Hi everyone, I'm back from holidays and there are about 900 emails from the GML! I doubt I'll every get through them, but it's great to see it going to strong. I just want to thank everyone who replied to my sister's plea for help a few weeks ago regarding her accident with my gerbils and the resulting depression of little Poke-poke immediately afterwards. She sent me an urgent email to call as soon as it happened. I could only cry way on the other side of the world, feeling so helpless and far away. But she kept me updated since about what Poke-poke and the new baby friend she ran around desperately to find before he died of loneliness. Thanks so much for all your help and advice! She followed your words to a T, in fact, the day she actually removed the barrier, she spent the whole day basically sitting next to the cage with gloves on, waiting to reach in at the first sign of a fight. But everything went smoothly and they're best friends now. They both came home to me yesterday and wow, not only have they taken to each other, but Poke-poke has become so very protective of the little guy (who's still nameless)! Everytime someone comes up to the cage or a hand goes in, the little guy of course comes around out of curiosity. Without fail, Poke-poke shows up in a flash and is everywhere nosing around and making sure no one's hurting his little buddy. However, when my sister first put them together, Poke-poke apparently first completely ignored the wide-eyed baby staring at him and timidly following him around, then turned around and stomped all over the poor little fellow! My sister swore she could hear him blaring that he's bigger and he's the boss, so there. Then when the little guy tried to copy him digging in the corner, Poke-poke waited until he was right next to him, then gave him a sudden mighty shove and boing! Suddenly the little guy was shaking his head, completely confused as to why he was now in the opposite corner of the cage. Then Poke-poke decided to groom him, only the little baby didn't want to be groomed, so Poke-poke simply sat on him, flattened him out, and proceeded to groom. My sister couldn't even see the poor squeaking baby under Poke-poke, he was so much bigger than him! But oh, the baby's so cute! He's dark-eyed, a dusty brown color, with a ring of white around his neck, a small splash of white reaching between his ears, a dot of white on his back, and white tip on the tail. I know I've seen this pattern in the color palette, I just have to look it up. I still miss Ding-dum though. My poor little gerbil, at least it happened fast. I didn't even get to bury him. I'm so glad that I took some pictures just before I left. He was about 5 months old. Amy The Jeu-jeu Gerbils __________________________________________________________ Get your FREE personalized e-mail at http://www.canada.com
