>My main pair are very tame and friendly, will climb onto my hand
>and never run away when I put my hand on the cage. But something
>I've noticed, with other pairs also, is that if I walk past the cage
>or turn around on my bed so it squeaks, the gerbils fly over to a
>corner and hide under something. Their pups seem to do the
>same. Is there any particular reason they do this? I hear all the
>time about people walking past gerb cages and the gerbils will
>stand up and try to get held. Like I said, they love to be played
>with, but for some reason they get scared when there's any type
>of noise.
>
>Paige
A lot of my pairs are easily startled. When I first walk into the
room to start an evening's work, I often will cause a few of the
pairs to hide at warp two. Then they all generally will come out
to the front of the cage, both of them, and stand there on hind
legs and hope for sunseeds. After about the first five minutes
and everyone's used to the idea the big noisy human's there;
they all go from 'hide' to 'I want' and 'lemme climb the human,
no, lemme climb the human'
Some leave music on at tolerable levels to both the human
that lives in the room and the rest of the people that live in
the house; to mask sudden noises and cause more calm
and mellow gerbils. (a lot of the teen respondents to the list
have mentioned this). They leave it on all the time.
It's just a little overreaction caused by their instinct.
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
