For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you know that I have a deep love for my 3 pet gerbils: Sargent Franklin Theodore Fuzzy-Boots (brown), Lieutenant Snow (Snowy), and Methos (Black). Technically, each of my brothers and I only own one of them, Franklin being mine. Regardless, I still think they're all mine considering I take care of them the most. I have even dedicated a whole Facebook photo album for them. It's weird, to be so attached to gerbils, I know, but you have to understand the background...
I have always wanted a hamster (or a dog), for as long as I can remember. My dad, having grown up in a small town where you either had animals for hunting, farming, or eating, felt no need to buy any type of pet for his kids unless it was a fish. After owning a pet aquatic frog for 8 years (Fred the Frog), I had to break the news to him that you simply can't love a fish.
When I was about 14 years old I walked into a pet store with some friends of mine, and we walked down the "Small Pet's" isle, and that was the first time I saw a real "gerbil" (not hamster) for sale as a pet. Hamsters are not as cute to me. Their faces are fairly flat, and fat, and they show little personality from what I've seen. Plus, all they do is sleep during the day, and keep you up in the middle of the night. Yet when I asked the store keeper about what the difference between a gerbil and hamster is, he informed me that he recommends gerbils over hamsters any day.
It. Took. Years.
Saving up, discussions with my dad, even a 10-page windows powerpoint to attempt to prove that I am mature and capable enough to take care of pet gerbils all on my own. It was not until I was 17 during my senior year that I was able to FINALLY break down his wall and get him to say yes at least once. One night he finally said yes, and the very next day after school I went to the pet store so he would not have time to change his mind.
The first Petco we went to was the one by Sushi Hana in Tigard, and they only had 1 male gerbil (we decided we wanted to get 2, gerbils are happier with friends, and we did not want anyone to feel lonely), considering we did not want to go through the process of "introducing" new gerbils to each other, we decided to go all the way to Beaverton to see what they had there.At first we were horrified.
They have plenty of gerbils to choose from, yet the first red flag was that they were all on sale for 25% off. When we got a closer look, it looked as if someone had been testing the reactions of crack users on them, because they were all insane. One was randomly running in circles while others were scratching the glass and fighting others and chewing on their metal exercise wheel. My mom, brother and I all instantly decided; we could not possibly feel any sort of connection. So we talked to the pet store lady, who also was sketch (multiple facial piercings, dreads, dyed hair, tattoos, etc) if they had any other gerbils to choose from. She said yes and brought out the 2 new fellows that they just got the day before.
We loved them! They were smaller than the rest, and shy, and calm. We put our hands in and they would come up and smell us and we could feel their little paws on our fingers. We instantly felt a bond with them. So we got those ones (Franklin and Snowy).Months later when my brother came home from college (surprised to hear dad actually caved and let me purchase my own gerbils), he decided he wanted to be a gerbil owner too. So that is where we got Methos (clearly Michael named that one), and luckily the introduction process was not as difficult as expected. Now, franklin and snowy get along just fine, and they scruffle and play with each other all the time.
So there you have it, for those of you who actually took the time to read all this, wow, you need to get off the computer now...
Those of you who just viewed the pictures, aren't they so cute??
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