But then she moved to North Carolina.
September 19: "YAY!!!! I'm gonna get a Gerbil today!!!"
I had finally worn Chad down. It had been 3 months of occasional hint dropping "ooh ooh! Do you think this pet store has female gerbils??" "I've always wanted a gerbil... I could never have one in San Diego...." and the like. Finally, we were ready - we were going to the store to get a gerbil.
Or... should I say two gerbils.
Somewhere between our house and the first pet store, Chad decided he wanted one too. And come to find out that was a good thing. Apparently, gerbils are MUCH more social than hamsters. In fact they don't like being alone at all. So, ok, good. Two gerbils.
We got the cage. We got the food. Now, time to pick out our new little kids. When getting them in pairs/groups, you have to keep them with their tank mates. Pet stores keep them in separated same sexed groups in tanks - too keep them from breeding and fighting - so we randomly picked a female tank and went through the 6 residents and ended up with these guys:
I picked out this little cutie pie! She was a super light colored, little runt.
Chad picked out this one: a slightly grumpy, big ole, dark colored gerbil with a toupee looking circle on its head.
We got them home. Set them up.
Milli was confused... then amused.
Early October....
They need names still and mine is cute and little, so I named her Peanut. Chad still can't come up with a name... but she's a little nippy... and pushy... I've been jokingly calling her Grumpy Gus, so we went with that...
At this point I have mixed feelings about gerbils.... I find myself saying things like "Chad I think your gerbil is a lesbian.. it keeps chasing mine around and she keeps squeeling all unhappy like...." and "you're stupid gerbil is eating the plastic parts of the cage again..."
Crap... I think their cage is too small... when we bought it, we were only planning on the one... hmmmmmm....
October 21: Gerbil Palace
You read that right, I made our girls a freaking PALACE! I tripled their area, while adding new happy gerbil features like a functioning running wheel, a sand bath and a litter box. Plus, there is absolutely no plastic.
And they were SOOOO EXCITED!
Late October... hmmmmm
"Chad.... you stupid gerbil is being mean again..."
"Tara, Peanut is getting fat!" "It's cause Grumpy is so mean an won't let her use the wheel!"
"Chad... You're gerbil looks weird.... she's gotten really big..."
Early November... Lightbulb.
Hmmmm... Peanut IS getting fat... *Click*
"DAMMIT! CHAD!!! I THINK THE STUPID PET STORE SOLD US A MALE AND A FEMALE GERBIL!!! PEANUT IS TOTALLY PREGNANT! AND YOU'RE STUPID GERBIL HAS BALLS!!!!"
Time for research... 19 days gestation... dammit... keep male with babies, he'll actually help the mom instead of eat the young like male hamsters do... ok, not so bad.... female will be ready to get pregnant again moments after giving birth... dammit again....
November 1: We now have six gerbils...
She gave birth to these 4 little, pink, wrinkly bodies sometime last night... Chad won't let me touch them...
Ugh.
Now we just get to sit and wait for them to grow up. There are a couple of options we're tossing around of how to deal with this... only time will tell... and how cute they get will definitely be a factor.
And yes. I did see Grumpy Gus mount Peanut again... yes... the same day she gave birth. WTF?!? Oooohhh Gerbils.
