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Original poster

Ds has jsy accidently squashed his gerbil!! What to do with the other one???

73 replies

kittythescarygoblin · 20/10/2006 17:55

Any ideas pleas. Poor ds1 has accidently squashed one of his gergils and it is sadly no more. That leaves us with one gerbil. I know they are not supposed to live on their own but I can't simply buy another gerbil as they'll kill each other. What would you do????

OP posts:

suzywong · 21/10/2006 14:37

haven't read the whole thread but

I squashed my sister's matriach gerbil when we were kids and its partner - who was also its son - gnawed its own leg off. 'Gustin.

MwaHAHAMhamai · 21/10/2006 14:38

Sorry ruty if it's upset you but I really don't that was the intention of anyone here, I mean come on can you not say you grinned just even a bit at the idea of a suicidal goldfish?

ruty · 21/10/2006 14:41

ok, have to admit i laughed at suzywong's post.

ruty · 21/10/2006 14:42

i think it was the 'matriarch gerbil' mostly.

MwaHAHAMhamai · 21/10/2006 14:46

suzywong · 21/10/2006 14:47

Ahhh...if I can inject a little laughter in to the harsh world of rodent mortality then my work is done

MwaHAHAMhamai · 21/10/2006 14:52

I don't know if it's a urban legend but a friend told me once that he'd heard someone had a budgie with an injured leg and that a matchstick was attached to leg as a splint but because of friction with sandpaper......well you know the rest.

Hey Suzy, what's this I hear of your shennanigans at your recent London meet?

suzywong · 21/10/2006 14:53

Well, they are only my shenaningathingies because the Escort Agency used my credit card. Tut.

MwaHAHAMhamai · 21/10/2006 14:57

pity you can't be here for the xmas meet, would love to meet you.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 21/10/2006 15:29

House rabbit a big no no. I had one - twas a nightmare. It shagged the guinea pig to death too. Literally. Poor thing.

joelallie · 21/10/2006 18:16

"We had them when I was younger and they eat their babies "

Need tutting emoticon here. Sorry blossom but that only happens when animals are under acute stress....What had you been doing to them

rustycreakingdoorbear · 21/10/2006 18:24

MwaHAHAMhamai: I did think of writing an ode to the OP's gerbil, (squashed by a bucket,if you remember) but unfortunately I can only think of one rhyme for bucket & I think that would lower the tone of this thread still further.

joelallie · 21/10/2006 18:29

Nantucket?

Clean but possibly irrelevant...

Original poster

kittythescarygoblin · 21/10/2006 19:36

I found out today that he squashed it whilst trying to catch it. It was a shocking escapee gerbil. I've never known the like.
It was also always finding ways in to ds2's gercils' cage and fighting with them.
One saturday morning i was woekn very earlier by shreiking children. When i opened the bedromm door I just saw this ball off fur rolling round the corridor, blood everywhere. @ gerbils from opposing camps were at it again. Luckily they're all the same sex. Still, they're always shagging

OP posts:

handlemecarefully · 21/10/2006 23:27

So if i said, 'oh goodness, my 4 year old just accidentally drowned the cat' that would be funny?

Well Ruty, if you are obliquely referring to my 4 year old dd accidently drowning one of our gerbils as per my post of 8.20 pm last night I can assure you that nobody in our household was laughing about it.

"Parents should be responsible for pets and I would be totally and utterly mortified if this happened in my house."

And Blossomhill no I wasn't totally mortified, although naturally I should have been aware from some sort of extra sensory perception that whilst I was changing my ds' nappy his 4 year old sister was in the downstairs loo batheing the gerbil.

She spends a great deal of time styling the hair on her pegasus pony, so clearly I should have second guessed that she would hone her budding beautician skills by practicing on the gerbil. How did that one pass me by?

Do we have a 'thud' emoticon yet (muses to herself)

GRUMPYGHOUL · 21/10/2006 23:37

Oh so sorry to hear of your loss, at least DS doesnt sound too devastated

Testacles are affectionately known as plums or walnuts in this house and hence "will you stop foraging for nuts" is often heard.

Original poster

kittythescarygoblin · 22/10/2006 08:30

That's a good 'un grumpy, I'll have to remember that !!!
I think treating pets with kindness and respect is very important and the bigger the brain ofthe animal the more care you should take.
I hate cruelty to animals, but it's A GERBIL, a small rodent with a very small brain. I'm over the shock now!!

OP posts:

ruty · 22/10/2006 08:53

sorry hmc wasn't referring specifically to you, just a generalization of all the posts really. but i do think 4 year old and small creatures don't go together, because they can't understand the differnce, for example between a toy pony and a live gerbil, as you illustrated.

And very worried about kitty's comment 'the bigger the brain the more care over the animal you should take.' On the contrary, whatever kind of pet your child has you should teach your child it is vulnerable and needs proper care - start small ands work your way up. Otherwise you are giving very confused messages about the value of life IMO.

Original poster

kittythescarygoblin · 22/10/2006 08:57

Ruty, surely you can't think that a gerbil has the same value as a dog? (even though I hate dogs)

OP posts:

ruty · 22/10/2006 09:02

i think kitty that if it is your child's pet then you have to teach the child that it has as much value, whatever animal it is, because it teaches the child how to care for the animal. Otherwise the child may think, 'oh it is only a gerbil, I won't bother to look after it as well as i would a dog'. It is about the child learning empathy and care, whatever the animal.

ayway, i don't want to upset anyone, i understand we all do the best we can and accidents happen, I just didn't like the original tone of the thread.

handlemecarefully · 22/10/2006 19:46

fair 'nuff Ruty

pointyfangedWeredog · 22/10/2006 20:26

"We had them when I was younger and they eat their babies "

My gerbils did this too when I was young and very impresionable. Thought I had two females but twas one of each and they had litters over anf over until one day they obviously had enough and ate them. Bleurgh.

Just couldn't look the little critters in teh eye again after that.

LIZS · 22/10/2006 20:31

My hamster did that . There was one baby who had a malformed leg which "disappeared"

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