Some gerbils, a Canon 7D....and a photo shoot?!

Cheerio (left) and Charley (right)

Well, maybe not exactly a photo shoot.  More like my morning coffee with the boys hopping around the couch to have their fun for the day!  Only the 7D and me with two cups of coffee can keep up with them!

I've been trying to grab a few more photos of the little guys recently.  I was pretty busy in October and November (and I was also sick for a few weeks), so I wasn't taking a lot of photos.  I decided to try and get some nice pictures of them a few weeks ago.

Both of them are doing well.  Their personalities have now fully exposed themselves since they're getting a little older.  Charley has remained reserved and cautious, but still very curious.  Cheerio went from being fairly normal to being pretty nutty.  In fact, he's almost like two different gerbils.  During the day he's his normal bouncy, energetic, overly curious self.   But it's the weirdest thing....When the sun goes down, he turns into a total nut!  When we take the lid off the cage at night he jumps right onto the edge of the tank and waits to be taken out.  When he's out, he's very jumpy and overly energetic, almost to the point where we've had to stop taking him out at night because he's too hyper and we don't want to have an accident.  We'll see how this develops over the next few months.  Maybe he'll settle down...

Cheerio

Speaking of accidents...I have quite the story to share here.  Back in October, Charley got a broken tooth and a cold.  Seeing that the cold wasn't going away and he wasn't eating normally because of his tooth (and was losing weight quickly), I decided to take him to the vet.  I wasn't quite sure what else to do about it because he wasn't getting better and I certainly didn't want the little guy to die.

When I brought him in to be checked, the vet who I met with gave me medicine for his cold (which has long since cleared up) and a pain killer so he wouldn't feel pain when he tried to eat while his tooth grows back.  Thankfully, the tooth has indeed grown back.

I was satisfied with this portion of my visit to the vet because the issues of the cold and the tooth were resolved and treated properly.  However, something much more significant occurred that was very strange.

When Charley was brought back out to the front of the office after his examination, I noticed that he had a very bad limp on his left rear leg and he wasn’t stepping on his foot at all.  It’s important to note that he was showing absolutely no signs of pain or limping prior to me bringing him into the vet.  In fact, before I left the house to go there, he was running vigorously on his exercise wheel and he was being handled and walking with no limp.

Charley

When I questioned the vet about why he was suddenly limping after his examination, she said to me that occasionally gerbils and other small animals could have a pre-existing broken bone in their body from a fall and they hide the pain from it.  She said the act of a vet then handling this animal would irritate the injury to the point that the animal would be in severe pain and would then begin to limp.

This sounded odd to me, so I questioned the vet on this and said that it sounded completely absurd to me that an animal could have a broken bone and be running on a wheel and being handled daily without showing any signs of pain or injury whatsoever.  He’s out of his cage playing an average of an hour every day and showed no signs of a problem.  She insisted that it must be a pre-existing break, and since I felt horrible for this little animal, I told her to go ahead with the x-ray that she was suggesting just to confirm a break.

Cheerio (a Giants fan!)

After the x-ray, the vet came out and told me that Charley did indeed have a broken leg.  Still finding these circumstances unbelievable, I told her to go ahead and splint it up because the poor little guy was now limping terribly.

Shortly after this all happened, I spoke with two other vets and received feedback from many gerbil breeders who all said that it’s extremely unlikely that Charley had a pre-existing broken bone and was showing no signs of pain or injury at all.  In fact, when I told one of them that he was running on a wheel shortly before this disaster, he said it seemed extremely strange to him that Charley would be able to do that with a broken leg.

To make a long story somewhat shorter, I had a discussion with the vet and told her that I brought a gerbil with no leg pain and no leg injury into her office and I left with a huge bill and an animal with a broken leg.  I can’t say what happened in the examination room that might have caused this, but something happened.

The vet denied any wrong doing and stuck with her original response that he had a broken leg when he came in.  I was pretty angry at this point and asked for my money back for the portion of my bill related to the broken leg.  There was no way she was going to give it to me because that would be admitting guilt.  She did, however, offer to waive her fees if I wanted to bring him back in three weeks to see how he was doing.  Yeah, I'll go back there (he says sarcastically).....

