (of course, the little pup much enjoyed to remain in the large, and "wild" side
). She finally started coming out, and went right inside the hole. Finally, caught! Haha, wrong. When I moved my hand in to tilt the cage back up so I could take her back home, she spun and ran right out. Then, I had the idea to make it so that she could get between the cage and into the smaller portion of the closet (and when she was over there, I would close the gap). She started testing this new gap at once, but when I tried to close it... *zip* back to the large half. Strangely, the moving aquarium seemed amusing to her (I think she was just trying to irritate me), and she kept darting back and forth; she went to the small side, I tried to close the gap, and right back to the large side (repeat this about 10 times). Fianlly, she went in the hole in the lid again... and success!!!! I found Smoke nearby of course, and put him in the aquarium also, they were all home at last.
Wrong again. I put Smoke back in, and then the pup didn't feel like going home, so as I tried to capture her in my hands to put her away, both parents leapt out of the open lid of one of their aquariums, and off they went. The moment that happened, the pup gladly scrambled onto my hand and went to join her sisters.
Pearl was easy to catch, but Smoke... He went to visit the neighbors in the CritterTrail 3, in other words, my female trio, Connie, Cornflower, and Mariel (they are very aggressive with gerbils that look into their cage). Naturally, all three of the females gathered for the attack on the outsider, and this sometimes can get them accidentally fighting with each other. Smoke, of course, happily was sniffing at the angry gerbils, not aggressive in the least. After he had gotten them upset with eachother for a moment, he freaked out and ran under the dresser (acting much like his little pups). It was quite a relief that it took only a moment longer to coax him out and have him safely tucked away with his family.
Victory!!!!
I'm sure if you actually read that whole long thing, you are quite glad to hear the end, lol.
What do you guys think, all of their odd behavior (they timed everything so perfectly that it would create a problem or further complication) was a coincidence? I think not! Just kidding. Gerbils will be gerbils, no matter how annoying it may be at certain points.
I still love all my gerbies of course!!! But sometimes, I think they really enjoy to stretch my patience.
Oh, and remember, never let pups into the closet (even though I never intended to), they are extremely difficult to catch!
Sorry for the long, dull story, just thought I'd share.
I decided to set my playpen up in the corner, using the wall for two sides of enclosure, thus, I was able to enlarge their playpen for more room to run. One wall actually was the closet door, where at the bottom, a small gap, apparently large enough for still fairly small pups to sqeeze under with no effort, is located. I noticed this before placing the whole family in the pen, but I thought if I just watched them closely enough, I could prevent them from slipping into the closet.
Well, Smoke and Pearl were enjoying the spacious outing with their 5 pups, until they remembered that the pen was quite easy to jump over, and off they went... So I retrieved them, and decided to return them to their linked aquarium home so I wouldn't have to worry about them escaping while I was playing with the pups. It turns out, turning my back for a couple minutes to recover the parents was more than enough time for two of the little pups to slip under and into the large expanse of ...*gasp* my cluttered closet.
They darted back out, but even when nothing seems frightening at first, they get rather skittish, and quickly skittered back in. So, I put the other three away, just to ensure that I wouldn't have more to catch later on, and tried to encourage them bak out.
They were starting to edge a little closer when one of their sisters back at home decided something was really scary, and started thumping, leading to a domino effect of every other gerbil in the room either scattering noisily up their tubes or started thumping themselves. Well, let's put it this way, from then on, they weren't coming out. They behind a bin, or under this giant stuffed horse that was in one corner, and peered out, hurriedly dashing right back in as if I was some huge dog about to devour them.
So, I came up with the idea that if I put their parents in the closet, they would feel a bit more comfortable. I was right, they started following Pearl around, until they saw me, and then they hid again. I put the playpen around the closet doors, so I could have them open, but this also meant that when Smoke and Pearl got tired of exploring the closet, they could run out, and make a leap for freedom in my room, eventually, they would start running around the entire house. When they seemed to be getting tired of the closet, I stupidly put them under a nice wooden basket (large enough to accomodate them for a few minutes, and they had plenty of air, of course). Ignoring the fact that they were gnawing spastically at the wood, I found an empy section of their aquarium, and placed it inside the closet (they ate a hole in the lid a long time ago, so they don't live in it anymore), hoping that the pups would go into the hole so that I could easily transport them back to the other siblings.
After glancing at the damage that had been done to the basket, I put Smoke and Pearl back in the closet, and almost immediatly, one of the pups went into the hole in the aquarium lid. One caught, hurray!
But, the other was much more difficult. She didn't come out at all for a very long time, and when she did, Smoke leapt onto a piece of paper, resulting in a very startling sound, and there went the pup. Pearl by this point was back in the cage with the other pups (seeing as she jumped out countless times, and was becoming more of a distraction than an assistance). The aquarium was on its side, angled so that it blocked the large part of the closet from a much more manageable, smaller area (of course, the little pup much enjoyed to remain in the large, and "wild" side
). She finally started coming out, and went right inside the hole. Finally, caught! Haha, wrong. When I moved my hand in to tilt the cage back up so I could take her back home, she spun and ran right out. Then, I had the idea to make it so that she could get between the cage and into the smaller portion of the closet (and when she was over there, I would close the gap). She started testing this new gap at once, but when I tried to close it... *zip* back to the large half. Strangely, the moving aquarium seemed amusing to her (I think she was just trying to irritate me), and she kept darting back and forth; she went to the small side, I tried to close the gap, and right back to the large side (repeat this about 10 times). Fianlly, she went in the hole in the lid again... and success!!!! I found Smoke nearby of course, and put him in the aquarium also, they were all home at last. Wrong again. I put Smoke back in, and then the pup didn't feel like going home, so as I tried to capture her in my hands to put her away, both parents leapt out of the open lid of one of their aquariums, and off they went. The moment that happened, the pup gladly scrambled onto my hand and went to join her sisters.
Pearl was easy to catch, but Smoke... He went to visit the neighbors in the CritterTrail 3, in other words, my female trio, Connie, Cornflower, and Mariel (they are very aggressive with gerbils that look into their cage). Naturally, all three of the females gathered for the attack on the outsider, and this sometimes can get them accidentally fighting with each other. Smoke, of course, happily was sniffing at the angry gerbils, not aggressive in the least. After he had gotten them upset with eachother for a moment, he freaked out and ran under the dresser (acting much like his little pups). It was quite a relief that it took only a moment longer to coax him out and have him safely tucked away with his family.
Victory!!!!
I'm sure if you actually read that whole long thing, you are quite glad to hear the end, lol.
What do you guys think, all of their odd behavior (they timed everything so perfectly that it would create a problem or further complication) was a coincidence? I think not! Just kidding. Gerbils will be gerbils, no matter how annoying it may be at certain points.
I still love all my gerbies of course!!! But sometimes, I think they really enjoy to stretch my patience.
Oh, and remember, never let pups into the closet (even though I never intended to), they are extremely difficult to catch!
Sorry for the long, dull story, just thought I'd share.
