Sugar & Spice the gerbils
The new Featured Rescue Gerbils are Sugar & Spice, who are at My Hope’s In You Small Animal Rescue.
According to their Petfinder page, they are both very tame and friendly. They’re used to handling by a 10-year-old at the rescue, and they are happy to take treats from your hand.
Sugar and Spice are in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Marco the gerbil at 2 years old
Polo the gerbil at 2 years old
Marco and Polo just turned two years old a little over a week ago.
They’re both doing great!
I wanted to share a couple photos I took of them last weekend. I couldn’t get them to pose together, but I did get a couple of nice photos of them separately. :)
Marco and Polo have always had the nicest, softest fur, and it’s stayed that way, even as they’ve entered middle age.
A bit of a side note here, but I would like to give Marco and Polo something new and fun for their tank.
Maybe someone here has a great idea for a new way to spruce up their tank a bit?
They’re having a blast burrowing in Eco-Bedding, playing with chew toys, and destroying cardboard.
I’d just like to find something new that they haven’t had before.
Anyone have a new, fun (and safe) idea for something I could add to their tank?
I read an article earlier this week about a couple who runs a food pantry for pets in Ohio. They accept pet food for most types of pets, including gerbils.
It’s an interesting idea, because many animals are surrendered to shelters because the owners were no longer able to afford to pay for food and other basic services for their pets. A service like this food pantry might be just the thing to help people be able to care for their pets until they get back on their feet?
If you’re in Ohio and are interested in making a donation of pet food to the People Care Pet Pantry, please read the article in the Record-Courier or visit the People Care Pet Pantry Web site for more information about dropbox locations.
I stumbled across this article about how the fire inspector in Sarasota County, Florida is working to ensure that all emergency-response vehicles have oxygen masks designed to fit pets.
I’ve heard of these before, but what’s unique about this story is that each set of oxygen masks includes several sizes, even one that will work for gerbils. Click here for the story.
Stella from Small Angels Rescue
Meet Stella, a beautiful black gerbil who is waiting at Small Angels Rescue to find a home.
Small Angels has tried to pair Stella up using the split-cage method, but she hasn’t wanted to accept a friend. Since Stella is living alone, she will need someone to adopt her who can give her lots of extra time and attention.
Stella looks like a real sweetheart, and it would be great to see her go to a home where she can get lots of attention and love. If you’re in the Frederick, Maryland area and can help Stella find a home, please visit Stella’s Petfinder page.
UPDATE: As of May 30th, Stella is still looking for a home!
Cassie enjoys some plain popcorn as a special birthday treat
Last weekend, Cassie celebrated her first birthday!
I believe in gerbil years, this puts her right about in her 30s. It seems like she was a pup just yesterday!
Cassie celebrated with some plain, unflavored, unsalted popcorn. We don’t make a habit of this, but it is a fun and safe treat for rare occasions, such as birthdays. :)
Although Cassie enjoyed her popcorn, she was much more intrigued by how much attention she was getting. And she has learned that when she gets attention, there’s a good chance she’ll get time outside of the tank.
Cassie enjoys playtime outside her tank for her birthday!
Cassie wasn’t disappointed. The second part of her birthday gift was some time out of the tank, which you can see to the right.
Jason also made her a birthday cake out of cardboard, but we haven’t figured out a way to fit that in her tank yet. It’s awfully tall. We’ll figure something out, though. :-D
We’ve added some great tools for finding information on our blog. On the right side of the page, you’ll not only see links to Archived Posts but also a Search For Posts field and a list of Topics.
Unfortunately, due to a bug with the old blog, we haven’t been able to move the old posts over… At least not yet. So for right now, the new search tools only work with posts from March 2010 forward. (We hope to eventually be able to move the old posts to the new blog.)
If you have any questions, just ask! We hope you like the changes! :)
Sebastian, 11/24/07 - 3/17/10
I mentioned earlier that we’ve had a rough time at Twin Squeaks over the past couple of months.
A week and a half ago, we lost Sebastian to what our vet believes was a tumor close to the spine. (We weren’t able to confirm the diagnosis, because Sebastian didn’t rally enough to have the energy for the x-ray.)
Sebastian’s death has hit us particularly hard for several reasons. First, he was still fairly young (less than 2 1/2 years old).
Second, he was in such excellent health that there was no indication anything was wrong until the final days of his life. And even then, it was subtle.
When I first took him to the vet, I thought they would think I was imagining things. It was one of those things where no one would notice anything was wrong, except for me. I could just tell that he wasn’t quite himself. (The vet could tell, though, that something wasn’t right. She’s amazing. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough that we could do to save him.)
Herman & Sebastian, a week after they came home
And finally, Sebastian was Herman’s son. When we lost Herman last fall (he was well over three years old), we had assumed that we would have his son with us for quite some time. I never dreamed I’d be writing about his death at such a young age.
If there was anything that we can look back on and feel good about, it’s that we don’t believe Sebastian suffered.
He spent more and more time sleeping in his last few days, but his breathing never seemed labored, and he never seemed to be in pain. He never lost weight, and his coat never got ruffled. He just slipped away.
When the end came, he just drifted away in his sleep. I’ve never seen a gerbil look so peaceful at the end of his life. His death was much more painful for me than it was for him, I think.
Sebastian's burial place, next to his dad Herman
We’ve posted a memorial video for Sebastian on smugmug.
If you live in Central Pennsylvania and would like to enter a photo of your gerbils in a photo contest, head over to the Patriot-News Web site.
The newspaper is encouraging photos not only of dogs and cats, but also of pets such as gerbils!
Toby at over 3 1/2 years old
In my last post, I reported on our sad news about Gobo, so in this post, I wanted to share some happy news. Toby turned 3 1/2 years old earlier this month!
You may remember that Toby had surgery in September to remove a scent-gland tumor. He was over three years old at the time, and he’s made it another half a year since then. It’s a great testament to what a difference veterinary care can make!
When gerbils hit this age, you never know how much time you have left, so we’re enjoying every day that we have with Toby! As you can see from the photo above that I took last weekend, Toby’s still bright-eyed and active. He also just keeps getting sweeter and friendlier with age. :)
I am a member of the Board of the AGS (American Gerbil Society), run the Twin Squeaks Web site, and am the proud caretaker of a handful of very precious gerbils. You can read about them here.