Charley, about to get pounced by his brother!

The moral of the story for pet owners:  Find a vet who will let you go back into the examination room with your animal when you bring them in.  This vet had a policy that the owner could not come into the back during the exam.  I will never do that again, because had I been there, I probably would have seen what happened to Charley.

To end the story on a positive note....Most people I spoke with said that Charley didn't need the splint that the doctor put on (which is good, because he chewed it off anyway) and that his leg would heal fine on its own in a few weeks and he would lead a pain free normal life.  That's exactly what happened.  He's walking perfectly and showing no signs of pain at all.

Cheerio (notice his smile for the picture!)

So it was a pretty traumatic few weeks for my daughter's little gerbil, but she's happy that he's better now and back to his old self.  All's well that ends well....

Charley and Cheerio - An October update

Cheerio (at left, with the white racing stripe on his nose) and Charley (below) have settled into their new home nicely.  They're now three months old and seem to be growing quickly.  I should have measured them when we got them, but I would guess that they've grown 1/2 inch since we got them.  We've had them for about a month and handle them a lot each day, and I think that has paid off in the fact that they're used to us now.

By the way, no, I'm not squeezing them in these photos to hold them still.  Don't worry.  Our little guys like to be carried around secure in the palm of our hands while they stick their head out the "window" to see where they're going. 

They know me the best at this point because I handle them the most each day and also assist the kids with getting them in and out of the cage.  I've explained to the kids the importance for this first month or two of not putting their hands in the cage, getting impatient when trying to pick them up, and chasing the gerbils around the cage.  This is the equivalent of invading their home, and they'll NEVER get friendly and tame that way.  The kids understand, and for the most part have been patient with the process of familiarizing themselves with the gerbils.

We had one set back two weeks ago when I think we handled them a little too much over the course of two days in particular when it was raining one weekend and we were inside spending a lot of time with them.  They then seemed to go backward in their comfort level with us and hid in the cage when we came in the next day or two.  We took it easy for a few days after that, hit the reset button with how we handle them, and everything is fine now.

At this point in time, they always come out to investigate when we put our hands in the cage.  This is good.  They sniff us, hop on and off our hands, come back and sniff us more, etc.  No objections to us.  At night, Cheerio is particularly adventurous and will readily run up your arm to your shoulder to say hi and get out of the cage for a visit.  Or, if you just leave the lid off the cage then he climbs on top of his nest box and hops up to sit on the edge and waits patiently for you to pick him up.  He never does this during the day though.  Only at night.  Interesting...

Charley is much more reserved than Cheerio.  For example, I think it will be quite a while (if ever) before Charley is bold enough to walk up our arms to get out of the cage.   He'll certainly never jump up on the edge and sit their waiting like Cheerio.  It's just not his deal.  You kind of have to put both hands into the cage, cup Charley, and take him out that way.  Cheerio is bold and adventurous.  Charley is more cautious and reserved.  Two different gerbils, two different personalities....

Watching the two of them play together outside of the cage is very funny and it's a good "zen" thing to enjoy after a busy day.  They run all around the bathroom floor with the door closed, wrestle with each other, eat out of your hands, etc.  Today I had them on the floor and they kept coming over to check me out.  I would play wrestle with them, ruffle up their fur, etc.  Very gently so they know that I'm not trying to hurt them.  They would run away for a second and then come back to my hands for more "wrestling" with me.  They seem to like it because when I stop they just sit there looking at my hands like they're waiting for more.  Funny...

They're both steady and confident enough to ride around the house on my shoulder if I move gently.  Of course I keep my hands ready if they decide to slide down the front of my shirt for a more steady ride on my hands.  I don't let the kids do this (yet) though.  The kids still sometimes move too quickly or make sudden movements, and we don't want the gerbils to jump off.

