Hestia Homeschool for Young Wild Women

Ever been to a gerbil show? 

 I thought so.

I haven't either, but right now there is a hot movement afoot to show the wee beasties in virtual shows.  Click below for an example of the champion Pied gerbils at a gerbil show.   Click here: Virtual Show 2004  

This handsome fellow was the champion 2004 in London.

The Poor Pinkie died a few hours ago. The girls managed to keep it alive over 48 hours. I think I should have trusted my own instincts more and not spent so much time on the Internet looking for help.  It was doing fine on my breastmilk lapped off a finger or sucked off a q-tip..then I read that Kitten Replacement formula double strength worked best (I doubt they had access to human breast milk)...we switched over, and the poor thing died about six hours later. It might be unrelated to that. I still feel I should have stayed with what was working. It was staying in an incubator we made by lining a glass bowl with scraps of rabbit fur and then covering  the baby with mink fur.  I have a heat lamp that we placed about a foot away.  The Poor Pinkie died inside of Mandy's bra. There is also a chance that it suffocated.  Who knows..sigh...poor little thing... Tabitha buried it out in the Gerbil Graveyard.  

The American Gerbil Society has a rainbow Bridge where you can memorialize your lost gerbils..   

http://www.agsgerbils.org/ is the American Gerbil Society. I paid the membership fee on the Junior level for the girls.  This site has some incredible genetic information...the girls are going to genotype each of their gerbils.  We are deciding who should be mated to whom right now--or rather, they are. My opinion counts for naught.  LOL

Six babies went to new homes last week. We've had no trouble finding excellent homes for babies.  Our babies are so used to being handled they are a joy. Plus, we promise to take them back at any time. We inspect the cages before letting them go.  The girls have even drawn up contracts.

We only give away same sex pairs/triads, promoting Gay Marriage in gerbils.  :-) Actually since they breed so prolifically, it really is the ethical thing to do.

There is a huge amount of information out there on gerbil color variations.

Click here: Pied or Patched?  is the wonderful site where I borrowed these pictures of these engaging little creatures.  

The Fool, an albino male we obtained from a pet store for free since he had been caught by a cat and was very aggressive---no wonder!!--bit Mandy quit sharply the first day. (She didn't tell me until much later).  Now his wounds have healed and he is hand tame.  We are working on a split cage arrangement so he can have a companion. He attacks any gerbil we put in with him...I suspect out of trauma.

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• #3 Comment from suzypwr 
  9/20/04 9:22 AM | Permalink

  Poor Pinkie! xoxo
• #2 Comment from my78novata 
  9/20/04 6:28 AM | Permalink

  Oh sorry one died. But these pics are sure cute. Lori
• #1 Comment from sugar1337 
  9/20/04 1:32 AM | Permalink

  Sorry the little one died.