Cassie Follows In Herman’s Pawprints
You may remember that Herman was a talented show-jumping gerbil.
This week, we let Herman’s great-granddaughter Cassie try show jumping, and we discovered that she has a natural skill for show-jumping, too!
This video was taken less than 10 minutes into Cassie’s first training session. :)
This week, we let Herman’s great-granddaughter Cassie try show jumping, and we discovered that she has a natural skill for show-jumping, too!
This video was taken less than 10 minutes into Cassie’s first training session. :)
posted by Twin Squeaks Gerbils | 10:01 AM
14 Comments:
How cool! Hey, any tips on how to train gerbils? That would be really great!
Hi Sharon,
The first thing is to find something that your gerbil is naturally good at. For example, I saw Herman jump over a serious of Lincoln Logs during out-of-tank playtime, so I knew he had some natural instinct to jump over obstacles.
The second tip is to use out-of-tank playtime as a reward rather than using treats. I just haven't found that treats are that much of a motivator for gerbils, but if they know that they will get some extra time out of the tank, they'll figure things out pretty quickly. :)
As an example, when I taught Herman to jump over the fences, I used a critter playpen (you can see it in the sides of Cassie's YouTube video) to build a fenced-in path to a walk-in closet. If Herman jumped over the fences, I rewarded him with 30 minutes of playtime in the walk-in closet. If he stopped to chew on the fences, turned around, etc., then I just scooped him up, put him back in his tank, and gave him some cardboard to chew as a “thank you” for trying.
Eventually, he knew to jump over the fences, and I didn't have to have the playpen around the fences for him to jump over the fences.
Hope that helps!
Where did you find the fences? They look like the ones for model horses (Breyer Horses) but I have not been able to locate any. The fences make it look so professional like Grand Prix Jumping for horses-ads to the cute factor. Could this be a new trend breeding for jumping ability!? :)
When you mentioned Breyer, you were very close! The fences I have are from Schleich. I haven't been able to find them in stock in our local toy stores, but I have been able to find them online at places that sell toys or model horses.
I just love the fences. They're so accurate and also the perfect size for gerbils!
Thanks. I had Biscuit jumping over sock bundles last winter but the fences are soooo much cuter. I think Schleich is a European Co. known for detail and accuracy in their models.
Schleich's stuff is very detailed and very accurate. They've had a meerkat and also a ferret, I believe. Maybe one day, they'll make a gerbil, too. I can hope, right? :)
Im hoping too. Ive seen a squirrel.
I'll have to try that... :)
Linette, maybe we should start a letter-writing campaign, requesting that Schleich make a gerbil. ;)
wow that was after ten min. I've been trying to do that for almost a week. she's a natural :)
Hannah, yes, some of my gerbils won’t have anything to do with the hurdles. :-D
But Cassie was a natural! We’ll have to let her try show-jumping again in the near future. :)
How is Cassie doing in her training?
Maybe that will be easier then trying to train my gerbils to climb up a ladder. They can do it but when i try to teach them the next day they forget and the training starts all over again.
I couldnt find the fences and i didnt want to order them so what i did was took to pieces of card board and cut holes in them and just took a colored pencil and stuck each end in the holes. I then proceeded to tape another piece of card board under the pencil so that they dont crawl under it! I tied some ribbon on it and decorated it with checkered card stock to make it look pretty! haha and one of my gerbils is a natural. haha i just thought i would save some money although they dont cost much. ps another fun thing to do is buying small bird ladders from the pet store and teach them to climb it. have fun hope you try it.
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