The Gerbil Journal: Past Gerbils

Meet my gerbils- Past gerbils

Though I only have five now, there was a time when I had sixteen gerbils at once. And not so long ago, eleven.
Before that, it was pretty much a pair or trio at a time.

It started with Peanut, a Golden Argente full of energy and mischief and curiosity.
Peanut was never my friendliest gerbil, but I loved her anyway and she at least tolerated me. She was a dominant girl, and had many companions over the years. She died at roughly two years old, a few years ago.

The first of Peanut's companions was Pebbles. A sweet, docile spotted Argente Cream, Pebbles was impossible not to love as she was lively and active, but also gentle and friendly. Unfortunately, she passed away only six months after I got her.

Next came Puddles, a laid-back Lilac that, after a few initial disputes, agreed to let Peanut take charge. Puddles got an ear tumor less than two weeks after I got her, but after three weeks of treatment, came home with a head-tilt but nothing more. However, her and Peanut no longer got along, and had to live separately.
A couple months later, poor Puddles got an internal tumor in her abdomen and passed away shortly after.

Paisley, along with her sister Pixel, came after. Paisley was an adorable, petite little spotted Dove. She was, however, sick even before I got her without me knowing it, and passed away only a few days later.

When the time came that I decided to breed gerbils, Penelope was introduced to the clan! She was a cute, docile, but rather quirky spotted REH. I called her Loopy Lopey for some of her interesting personality traits, but her antics were in the end quite entertaining and lovable.
When being a mother didn't work, she instead lived with Parsley, the aunt of the upcoming litters. Lopey was a great fit- she went along with all of Parsley's plans for mischief as a sidekick.
She passed away just the summer, around the age of a year.

Pippin joined the crew at around the same time as Lopey, as he was her intended partner. A handsome Saffron/Red Fox, this fellow was my first male gerbil. He was laid-back and docile, and a great father to the ten little wrigglers he and Pepper had.
He lived with two of those pups for a few months after, until going to a new home several months ago.

Then come the kiddos! There were almost a dozen of them.
The first litter was one girl against five brothers. Maggy, the girl, still lives with Pepper.
Her brother Marbles, also a Sapphire, stayed with Dad and his younger brother Sammy, until all three of them went to live at a new home.

His other brothers, Macaroon (Sapphire), Mister Metric (Black), Mento (Sapphire), and Millimeter (Black), went to new homes earlier when they were a couple months old.

The next litter was more even- two girls and two boys.
The girls, Silvie and Snickers, were two adorable, pretty Sapphire and Blacks that I kept for several months, until recently, actually. They were joined later by Probsy, short for Problem, a darker Sapphire from the pet store that 'didn't get along' with any other gerbils. With a proper introduction, however, they were soon a happy trio. Now they live at a new home.

Their brothers were Sammy, or Samwise, and Skittles. Sammy was Black and Skittles Sapphire.
Skittles was the runt of the litter, and my attempts at getting him some extra nourishment didn't work. He finally passed away, almost half the size of his siblings, at five weeks old.

Sammy lived alone for awhile, then was introduced to Pippin and Marbles, and the three of them also live at a new home.