At 06:44 PM 1/12/00 -0500, Jamie H wrote:
>Ok heres the deal,
>
>I've tried to do what all you guys say to do. I put my hand in (I think they
>are gettting used to it) they crawl up on it and sit on it then they bite my
>hand.. Whats that about??
They're wondering where the food is. =) At least, that's what mine are
doing. If I have a sunflower seed or a spray of millet, I give it to them &
they're cool. I think their attention span is about .5 seconds, so it could
also indicate boredom, so I try to pet them. Sometimes they'll let me, if
they're in that "getting to know you <nip>" stage. Also, I have one male
who totally freaks out if I've touched any other gerbils before him without
washing my hands (he flees in panic), but he's extremely tame and friendly
if my hands don't smell like gerbil. If I smell like peanut butter, more
than one of them has taken an interested nibble.
One thing that I like from a Terry Pratchett book (he's a British fantasy
writer and I have all 20+ of his books) is that animals divide the world
into four categories: things to eat, things to mate with, things to run
away from, and rocks. ;)
Rebecca...
