Hi! I know people have discussed before ideas for educational gerbil presentations. I had the opportunity to bring some gerbils into a second grade class yesterday and it went extremely well. I brought a colorful mom (Light spotted DEH), a dad (Spotted Nutmeg), and a seven week old male pup (DEW) (this is my pair who takes a break between litters) in a tank with only a water bottle and about two inches of litter. I asked the kids how many had ever had gerbils (0) or a hamster (7 of 19) -- this really brought me down to earth. I had them guess the 3 major differences between hamsters and gerbils (with lots of hints): 1) Gerbils have long, furry tails 2) Gerbils live in family groups 3) Gerbils are "dinural" Then I told them the two things to be very careful of with gerbils: 1) don't pull off the tail -- and how that is a predator defense (I showed them a taped wheel) 2) don't mix gerbils from different families Then I pulled out a big bag of stuff. I told them that this was a very boring environment for gerbils and had them guess what they liked to do (with lots of hints): 1) Gnaw (I put in a box) 2) Dig (I filled one side of the tank with litter) 3) Tunnel (I added in two paper towel rolls) 4) Climb (I added in a taller box, next to the short one) 5) Eat (I added in a seed mix -- and we guessed what gerbils liked best as the gerbils grabbed for peanuts and sunflower seeds). By now the gerbils were going nuts and the kids were loving it. Then after the 20 minute discussion I left the classroom and kept the tank there all day for "observation". When I came back that evening to pick them up the gerbils had created a great "gerbil-city" with all the stuff. -- Donna ABC Gerbils www.abcgerbils.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
