four new furry friends!!

yep FOUR gerbils! its accually for my bio fair, 4 female gerbils paired my colour(2 agouti, 2 spotted agouti) and one pair kept in a natural enviroment(sand,food scattered,veggies, a water"oasis", hay) and 2 in a fake type enviroment(wood ship bedding,toys,water bottle, food in a dish, 3 story cage) and they are young, so they will grow up in the different enviroments, and kim(project partner) and I will observe the differences in behaviour, to prove that the type of enviroment affects the way they behave. anyway after the project is over in january they will be just pets! I have only named one so far, "stubby" because of an uneducated employ mistake:rolleyes: they people obviously did not know that the end of a gerbils tail is a defnce mechinism and comes off if you grab it, apperenty someone grabbed her by the end of her tail so she has a short stubby tail hence "stubby" any ideas for the other 3? all girls, 2 agouti(brown with black tips) and one spotted agouti(agouti with white spot patches on face and neck) :D anyway its an exuse for more gerbils hehehe:p I will get pictures later the nateral habitat is not completly done yet so they are all the in cage right now. anyway name ideas????????:D

Sounds like an interesting project.

I'll give name suggestions after I see the pics because I'm bad at coming up with names if I don't know the animal or don't see a picture of the animal.

Do you get too keep them after the project is through? Where did you get them?

Cant wait to see pictures!

of coarse I am keeping them! I got them at master feeds lol and they happend to have 4 gerbils all of the same sex, and housed together, we thought perfect, that is exactly what we were looking for and we did not have to leave any behind lol and we educated the employee, on gerbils, who promised to read up on them, he said he liked gerbils better then most critters and promised to educate himself on them :D

anyway heres pictures!!

this one is stubby

and the other spotted one that needs a name

namless agouti #1

and namless agouti # 2

Just to let you know as it looks as if they are being housed on pine, that pine is not safe for small mammals. It contains phenols that can cause severe respiratory distress and lung scarring so perhaps you can house them on Carefresh or Aspen shavings?

Congrats on the four new gerbils!:D
I hope your project with them goes well.
I love the photos, how old are they? They look younger than my 2 gerbils.
Poor Stubby, it looks like she only has half a tail left.:(

I have plenty of name suggestions, here are some names of my former gerbils all agouti colored.
Peanut, Nibbles, Sniffles, Nosy, Cute, Curious, Sunflower and Cinnamon. Let me know if you like any of the names.:)

lickies they are on kiln dries pine, which is safe, air dried(damp and smelly) and ceder are really bad but kild dried is totally dry and has no smell :)

VC stubby DOES only have half a tail left! looks kind of odd but some gerbils tails the tips come off more then on others. hmm I like cinnamon, and sniffles, my mom suggested for the one pair"stubby" and "sniffles" and for the wild pair "cinnamon" and "cindy" lol! :D

Yes KILN dried pine is "supposed" to be safe, but it doesn't release all the phenols, which is why small animals still show problems while housed on kiln dried pine.

I think they are all cute. Stubby is my favorite! :D I used to have gerbils, and I had a few white spotted ones too, some agoutis, a lilac and blacks. Sooo cute!

Tasha? Tabitha? Sasha? Tawny?

Thats all I can come up with right now!

Phoenix, Cheyenne, Dallas, and Houston

LOL.. I was bored

thanks for the ideas everyone they are all named
stubby,sniffles,cindy,and cinnamon :p

I'm glad you liked the names and picked a couple of them.:D
My Sniffles was named after the cartoon mouse that squeaks a lot.:)
I was thinking that you might like the name Ginger to go with Cinnamon if you thought that Cindy and Cinnamon sounded too much alike.
Do you have any more photos of them?

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Originally posted by cali
lickies they are on kiln dries pine, which is safe, air dried(damp and smelly) and ceder are really bad but kild dried is totally dry and has no smell :)

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Actually that theory was disproved. I'll see if I can find a link.......

They are really cute; it sounds like an interesting project. :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by wolfsoul
Actually that theory was disproved. I'll see if I can find a link.......

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I already said that lol. :p

Try aspen shavings, it is the safest of easy to get shavings.

Personally I use reptile & bird litter, it is tiny shavings made of kiln dried hard woods, it's only a few dollars more than regular shavings.

Quote:

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Originally posted by luckies4me
I already said that lol. :p

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Oops, didn't see lol. :p

Just like to add that when you are smelling the pine -- what you are actually smelling are the phenols.

if it aint broke dont fix it lol aspen is extremly expensive for the amount we would need. and all my critters have lived extrodinary long lives on pine. (6-8 year old gerbils, lifespan is 3-5) :p