About 2 weeks ago, Browny and Whitey escaped from their cage. By the way, Gabby renamed the gerbils. They went from Sunny and Michael to Rainbows and Sparkles to Browny and Whitey. The base and bottom of the cage had somehow been detached and I had two gerbils on the loose. I stumbled across Whitey in Gabby's room one morning before work. Gerbils are fast and incredible jumpers. I spent 1o minutes cornering Whitey, Whitey jumping 4 feet in the air, me screaming and jumping just as high before I gave up and went to work.
We had Madison over for a sleepover that night. While the girls were upstairs playing, I heard a scratching of little claws in the intake vent in the kitchen. I got my drill out, took off the vent cover, and found Browny behind the vent. I put my hand in hoping she'd crawl into it and make it easy on me. She bit me instead. I retrieved my collander and herded her into that and took her back to the cage.
Gabby and Madison were quite impressed with my gerbil catching skills and decided they would find Whitey. They were Gabby and Madison, Mystery Detectives. They even came up with a song. They began their search by finding clues of gerbil poop and chewed up paper. Before I knew it, the girls were screaming that Whitey had just run into my bedroom. I grabbed Gabby's butterfly net and the chase was on. The girls scared her from underneath my bed and I captured her with the net. Gabby and Madison, Mystery Detectives, were thrilled with solving their first case.
After these adventures, Browny just didn't seem to be herself. There were a few green pellets in the vent she was trapped in and I was worried that they were poison and Browny had eaten them. Thursday evening, my suspicions were confirmed when I discovered Browny's corpse. I am a big fat wimp about somethings and dead animals is one of them. Gabby was downstairs and I didn't want to bring her attention to the fact that Browny was dead. I was trying to find something to get her out of the cage that was disposable and wouldn't relieve me from any direct contact. I finally found two popsicle sticks and a dryer sheet box. It still wasn't easy as rigor mortis was setting in and I couldn't get a good grip with the sticks. I kept at it and finally got the body in the box and out to the dumpster as quick as I could.
I came back inside and realized I'd left the cage open and Whitey was jumping around the room. The trusty net was still out and I quickly captured her and put her back in the cage. I then went and threw up. That dead gerbil just really grossed me out. They gross me out alive.
So Gabby was oblivious to this adventure and realized a couple of days later that Browny was gone. I explained to her that she died and had eaten some bad stuff. Gabby was very sad that Browny was dead. She wanted a new gerbil. They tell you at the pet store that gerbils do better when they have a friend. Whitey and Browny got along great. They always snuggled and never fought.
We finally made it to Petsmart yesterday. Gabby picked out a cute little black gerbil she creatively named Blacky. We took Blacky home and introduced her to her new home and Whitey. Whitey was not at all pleased. She chased that little gerbil all over the cage. We'd obviously been feeding Whitey well and she was almost twice as big as Blacky. I figured that Whitey was just trying to show it was her cage and they would eventually be able to peacefully live together. Gabby was very amused by their roughhousing.
This video shows that it seems like they could get along ok. They were just sniffing each other out.
This video shows that Whitey isn't taking any crap and that gerbils have surprising jumping abilities.
I could hear the gerbils squeaking and chasing each other most of the evening any time I cam upstairs. Gabby had gone to bed early, but ended up in my bed later on in the evening. I went to check on the gerbils and Blacky was bleeding and barely moving. Her stomach was all bloody. I had no idea that gerbils were so vicious. Whitey tore her up. I found 2 more popsicle sticks and rolled Blacky into the box from Petsmart. Fortunately, Blacky wasn't stiff and I didn't throw up again. She's still in the box outside and I'm going to see what Petsmart return policy is for being tortured by another gerbil.
I explained to Gabby that Blacky was also now dead and it was at the paws of Whitey. Gabby doesn't understand why Whitey was mean to her new friend. Who knew that such little animals would be so much drama? Gabby wants a different kind of animal, something bigger. My reply was a firm and emphatic no! Seriously! What was I thinking?
We'll see how much long Whitey lasts and then I'm done with pets! Given the fight in her, I'm figuring we'll have Whitey for a while.
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