Gerbil Rumble

Kit Kat split our largest cage in two using mesh wire. This was to let the fighting gerbils see and smell each other without killing each other. Our large gerbil did not like this arrangement. It drove her crazy. She could not get to the gerbils she is warring with. So instead she turned on the gerbil we had on her side of the cage.

Momoko had Kit Kat remove these gerbils from the split tank. I said we might be able to cover the mesh wire barrier with cardboard to limit sight and smell across the divide. This seems to have worked. The large gerbil is still a bit wild. But she is not attacking the gerbil in her half of the cage.

The end goal is for the gerbils to become reacquainted. Then we hope that we can remove the barrier and there will be peace. This setup is already starting to have a calming effect on our home gerbils, whose tank we split with mesh wire earlier this week.

Case of the Missing Tube

This morning I brought down a toilet paper tube for some of our gerbils to chew. I put it in the cage with our oldest gerbils. They need softer cardboard to chew as their teeth are not as strong. At lunch I saw that the tube was gone. Wow. They must have really chomped hard on the thing.

After lunch, I layed down on the floor next to the old gerbils' cage. There was a lot of activity in their small wooden house. Then I figured out what happened. The gerbils chewed about half of the tube. Then the dragged the remains into their house to finish chewing. Heheh.

These older gerbils have the largest cage int he house. Usually we use the space to give them all kinds of toys. Right now all they have in the cage is their wooden house and metal corn meal bowl. The gerbils use the bowl to roll around and take a bath in the corn meal we pour into it.

After school today, I will instruct Little Kat to fill up the cage. We have a gerbil wheel for them that just got cleaned. We also have a circular cardboard box they like to hide in. There is also a large sturdy box they love to climb on top of.

Gerbil Mania

I was tired this morning and decided to stay home from work. That's okay. I was ahead of schedule at work. I also have the ability to work from home. People who really need me know how to track me down to call me.

I was being productive in our computer room. Then I heard a commotion coming from our TV room. The noise would not go away. I came in to see a flurry of gerbil activity. Out home gerbils were wrestling with each other. They were also running in their wheel, with bedding flying around.

The main disturbance was coming from the big school gerbil cage. I guess Little Kat did not bring them back to school today. Some gerbils were violently scrating at thier little wooden house. Others were scrating at the cardboard box placed in their cage. another was in their bath flinging corn meal around. And some were digging like crazy, making the bedding fly.

Not sure why these lil guys were wild. Maybe they heard me and wanted some attention. Perhaps the leaf blower or lawn mower noise from outside drove them batty. Eventually they calmed down and went to sleep. Sheesh.

Fire Starting

We just got all this firewood. So Little Kat was itching to build a fire in our fireplace. We chose three pieces of wood off our patio.

We got the area around the fireplace clean. Little Kat put the logs in, crumpled up some newspaper, and lit it up. Nothing happpened. The newspaper burned and went out. He tried again. Still a fail.

Finally Little Kat started putting more and more paper in the fire. Then he broke down a cardboard box and put it in. He kept putting more newspaper in. He added some kindling sticks from the ground outside. No luck.

I jumped in and put newspaper in like crazy. Kit Kat opened the window and brought up a fan to get oxygen. Finally after an hour or so, the fire was lit. There has to be a better way. Momoko recommends Duraflame logs.