Well my household has been quiet lately. Rascal and Pookie have been residing in our master bedroom all by themselves and behaving like perfect little gentlemen. I have noticed, however, that Pookie seems to be dominant now. Apparently they can't deal with being close to other gerbils, we've tried moving them into the living room and they always start picking on each other. So I guess our bedroom is their permanent home! The lump under Rascal's ear seems to have stopped growing or anything, he still scratches at it now and then but it doesn't seem to bother him all that much anymore. I'm very surprised, but happy. We're going to have him with us for much longer than I thought! :) I am attempting to introduce Elita, my little sapphire who was bullied by her former cagemate, and Blanche, who I tried unsuccessfully to intoduce to another female. I feel like they deserve another chance to be paired up. If it doesn't work out, so be it. At least I will have tried. I discovered during that spell of fights that a water spray bottle does wonders to separate fighting gerbils, so I'll have it handy tomorrow when I try to introduce them! They're been in split tank about 2 weeks now. I tried once but it didn't work, one more try before I decide they aren't compatible. I'm also planning to pair up little Snowy-boy with one of my older single males. I'm having trouble deciding which though. I'm leaning slightly toward Gabriel as he is the bigger of the two, although Prince is also bigger than Snowy. Prince is more human-oriented, always has been, although Gabriel will climb up my arm now and then he just isn't all that enthused about it. Prince, on the other hand, is always overjoyed to see me. I am thinking Gabriel might benefit more from a gerbil companion. BTW none of my single gerbils are showing any signs of depression, or I'd be using that to determine who gets paired up. I've seen it before, once when I had a father separated from the family for a couple of weeks until a male pup was old enough to put with him. Poor thing lost interest in his wheel and other toys, his favorite foods, and barely acknowledged my existence. Once he had a companion, he was happy as a clam. None of my current "singles" are acting like this at all, they are all eating and drinking and enjoying their toys, and are quite sociable. Except for Gabriel, but he's always been that way. It's just his nature. Anyway, wish me luck with my attempted introductions! I have a few more combinations I can try if these fail. On another topic, has anybody noticed how older gerbils tend to sit on their wheels sometimes, rather than run on them? A couple of my male pairs especially do this, it's very cute. They always sit facing out into the room. They remind me of two old men sitting on a porch swing, watching the world go by, looking very contented. :) Tana and The Little Rascals http://thesanctuary.tripod.com http://gerbils.freehosting.net http://www.geocities.com/tinypaws68/ Download NeoPlanet at http://www.neoplanet.com
