> >3) Put gerbil in boring boxes of various heights to see how high a gerbil
> >can jump.
>
>
>I thought Deb Adams' list was great except for this one.
>You really WANT to teach a gerbil to jump? This is just
>a Houdini in training and will be much harder to keep
>in their cage...
I wonder if a gerbil would be more likely to jump after an experiment like
this or if a gerbil is going to jump anyways? Does that make any sense?
Actually, my biggest jumpers have learned to jump onto something. I.e. my
wheel-addicted gerbils often have to jump to get to their wheel (suspended
from lid) and when the wheel is removed, they continue to jump to where it
should be. Those who could care less about wheels or whose wheels are lower
to the ground, don't jump or leap ever.
Angel, my biggest jumper, chewed a hole in the lid of a 29-gallon tall when
we had all these fancy plexiglass levels my husband put in. After we
removed the levels and, thus, removed her access to her hole, she remembered
the existence of that hole. She continued to jump out and escape. To
prevent this, we covered the hole with a heavy book but for a short time
afterwards, she continued to jump towards the hole.
Your right that the box experiment might give Houdinis-in-training some good
ideas, but the experiment is still interesting. How high can your gerbils
jump?
Deb Adams
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