Sunday, August 17, 2008

Available gerbils and a retired breeding pair

I have had a lot of people looking for gerbils lately, and am down to two available pups, an agouti and a black self male pair. Also available is an older retired breeding female, Starlight, and her black daughter living together as a pair. Lastly, one of my breeding pairs, Black Jack and his spotted red fox mate, Petunia, are reaching the end of their breeding life. It is unlikely that they will have any more litters, but if they are adopted and then have more pups, I would of course take the pups back when they are weaned. They are both around a year and a half old, so are only middle aged. All of these gerbils can be seen in pictures in previous posts, and all are available for $15 for the pair.

Happy Birthday to me!

My amazing boyfriend Walter really knows what makes me happy. For my birthday last week he got me a pair of green anoles. I got a male and a female and named them Hector and Eva.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

New additions

This week is a black and white week! On Saturday I adopted Jack, an 8 month old hamster, from http://www.mainelyratrescue.org/. He is super friendly and one of the most interesting color hamsters I have ever seen. It's hard to get a good picture of his unique patterns because he looks so different from various angles.
And tonight I came home with Parade's Ansel, named after the famous photographer known for his black and white photos. Ansel is a black and white mottled male with an interesting inverted line pattern on his back. Ansel comes a line of champions, bred by a fellow local breeder, check out her website at http://www.jandemchinchillas.com/.
Ansel completes my trio of show males who will be pampered, spoiled, and generally live the high life. He will be living with Sunburn and George and had a seamless introduction to them tonight.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Three boys gone to a new home

Three gerbil boys went to a great new home tonight, a black, nutmeg, and spotted red fox. There are four males left, as well as the two females. For pictures of the gerbils, check out this post about available gerbils- http://gerbilparade.blogspot.com/2008/08/lots-of-gerbils.html.

Friday, August 1, 2008

My Gerbils

Here are some of my gerbils.
Black Jack, a black self, and Petunia, a spotted red fox, are my only breeding pair right now. They are really sweet, from a line of gerbils that are friendly with people, and very snuggly with other gerbils.Eclair, a Siamese, and Jill, a pink eyed white, are together- I was hoping to get some nice colorpoint babies from them, but they have been together for several months now, with only one failed litter a while ago. Eclair has four show points now, having won second place in a pup class when he was a couple of months old, and second place in the colorpoint class in the most recent NE show. Jill I got from a fellow breeder, she is younger and has only been in one show, but she won first in the self class in that show.

I am setting up what will be my "dream team"- a trio of males that will be especially for showing. Sunburn is an argente that I bred. He was paired for only two litters with a black self girl named Eclipse. I kept the best son from their first litter, an agouti named George. I have also reserved a mottled black male from a fellow breeder who will finish off the trio. George and the as yet unnamed mottled pup are still young, but I think they will grow until very handsome gerbils.


The breeder sent me a picture of my pup with his litter. He is the black mottled at the top.

Lots of Gerbils

I have lots of gerbils ready to go to good homes. All the pups are $10 each, but usually I'll sell the older ones for a reduced adoption fee, or free to the right circumstances.
Here are three males, an agouti, a black self, and a spotted red fox.
Here are four more males, an agouti, a spotted red fox, a nutmeg, and a black self.Here are two girls, a yellow fox, and a spotted lilac.These babies are about a week old, and will be ready to go in 4-5 more weeks. They are the last litter of Sunburn and Eclair.I also have one older pair, retired breeder Starlight, and her black self daughter from one of her last litters. They would be available to a good pet home for $5.

I Love Animals

I love gerbils, but I also love all sorts of other animals too. I have a lot of pets, some people joke that I have my own petting zoo, but I just love being around them, and everyone is spoiled and loved, and I make sure they all get lots of individual attention. Get ready for lots of pictures- Melody, my retired racing greyhound, I got her on November 20th, 2003 at the age of three and a half.


Rupert and Monty, my two cats adopted from the shelter. Rupert is grey with double paws and was born appr. June 1st, 2003. Monty is black and white and also has double paws and was born April 28, 2005. They get along pretty well, but sometimes Rupert likes to beat up Monty.


