Greetings folks,
I joined this list (and the AGS in general) to learn more about gerbils
and gerbil husbandry. It saddens me to see such sweeping condemnation
of a member rather than working with that member to find out what really
happened and how to prevent it from happening again. It is horrifying
to lose a well loved fuzzy friend and to think ourselves responsible
already eats away at a person...they don't need further humiliation and
ostracization.
Being relatively new to the list, perhaps I am missing the whole story,
but losing a large number of animals does not preclude lack of care.
When the animals are from pet stores (many of whom breed as feeders and
don't care about the genetics) or as rescues they can come with a host
of problems and die inexplicably. I know, I do rescue and I do get pet
fuzzies from the pet store. Recently I lost a pet store hamster (rest
in peace little Taavi) at 6 months of age with no signs of illness or
health issues. He died in his sleep. If I had found the water bottle
empty at that point and mentioned it when I announced his demise, it
could be me in Lisa's place. The fact the water bottle was empty could
be unrelated to the pets death (even if raises concern with the owner
who found the demised pet, finding an empty bottle and no other
explanation).
I would recommend to anyone with problems seeing the water level of
their bottle to change their water completely every other day and/or get
one of the many new water bottles now that have wee floats inside so you
can see where the water level is clearly (personally, I like the bottles
with the little duckies - *chuckle*).
This is getting long and I didn't mean it to be. I guess I am just
wondering if others here are part of the AGS to educate gerbil owners
and help prevent tragic losses due to husbandry issues as well as to
learn? It is a noble purpose albeit one that requires a large measure
of patience and understanding.
With a sad smile,
Deborah
General small zoo keeper and
AGS Committee Member
