Amelia and Jenny

Back when the kids participated in the Jungle Book play, we wanted to get them some gifts to recognize a job well done at the end of the performance.  Lynnsey had been asking for some new earrings, so that was easy.  Spencer is happy with anything Angry Birds related, so that was easy.  Kendall had been asking for awhile for a pet gerbil.  Not so easy.  Actually it didn't take much to convince Kalen.  He had gerbils growing up and he got pretty excited about the idea.  I took awhile longer to convince.  But they argued that it wouldn't cost all that much because we could just use the tank that Taylor used to have his hermit crab in.  And we had bedding left over from that we could also use.  So basically we would just have to buy the animal and a bit of food.  So I caved.

Before we even made it to the pet store, I was told that we would probably have to get two gerbils since they like to have a companion. Kendall wanted to get a male and a female to create even more gerbils! So already the price had gone up.  And then once we got to the pet store we found out that the bedding we had wasn't really suitable for gerbils because it was wood shavings and they prefer paper bedding.  We bought two types of food at the recommendation of the pet store employee.  And then we discovered that this particular pet store only sells female gerbils.  Kendall really wanted a male too, so we ended up just purchasing one with the intent to find a male one quickly and get them introduced to each other so they could get along.

That proved to be trickier than we thought.  All the pet stores in the area sell only females, if they even had gerbils in stock.  We turned to Craigslist and found a couple of leads but none that panned out.  So after some consideration, Kendall decided to go back and get another female gerbil.  And that of course, meant that we needed a much bigger tank to keep them in.  And while we're buying a bigger tank, of course the wire cage topper (like an upstairs to the main tank) was too big a temptation to leave out. 

Once we got the new place set up for them, it became apparent that we had waited too long to introduce them.  They did not like each other at all.  We ended up separating the tank for awhile and watching them try to kill each other through the divider. But after a rather violent beginning, they finally resigned themselves to each other and then became best friends. 

The financial investment didn't end there however.  A few weeks after we got them, we noticed they were developing bald patches on their fur.  After a few days, they were really big bald patches.  So that meant a visit to the vet to get some medicine to make them all better.  (Luckily it worked and they both have nice shiny coats of fur once again.)

Anyway, all that to introduce you to Amelia and Jenny--the newest rodents to join our household.



Amelia is the black one and Jenny is the brown one on Kendall's shoulder.