Almond is my African pygmy hedgehog. She is a retired breeder from a local breeder- Hamor Hollows, and she is super friendly and sweet. She is very curious and tastes and licks everything, which is funny when it's your fingers or clothes.
Wilma is my female crested gecko. I got her from Craigslist, she had already lost her tail when I got her. The guy said she was about one when I got her in the summer of '07.Tyr is my juvenile cherryhead redfoot tortoise. I got him from Petco in '06, and they said he was 4-5 years old. He is really cute, and has a friendly, doglike personality. He is growing really slowly, only an inch or so in the past two years, but I think he's still healthy. I have three pet rats. Edna is a hairless dumbo girl that I randomly found in a local pet store in Sept. '07. I love rats and always had them as pets in high school and beyond, but I hadn't had any in a few years. When I saw her I just had to have her, and she is a really great girl, although she can be a spoiled brat sometimes. Mary is a black hooded rat from the same pet store a few weeks later, five days or so after we got her she broke her leg really severely on a badly designed running wheel, and after weeks of vet visits and antibiotics ended up having to get it amputated. She recovered fine though, and gets around great. She is the sweetest and snugliest of the group, she will lick you as long as you let her. Justin is a black rex neutered male that I adopted from Mainely Rat Rescue. He was a little older when I got him and is not as socialized and in your face friendly as the girls, but is still a sweetheart, he loves when you run your hand from his back to his face, he gets all excited and jumps around. Rats are smart, friendly and curious, my rats love to be held and petted, know their names, and are trained to come when I shake their treat jar. I always meant to train them beyond that, rats can learn lots of cool tricks, but somehow never got around to it. My rats live in a large (4' x '3) ferret cage, and I try to let them out to play at least half an hour to an hour a day, usually by the end of that they've gone back into the cage and fallen asleep anyway.
James T. Kirk, otherwise known as Jim, or JK, is my long haired Syrian hamster. I got him from a hamster breeder at a rodent show in Feb. '08. He is really friendly and healthy, which is why you should always get small animals from a breeder. I don't think most pet store hamsters would be as nice as him. When I am holding him he will often lick my fingers, and he is funny when he marks the sides of the hamster play pen by arching his back and rubbing against them. Jim is a color known as silver-gray, which I had never seen before I saw him. He is long haired, but I will often trim the "skirt" around his butt, as it will mat if it gets too long.Norma and Doris are my two dwarf hamsters, they came from Petco in early '07. Norma is really friendly, but has toenails that grow long and crooked and need to be trimmed regularly. She also has a habit of stuffing her cheek pouches and leaving the food in there to rot, I usually force her to empty them when I clip her nails. Doris has a messed up nose that must have happened in a fight at the pet store. She is as mean as anything, she is very bitey and hard to handle. After these girls I knew I wouldn't get any more hamsters from a pet store. I have two pygmy mice left out of my original five females. They are getting pretty old, but seem healthy and active still. African pygmy mice are probably the tiniest rodents, with a tail and body length of about 1.5-2 inches. They are very fast and skittish, I only hold them to transfer them to a carrier when I clean their cage. They live in a five gallon aquarium with a wire mesh lid, and eat parakeet or finch food.
After all those other animals, the only other species of animal I have, besides gerbils, is mice. My mouse population tends to vary a lot, mice only have a lifespan of 1-2 years, so I always seem to have some pass and new ones coming into the fold. I always tell myself I'm not going to get any more mice, because they are so smelly, but the fact is they are really cute, and they come in so many colors, I always end up seeing some really cute ones at a pet store, or on Craigslist, or I meet a breeder... The fact is there are a lot of mice available out there. Right now I have six mice, ranging in age from born Oct. '06 to app. May '08. My favorite is my only male, Leroy, I saw him on the "adoption table" at Petco. They can't sell animals that have been returned to them, so they have to give them to whoever will take them. He had a sign on his cage, "My name is Dot, I am a friendly female mouse, who comes with my cage to a good home." I actually left the store, telling myself I didn't need any more pets, then turned around and went back because I was afraid he would be taken by someone looking for a meal for their snake. Of course when I got home and took him out of the tiny plastic cage he came with I realized he was in fact, a Leroy, not a Dot. He is my friendliest mouse, he seems to like to be out of his cage spending time with me. Sometimes I'll put him in my pocket or on my shoulder and he'll ride all around the house with me. My female mice, of varying ages from various situations are: Bianca, Maude, Rose, Tulip, and Henrietta.
Here is Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown-