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After a gentle, slow decline into feeble old age, our beloved cranky gerbil, Nibbles, died last weekend.
He went quite quickly. I heard thumping coming from his cage and ran in, as he hasn't had the wherewithal to make that much noise for months. I found him on his side, not breathing, watched him twitch a couple of times, and then he was gone. I'm thankful he didn't suffer. He was doing very little apart from coming upstairs in his enclosure to take a few bits of food from our fingers and drink water once or twice a day. He spent most of his time sleeping.
In his youth, he was an exceptionally grumpy gerbil. He did not like being held, and as far as he was concerned, the only good finger was a bitten finger. Then his brother died suddenly when they were both two years old. While conventional wisdom holds that gerbils should not be solitary, Nibbles continued his fine tradition of contrarianism by becoming a much friendlier single gerbil. Once he had complete control over his domain and sole rights to the cardboard chewing tubes, we could stroke his little head and back, and pick him up to put him in his sand bath. His daily wheel runs were performed with renewed exuberance, until old age caught up with him.
I shall miss his almond-seeking nose boops. Rest well, Nibsy. Enjoy chasing your brother and Tiny the hamster in Small Rodent Valhalla.
He went quite quickly. I heard thumping coming from his cage and ran in, as he hasn't had the wherewithal to make that much noise for months. I found him on his side, not breathing, watched him twitch a couple of times, and then he was gone. I'm thankful he didn't suffer. He was doing very little apart from coming upstairs in his enclosure to take a few bits of food from our fingers and drink water once or twice a day. He spent most of his time sleeping.
In his youth, he was an exceptionally grumpy gerbil. He did not like being held, and as far as he was concerned, the only good finger was a bitten finger. Then his brother died suddenly when they were both two years old. While conventional wisdom holds that gerbils should not be solitary, Nibbles continued his fine tradition of contrarianism by becoming a much friendlier single gerbil. Once he had complete control over his domain and sole rights to the cardboard chewing tubes, we could stroke his little head and back, and pick him up to put him in his sand bath. His daily wheel runs were performed with renewed exuberance, until old age caught up with him.
I shall miss his almond-seeking nose boops. Rest well, Nibsy. Enjoy chasing your brother and Tiny the hamster in Small Rodent Valhalla.
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My mother was absolutely firm that there would be NO RODENTS in her house as pets. None of us particularly wanted a hamster or gerbil - but my brother M *really* campaigned for a rat for a while :D He did not win that battle.
Brother J, being the weirdo that he is, REALLY REALLY wanted a chinchilla. He couldn't fixate on a *normal* rodent pet, noooo. He also failed to win that battle with my mom :D
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Chinchillas have really long lives, too! That's quite a commitment.
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If my brother had known all of that at the time, I'm sure he would have changed his mind - and tbh I'm pretty sure that as an adult, he must have looked into what it would entail, and that's why he never got one, LOL
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Growing up in London, only small pets were allowed and I kept gerbils for a while. I loved how much personality they had!
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I'm reminded of our beloved hamster ("Hamlet"), his sharp little claws and sweet twitchy nose.
♥
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Aw they don't last long.
Plus side: a vacancy for new baby gerbils!
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condolences
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