New Photos Of Buster & Herman

We've posted some new photos of Buster and Herman in their photo album. You'll find the new photos on page 5.

If you compare these photos to earlier ones, you can really see that Herman's growing up! He's still much smaller than Buster, but he's not the tiny little pup that he was when we adopted him less than a month ago either.

Another thing that's fun to see in these newer photos is how Herman's first molt is going. Herman is a dark-eyed honey, and while they don't have as dramatic of a first molt as a nutmeg gerbil (nutmegs completely transform from a light golden color to a dark color like Buster's during their first molt), it's still a lot of fun to watch a dark-eyed honey molt. For instance, in the photo to the right, you can see that there's a molt line across Herman's forehead, just above his eyes. His fur is actually the same color, but he has dark ticking at the very tips of the fur where he's molted. He'll still look about the same after his molt as he did before, but there will be a very pretty dusty ticking to the ends of the golden-colored hairs when the molt is complete.

Buster continues to do very well in his new home. It's funny to watch the differences between the older Buster and his younger little tankmate Herman. For example, sometimes when I walk in the room, Herman will start dashing around the tank, frantically trying to figure out what I'm doing and why I'm there.

Buster, on the other hand, will usually look up groggily, stretch, yawn, and then contentedly curl back up in the nest. Don't get me wrong. It's not that Buster isn't a very active gerbil. It's just that he doesn't get all wound up about every little thing. It's as if age has taught him what's worth getting hyper about and what's not. Buster seems to watch Herman's hyper little antics with a sense of amusement.

As you can see from the photo to the right, Herman is always busy, busy, busy. Running in the wheel, eating (he's a growing gerbil!), and digging in the corners of the tank. Buster is also busy, but he takes life at a more leisurely pace.

What's great is that Buster definitely plays the role of adopted big brother very well. He's also very protective of Herman. If I try to get Herman out of the tank, Buster is right there, fussing over things and making sure that I'm not going to do any harm to Herman. It's very cute, really. :)

Finally, there are a couple of pieces of news about Buster and Herman. First, they survived their first tank cleaning since their introduction! I took the photo of Herman (to the left) right after their tank cleaning. I was nervous about how they would handle the first tank cleaning, hoping they wouldn't decide to bicker afterwards, but they really handled it very well. And they seem happy to have a clean tank and new chew blocks!

The other big news is that yesterday was Herman's two-month birthday! He got some new chew toys and some special treats to celebrate, but the celebration was pretty laid-back, really, because he was having such a good time playing with Buster that we hated to interrupt. :)