Well, I'm still missing my Eclipse, but I think I've finally
decided on a name for the golden agouti - Quark. Yes, I like weird
names. :) I've given him a good 10 days more or less to himself, to
get settled in and used to the new smells and sounds in our house.
He's still mighty skittish, but once I stop moving and just stand by
the tank, he comes out to investigate, all curious and wide-eyed. He's
an absolutely horrible nest builder, but then, I guess everyone has
their style. :) (Eclipse would fluff up a nice soft comfy nest of
shredded cotton, tissue paper, and aspen, and then swirl out a hole in
the middle of it and burrow in. And he did not learn this from his
mom!) I'm hoping to get Quark used to me in the next few days, I was
just wondering if there's anything extra special to do with gerbils
that have been shipped?
I came home tonight after work (night shift), and was going about
my nightly duties, when in I walk to the office to find the partition
down between Einstein and Trinity. At first I was rather alarmed, but
with a closer inspection there's no sign of nipping or fighting. I
poked my sleeping husband to find out why he had meddled (he knows
less about gerbils than I do!). He mumbled something about how they
were sleeping next to each other on either side of the partition, and
decided to let the two together. I was hoping to give them a few more
days, but they seem to be doing fine. I will be keeping close watch
though.
There's this odd thing though. Einstein will often come up to
Trinity and sniff her and such, normal yes I know, but then he'll turn
one side to her, arching his back and stuff, apparently trying to look
big and bad. Trinity just ignores this display. Now this happened
the very first time I put them together... before I knew about
how to introduce stranger gerbils the proper way. And this first time
there was nipping on Trinity's part, but the second day she was much
more demure, and instead of Einstein being intimidated and running
away, he would do this odd puffy show. This went on for a week or so
they were together, even after I had seen them mate.
Should this be a concern? I know that just because nothing
horrible happened the first time around, doesn't mean it won't happen
this time. Honestly otherwise they seem fine, though of course
Einstein is displaying more nuzzling and affection than the
unimpressed Trinity, who would rather chew up cardboard. :)
Let's just hope he can charm her over! From what I've gathered so
far from their genetics, they could end up with some nice colors.
*crosses fingers and says a prayer to the gerbil cupid*
Thanks for your help!
-Jackie & The Copper Dragon Clan