I switched to using a standard 8" wire mesh wheel today that can be purchased at any pet store.  I had originally purchased a solid surface wheel, but our gerbils designated their wheel as one of their bathroom spots.  Needless to say that I didn't think it was too sanitary to pee on their wheel and then run on it.  This resulted in pee spinning all over the wheel and them, so out that went.  If they pee on this wheel it will drop straight through to the bottom of the cage and no harm is done to anyone.

So, that's the latest update on the boys....More to come in the future!
 

Small Animal Channel

Here's a nice web site with information about all kinds of small critters.  The information for gerbils that's here is largely repetitive to most gerbil books that I've seen.  We picked up a book from the Animal Planet series called......"Gerbils", which is at this link.  This book contains nicely presented sequential information about preparing for and owning gerbils.

Welcome, Charley and Cheerio!

Our family has officially taken the next step in pets!  We've had two nice aquariums for over a year that are doing very well, and my kids are now also showing an interest in something a little less, um, wet.
 
So....I thought:  gerbils!  When I mentioned this to our kids they said, "Yeah Daddy!  Yeah!  When can we get them?!".  Well, here are the first few pictures of our boys!

Charley (left) and Cheerio (right)

 Cheerio

Cheerio in his first dust bath

We chose gerbils because they're cool, fun, very clean, easy to take care of, and kid-friendly.  Forget about cats and dogs (for now)...They're obviously great pets, but our family (or should I say...me) is not interested in any major long-term (10+ years) pet commitment like that at this point in time.  

Thus began the effort on my part at the American Gerbil Society (AGS) web site to research the best way to go about this.  I say "the best way to go about this" because anybody who does even casual research into buying a pet will often find out that a pet store is the last place to get them.  Some more obscure things like fish, birds, lizards, etc, you almost have to get at a pet store.  But cats, dogs, gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, etc, can all be obtained from local breeders instead.

The reason to go the local breeder route is because the animals are typically much better cared for and healthy at a dedicated breeder.  Take a look at the gerbils in a gerbil cage at the pet store.  Not looking too good, huh?  Then try going to a breeder and looking at the nice setups they have for their animals and the way they care for them.  The animals are cleaner and look and act healthier.  The breeder is definitely the way to go.  Enough said on that...

By using the AGS web site I was able to find Autumnglory Gerbils, which is located very close to my house.  Christina from Autumnglory had some pups available for take-home in early September and that suited our timing perfectly after vacation, so we adopted them.  Christina was very helpful in answering my initial questions and is a wealth of knowledge about gerbils.  It was great speaking with her when we picked them up to learn all of the important tips to get us started.  She clearly did a good job in raising them from when they were born and getting them ready for us.

Charley and Cheerio are already making themselves quite at home.  They love their new 15-gallon tank that has been outfitted with all the essential gerbil gear.  A nice wheel, a box for them to tear to pieces to make their home, paper towel rolls for them to tunnel in, aspen chips for bedding, paper towels for nesting, and of course their water bottle.

They're both already clearly exhibiting their individual personalities.  Charley is the work horse, and he initially did a lot of the work to set up their tank, munched the holes in the box, moved things around the way they wanted, etc.  Consequently, he was initially pretty tired from all his work.  Cheerio, on the other hand, is the "class clown".  You can see that he's the more feisty of the two.  He loves to fool around, jump up for attention when we pass by, and is more than willing to come out of his cage to explore.  Over the past day or so, Charley is following Cheerio's lead and is becoming more bold and comfortable with us.  Now they both stand up for attention when we say "Hi guys" as we walk past their cage and seem very happy with their new surroundings.

Since I've handled many small animals before, I have a pretty good sense of how to handle them comfortably.  Both of our guys hop right onto my hand when I put it in the cage and are eager to come out for me.  The kids are still mostly picking them up using a small cup to make things easier for them.  The gerbils will be used to them with a little more time and will soon hop into their hands too.

So our journey with these little guys begins!  I'll occasionally post updates here with the label 'Gerbils' in the left column of the site to separate the gerbil-related posts from my photography stuff.