>I am embarrassed to admit that I received my first
>gerbil bite this weekend. A good one too.
<g> Welcome, you are now officially 'christened'
Hamster nips are usually small little punctures if they
break skin, to slashes that need stitches (beware of
separating a fighting female when she doesn't want
the male...syrians) and gerbils...well, they seem to
take aim and glom on comparatively. Gerbil bites
are usually deeper, more painful, and all that...
>Getting
>over confident on my abilities to "read" my gerbils'
>personality and to introduce gerbils, I put two
>together without sufficient split cage time, and
>without wearing gloves!
Double naughty.
>I felt so bad for Alan when Rocket pinned him in a
>death grip with teeth pressed against his neck that I
>immediately pulled Alan right off him. Alan,
>terrified, sunk his teeth deep into my third finger
>and literately just hung on. Amazingly enough, I
>still felt sorry for the little guy and placed his
>feet on the ground (out of the tank, of course) and
>crooned softly to him until he let go.
Glad he finally let go.
>Two questions:
>1) Any good tips for getting a gerbil who's attached
>to your finger to let go?
Pretty much what you did, give them something to stand
on and wait until release.
>2) Why do I have three puncture wounds in a little
>ring around my finger? Shouldn't there be two?
Four. You have a mismatched set. Two upper, two lower.
You're missing one.
I've had as few as one puncture and up to four.
Make sure the wounds are clean and not infected.
Use neosporin on yourself.
Um, when was the last time you had a tetnaus shot?
Usually there's no concern about that, but it doesn't
hurt to be current...
>Donna
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
[who ends up with an annual tetnaus shot because of
stomping nails and glass shards (stained glass work)
all the time]
