Lots Of Gerbil News

There's so much news to report, because I haven't had a chance to update the blog in the past week or so. First, we posted a new Gerbil Poll last Thursday. Stop by and let us know how your gerbils prefer to dig.

Then, on Saturday morning, we added this week's Gerbil Picture Of The Week. This week's photo is of Gus' gerbil Mahler. It's really an adorable photo. Thanks, Gus, for sharing your photo of Mahler!

We've also had some of our own excitement here at Twin Squeaks in the past couple of weeks. Last weekend, Mike and Toby came out of quarantine. (We quarantine all new gerbils in a separate room for a few weeks to ensure that they're very healthy before we put their tank near our other gerbils.)

We're so excited to have Mike and Toby out of quarantine, because now that they're out in one of the main rooms, they're more used to having us around, and they aren't quite so jumpy when they see us walk into a room. Both of them enjoy eating our of my hand now, and most of the time, they're also eager to let me pick them up and hand them a treat before returning them to the tank. Their personalities are evolving, and they've grown so much since I brought them home from the American Gerbil Society's Midwest Show a month ago. The boys are almost three months old now. We'll celebrate their birthday at the beginning of December!

Jo from Black Wolf Clan, the kennel that bred Mike and Toby, emailed me last week to let me know that Mike and Toby are uncles now! They have five new nieces and nephews who were born recently! If they're anything like Mike and Toby, they'll grow up to be very adorable gerbils, I'm sure. :)

The other news is that I've started mixing my own gerbil food for my gerbils, and I've seen a drastic improvement in their coats. Everyone is so soft and fluffy and shiny now. :)

Hope with me Photo by 40 Nights Photography

Saturday, Hope spent about half an hour crawling around on the couch. For a while, she sat in my lap and chewed a toilet paper tube, and while I was sitting on the couch, she also had fun crawling up to my shoulder to look around. I think gerbils are a lot of fun when they get to Hope's age, because they've really learned to trust you, and they're a little bit slower and more mellow than when they were younger. There are just so many bonding opportunities once your gerbils reach that age. They're very sweet.

This isn't to say that the younger gerbils aren't a lot of fun, too. In fact, Herman's been especially fun lately. When I first adopted him from Double Star Kennels in August, he was only about five weeks old, and he loved hopping into my hand and scampering up my arm. Once that I paired him up with Buster, though, Herman was less interested in me and a lot more interested in his new best buddy Buster. Lately, though, Herman's once again running across the tank and leaping up into my hand and waiting for me to lift him out of the tank. It's really adorable, and I'm happy to see that Herman's as friendly and outgoing now as he was when he was a little pup. :)

I also got a really good photo of Nellie last week. You can see it to the right of this paragraph. I felt very fortunate to get this picture, because Nellie sometimes isn't the easiest gerbil to photograph. But the other night, she was quite photogenic. :)

Of course, you can also see more photos of our gerbils in their photo albums.

Wow, well, I think that's about all of the news here at Twin Squeaks. Nellie and Herman have received several letters from kids recently, and I want to assure you that they're working hard to get caught up on their letter writing!

Hope things are going well for all of you and your gerbils!