Furry Flurry (Pets - Part 2)

Continuing yesterday's post, we are also the owners of gerbils. Sweet Pea got two gerbils for her birthday. Cute little furry critters with tufted tails, fuzzy foot pads, big black eyes and lots and lots of quivering whiskers. Very cute and very very sweet.

Sandy, the larger of the two (but definitely not the dominant one) is the more cautious of the two, a little more skittish and on more than one occasion was dragged across the cage or pounced upon by the smaller, but more aggressive Snowbelly. Snowbelly was (yes, past tense :-( ) very small - noticeably smaller than Sandy and he had the most endearing little crooked tail. He was super curious and very friendly. Unfortunately, I didn't realize at the time that crooked tails are often the sign of sick/deformed/unhealthy gerbils. He certainly seemed healthy and happy when we got him but a couple of weeks ago something happened and he was stumbling and having 'balance issues'. He slept most of the time and even though he continued to eat and drink, he got super skinny and continually tripped and tipped over. It would have been comical if it wasn't so sad. Poor sweet little thing died this past weekend.

So, we decided to get Sandy a new friend. We were warned that it might be difficult or even impossible to introduce a new gerbil and have them get along, but we decided to try. In comes Frosty, a sweet little soft gray gerbil with disconcertingly (at least to me) red-hued eyes. They are a dark red that you almost think are dark brown, but no, on closer inspection they are definitely red (little vampire eyes!! Eeeeek!). But other than that, he is also very sweet. Very skittish, but he's still new to us so he needs more time to adjust.

Well, let's just say the first meeting of the gerbils was less than successful. It ended in a rolling, biting, twisting, angry ball of fur and teeth and nails - a furry flurry if you will. So for now, they are in separate cages. We may try a more gently-controlled, gradual meeting in the future knowing that they may need to be kept separated forever. Oh why can’t they all just get along?!

(Sorry for the image quality. It's not your eyes, just a very blurry picture.)

Quack!