False alarm. Hope *is* pregnant. First I thought she was, then I
thought she wasn't, and now I KNOW she is. I didn't hold her for
a while because I wasn't at home or I had someone over, so when I
held her today I got a surprise. She's the biggest I've ever seen
a gerbil get! I've been comparing her with some of Elizabeth
Heckert's pictures (I do that a lot, don't I?) and I'm guessing
about 6-7 pups. She's already had a litter of 5, but her belly
was quite small with that litter so I'm guessing she can pack
them in there very well.
Anyway, so my tennis ball (as my mom calls her) has been waddling
around the cage, making a nice nest in the corner, so I'm hoping
I'll wake up tommorow to a nestfull of babies. I'm going to clean
the cage before her nest gets too big, because it's a mess after
a big cardboard box and lots of tubes.
As you probably know, this is the only pair I've ever had a
sucessful litter from because of my sickness, so I'm practically
jumping for joy. One litter has already been weaned & found homes
for, so The Hanson Clan is *finally* going to spread out accross
the US. So now, at least if an illness ever does come back (which
it will NOT) I'll at least know there are still genes from my
gerbils out there somewhere.
This, like all my emails, got long, so I'm ending it here.
Paige
