ThumpThumpThump. Rant.

[j]

Today I spent about an hour cleaning 3 ten gallon tanks and 1 29 gallon. Put a ton of new toys and stuff in them for everyone.
Then cleaned my room and the kitchen up.. another hour.
Took a shower..another hour.
Attempted to go to bed.

Nothing but thump thump thump! Every slight move I make or every slight noise..someone has to start thumping, setting off the rest of the tanks. Even hitting ENTER to fast/hard on the keyboard is setting them off.
It's mostly the 7boys doing it. They got so much darn stuff in there.. They're scaring eachother. One will jump off one box to another making a noise...scaring someone underneath who has to go run and hide and thump..
This has been going on and off for 2hours. After the first 20 minutes of it I went online and now I'm here. If I take everything out, they'll just dig in the corners or bang the water bottle. or something stupid.

[sweetie]

Hey J,

Mine do it if I do a total over haul of the cage when cleaning. They might just be upset you cleaned thier cage. They are noisy little buggers aren't they.

Is there one in particular that gets them going all the time? Or is it just every one having a free for all?

[birchmoon]

Gerbil percussionists. Hehehehe. Is it normal for them to be the exact opposite and never thump? I have only heard mine do it one time, and it was a lone gerbil before we got her a roomie.

heather

[j]

Yeah I know it's normal, I wasn't questioning it.. I was complaining. lol. And my gerbils always love when I clean their tanks.. they get all excited about the new bedding to dig in and new cardboard to chew.

The boys have been in the big tank now for 2 months without me cleaning it. So guess after 2 months of the same set up they got nervous. They wern't like this at all when I moved them into it. I can't tell if one in particular is doing it.. I know it's not the father but he's the tamest. They seemed to get better yesterday. Then at night, same thing happened. Went on for about an hour so I took everything out of it except their wheel and a few cardboard things. They've been fine since. I'm leaving them like this for a couple days ..maybe they'll get over the new noise phobia then I'll put everything back. At least the other tanks have started ignoring their stupid thumping and quit joining in.

[birchmoon]

I wasn't telling you it was normal...I figured you already knew that. I was asking if it was normal for gerbils to NOT thump. Mine don't seem to do it. I've heard it once.

heather

[sweetie]

J,
That is a mind boggler!! Not quite sure what would cause that.
My girls got totally upset at me when I moved them in to a 10 gal tank from a Hartz cage. They plugged up the water and it leaked everywhere. They tore the whole thing apart. I had to add a cage to the tank and attach tubes!


Birch,
It is normal for gerbils to thump when nervous or threatened. Maybe you have calm gerbils and they are not scared easily.

[lydia]

As long as your gerbil is bright,interested in life and eating,don't worry about the lack of thumping or drumming Heather.The first pair I had drummed a lot,the one would drum,and the other would rush out to see what was happening.Sometimes it would drum a reply,sometimes it wouldn't.The two mongs I've got now,hardly ever drum.They seem to look on it as a warning only,where as some gerb's seem to use it, to draw other gerb's attention to anything.

Lyd

[j]

Yeah it's normal for them to NOT to thump. Mine never really did it untill now.

Sweetie.. lol.
I added tubes to one of my tanks a few weeks ago and took them down because they chewed a hole through it. They were mad. Kept running around the tank, jumping up,, digging and scratching everything like they didn't know where to go. No thumping though.

Also most of my thumpers aren't as tame as the rest of my gerbils. They had that respritory infection when they were pups and I had to give them medicine....And having to give it to 14 gerbils, every few hours.. I didn't spend much time taming them. So they never got too tame. My tamest gerbils are my oldest ones. So I'm sure once they get older, they'll get over it. Guess I got to go back to square one with the taming..it's just hard with that many.

They were getting better, then today they started again. Drove me nuts so I took things out again. They're quiet when I do that! Thumping is one thing.. doing it every 5 seconds, scattering around and getting the others doing it for hours.... that's too much. And I noticed when I stood in front of the tank and moved, one jumped up and freaked..so maybe it is one setting the thumping off. But they all equally scatter.

But my cats can jump on and off the stand, lay in front of the tank, and follow them with their heads and put their paws on the glass. With no thumping!

[sweetie]

You should have seen Sweetie when I blocked off under the couches. She was P'd off. She kept squeaking and running around. Tempermental little things.

It must have been hard for you to administer meds to that many so often. It is hard to find time with all of them in order to tame them as I am finding out now with 7. My oldest ones are also the tamest. I guess they are chilling out with age.

[j]

haha @ squeking.

I've been starving my boys for 2 days. No food in their tank. But every few hours I brign them treats or food, they want it...they have to come out and get it and take it from me.
A couple ran away in the beginning, but I guess they went hungry cause they come out now. ;D

But yeah it is hard with this many. I can't do this every day. Might help somewhat though.

[sprigmom]

Have you got anyone else there at home with you (people-wise) that could help you with taming?

We have 7 3 wk old pups that have been handled by my son and I for the entire 3 wks, at least once a day, usually twice. They love it! They flock to us when we reach into the tank. We put them in a small plastic basket lined with an old nightie (soft!) and take them to the waterbed to play with 'em. We now let my 3 1/2 yr old daughter hold/play with one when they're out with us. She's learning the proper way to handle them (she's been gentle from the start!) and the giggles are a bonus!

[j]

Actually I ended up taming them. Starving them worked. (lol see above post) And what really helped were pine nuts. They go crazy over those things.

They're still driving me nuts, but in a good way now. Everytime I walk by the tank now they run to the top for pine nuts. I made a few of them fat. Oops.

I think some of that thumping is going to happen every time I clean the tank out. Likee I said.. they scare eachother and thump. It seems like a week after they got the stuff chewed down to the way they wanted and their tunnels and burrow dug, they've calmed down. I haven't heard thumping in while now. I don't want to clean them and put them in a boring tank since they're used to so much stuff. So guess it might happen again..or at least take a couple cage cleanings before they're used to it. Oh well. At least they're tamer though. ;D

[sweetie]

J,
Great thinking. They also suggest not feeding your dog prior to a training session since they will be more likely to work for a treat.

Sprig,
I think it's great that you let the kids handle the pups. I have a 2 1/2 & a 4 1/2 yr old and they love the gerbils. The also handle them appropriately. I love to see them interact with them! They are so gentle with them it is amazing to see. They love sitting down on the floor in the enclosure and let the gerbils run all over them.