To want them to die?

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

Stupidly and in a moment of weakness, I gave in to dd's requests and got her a pair of gerbils. they are horrid fuckers. Cute to look at but both me and her are scared of them and the only person willing to handle them is dh. They only need cleaning once a fortnight and so that's the only time they leave their cage. I do feel sorry for them, no handling means they are probably scared of us. so, is it unreasonable to either want them to die or try to rehome them given their lack of human contact. i suppose that they are lucky inasmuch as they have each other, but.
I have made a mental promise that she is never having any more pets after the debacle with the stick insects.

Poor things But I have to admit to not being that keen - they are very volatile and scuttery. Why are rats unobtainable? I can give you some websites for rat breeders (good ones I mean)

BTW rehome. Not that wishing they would die is going to do any good unless you 'help' them.

YABU. Find a new home for them, with someone who will like them.

If they're in a 'cage' BTW you're not providing them with the best environment. Gerbils like to burrow and tunnel - they should be in a glass vivarium type setup with plenty of levels and bedding to pile up and make tunnels and dens. They can enjoy hiding their food and digging it up later. They won't need a 'run around in the bath'?!? They are probably terrified when your DH does that - grabbed and put in a huge featureless strange environment?! As someone else said, they can be tamed and handled but you need to be patient and confident. Kinder to give them away if you're not into them, but please don't wish another living creature dead, just for your convenience.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA

Sorry but when i was 16 i persuaded my parents to let me get two. I came home with four. I loved them, i got another two! so i had six!!

I never cleaned them (poor things, it was total abuse looking back ) and i don't know how i didn't get ill with all the bacteria that wouldhave been around. Eventualy when i realised that it wasnt fair on them to keep them, i gave them all away in pairs.

GIVE THEM AWAY

It was the best thing i did for them.

(I laughed because your post reminded me of me as a crazy sixteen year old with a rodent filled bedroom - which stank btw)

I don't see why the lack of taming is an excuse for getting rid of them. They don't really NEED to be tamed, they jsut need a suitable enviroment to live in peacefully and you can enjoy watching them.

I kept a couple of russian hamsters, and no matter of handling would tame them, I left them to it, they were perfectly happy and looked after.

I agree though, rats are much better pets for children. Rats WANT to be sociable. My rat used to run around like a very tiny dog, and cuddle up and go to sleep inside my top. I'd lvoe a rat again, but dh hates them.

Buy a cat et voila- problem solved .

Actually I persuaded my Mum to let me get terrapins when I was about 15 and they are scary little fuckers and they stink! I called them my teenage mutant ninja terrapins and called them Toulouse and Pablo 'cos I thought I was funny. I usually had to explain why I thought it was funny. Which sort of defeats the point!

Oh and YABU for wanting them to die.

rehome them

I didn't explain myself very well at all. They have a vast tank with about 30cm of sawdust at the bottom. They have toys and cardboard to chew on as well as some logs that dd and dh got from the forest. They seem happy, but as I said, me and dd are terrified of them. She loves watching them through the glass and talks to them a lot. when dh puts them in the bath, there is always a pingpong ball which they love and a dust bath for them. I don't think we could provide more for them, but I am sad that they don't get handled.
I accept that IABU wanting them to die and willl make a poster to put up at the school looking for a new home. Unless I give them to O for her birthday which is next week. I am sure that O's mum would be thrilled.

Gerbils are evil bastards. YANBU. I'm impressed you've managed to keep them in their cages - Shearer and Ronaldo chewed their way out of everything we tried. I devoted hours of my life trying to find the rodents before the cats did - but Shearer was last seen in a cat's mouth.

They dont NEED to be handled. They have each other.

YABU

Rehome them It won't take long for them to become friendly and handleable once they are with someone who is willing to look after them properly.

couldn't have a rat inthe house... shudder. People are always saying how nicethey are but I really can't warm to the idea. Maybe the Swiss just don't have pet races that' why she can't get them there?

Why are you scared of the gebils though? Is it the way they look that gives you the creeps or something they do?

argh

maybe the Swiss don't have pet RATS I meant to say

Also geRbils
sorry

I loved my gerbil. He was a classroom pet my teacher friend begged me to take because the children kept poking him with pencils .

He wouldn't be handled because of the awful treatment he had received from those little hellions.

But we treated each other with respect

His favorite thing was to slither slightly pervily on glossy magazines when let out to run about the floor.

He'd also beg for a bit of toast or an olive when I was eating pizza - I don't like olives, but he loved them, which is another reason why I think we fitted together so well.

I feel a bit guilty about his death - he was curled up at the foot of his ladder one morning - because I might have overfed him or overdone the salt content.

I'm welling up now.

Anyway, give them away to some other soppy cow like me.

Oh, just popped in thinking it was another in-laws thread.

As you were.

Yuck rodents, can't imagine ever wanting rodents in the house.

Are gerbils like guinea pigs? Time for a Peruvian BBQ?

If all thier living needs are taken care of, why do they need to be handled? They're hardly pining fo you.

Id dd enjoys observing them, and DH is happy to clean them out, then just carry in as you are.

And I doubt gerbils live very long, do they?

"I agree though, rats are much better pets for children. Rats WANT to be sociable. My rat used to run around like a very tiny dog, and cuddle up and go to sleep inside my top. I'd lvoe a rat again, but dh hates them."

They are much more fun than other rodents.

i ever like gerbils after i had 3 as a birthday present.
got up the next morning to find one very fat girbil and the other 2 in bloody scaps all overthe tank like some sort of disgusting horror film. had to take fat murderous one back to the shop. culd not love him after that.

i do like small rodents as a rule thogh.

was going to put that you should try rats instead but roulade has already! I preferred my girl rats by far though both make fantastic pets, unlike most small rodents they actually enjoy being handled and played with, which make them fab pets for kids.

We had a male and a female. Cue offspring. The dad then started to carry on with his daughters. Cue more offspring - who were then eaten by their mother. They are cute though.

Oh god, is it wrong that I am ROFL at Eccentrica's murderous gerbil?

Dan, dh and I had hamsters called sniffle and snuffle when we were students

sniffle ate snuffle and strewed his bloody remains around their cage

horrid horrid horrid. Except the few kindly people who said kind things. Class room pets suffer a fate worse than death (well, maybe), RSPCA have a campaign trying to ban pets from classrooms Caged animals are never a great idea; cats, dogs, livestock or nothing imvho. What a bizarre idea, when you think about it, most people cringe at the idea of a bird kept in a cage for the duation of it's life (though probably not you lot. Joke) Suggest rehoming to place where they can live peacfully, with company of same species, room to express natural behaviours, and not be made to be handled.