Post by xela on Aug 8, 2006 13:55:47 GMT -8
So, last Thursday I got a voicemail from my best friend. It was something along the lines of, "hi Alex... uh... how do you feel about gerbils? Because my uncle has one and I need someone to take him because otherwise he'll get fed to one of my uncle's snakes. Please call me back."
Now, I'm going to be honest-- a month ago I said that I would not be getting any more rodents. I had a mouse who died of apparant respiratory infection (he was on more meds than most old humans) and I still have a guinea pig. There would be no more rodents. However, I kind of had to make an exception here.
So, later on, Sarah told me Roderick's story (she had named him after I told her I'd take him-- she decided that Roderick was a much better name than Food). Her uncle had brought her down to see the snakes and had pointed out Roderick and said something like, "see that? That's Food." He hadput him in the cage with this huge snake and Roderick was slammed against the wall... but the snake didn't eat him. Apparantly he'd been in the cage with the snake for two days before Sarah found him. She obviously didn't want him eaten because, while she was used to seeing feeder mice in with the snakes, Roderick looked like he should be someone's pet. She put her hand in to pet him and he went right to her.
... and this is why I got the phone call. Before that I was... almost sure I knew what a gerbil was. I knew that they were... kind of like mice? Not exactly the best basis to go on, but that's all I had. I was rather stunned by how incredibly cute he is, though-- he's much friendlier than my mice were. So, I figured I'd share Roderick's story and why I'm probably the least experienced person here right now-- maybe you'll all bear with me if I screw up a little bit.
Now, I'm going to be honest-- a month ago I said that I would not be getting any more rodents. I had a mouse who died of apparant respiratory infection (he was on more meds than most old humans) and I still have a guinea pig. There would be no more rodents. However, I kind of had to make an exception here.
So, later on, Sarah told me Roderick's story (she had named him after I told her I'd take him-- she decided that Roderick was a much better name than Food). Her uncle had brought her down to see the snakes and had pointed out Roderick and said something like, "see that? That's Food." He hadput him in the cage with this huge snake and Roderick was slammed against the wall... but the snake didn't eat him. Apparantly he'd been in the cage with the snake for two days before Sarah found him. She obviously didn't want him eaten because, while she was used to seeing feeder mice in with the snakes, Roderick looked like he should be someone's pet. She put her hand in to pet him and he went right to her.
... and this is why I got the phone call. Before that I was... almost sure I knew what a gerbil was. I knew that they were... kind of like mice? Not exactly the best basis to go on, but that's all I had. I was rather stunned by how incredibly cute he is, though-- he's much friendlier than my mice were. So, I figured I'd share Roderick's story and why I'm probably the least experienced person here right now-- maybe you'll all bear with me if I screw up a little bit.