LOL I originally dreamed of being a some sort of ecologist or scientist until I found out how tough you gotta be mentally and physically lol

6 months in a mosquito filled tropics without a decent shower or a bed, just to record some gerbil's nightly mating rituals. I admit it, I'm way too soft and pampered to be able to endure such things.

Having had not one but TWO colonoscopies in my relatively young life, I am thankful to report that my plumbing has never been home to ascaris lumbricoides. Maybe a gerbil or two though.

go hammie go!!!

it's funny, my gerbil has a lot easier of a time fitting up my...er...nevermind.

Good idea. We've got a little spray bottle that will just suit. We got them from the same shop on the same day, so maybe they were already enemies there.. Also, I noticed they get really discoloured fur on their back towards the tail. I'm not sure if it's from laying in pee, or if they lick it a lot. It's on both of them and I haven't noticed them licking much. Weird!

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
Did you get them both at the same time? If so then I probably wouldn't expect this. If not, then it's possible the one you had first feels like her territory has been invaded by the newbie, hence the aggression. Females are normally much less aggressive than males, but it's not unheard of for this to happen. I had the same problem with my mice.

One possible solution: Fill a spray bottle with water, and whenever you see them fight blast them both. If you can watch them both closely for a while and consistently perform this action the greater the chance of success. It's completely humane too. Good luck, and keep me posted.

In reply to this comment by persephone:
Our rats are both girls, but they fight like crazy. Do you know if this is normal?
In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
My son showed me this video a while back after he had downloaded it onto his PSP. He has a couple of pet rats, so he's kind of into them. Let me say this much about owning a rat:

They're good pets. They're smart and friendly, and of all the rodents you can possibly own (i.e., mice, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, etc.), they are the LEAST likely to bite you. We've owned three rats, and none of them have ever bitten us. Trust me; I've owned most of the aforementioned rodents, and rats are the best. The first rat we had, Jasmine, was so cool. She knew her name and would come when you called her, and she would lick your hands and feet if you let her. She had her own little rituals when we let her out of her cage to play, including begging for peanuts and nibbling on an old blanket in my son's bedroom. When a second rat we owned had babies, Jasmine helped watch them while the momma took a much needed sleep break. Jasmine died almost a year ago, and we still miss her. She was a good girl.

So don't be bagging on rats, y'all. They're just trying to get by like the rest of us, and they ain't so bad if you give them a chance.

Did you get them both at the same time? If so then I probably wouldn't expect this. If not, then it's possible the one you had first feels like her territory has been invaded by the newbie, hence the aggression. Females are normally much less aggressive than males, but it's not unheard of for this to happen. I had the same problem with my mice.

One possible solution: Fill a spray bottle with water, and whenever you see them fight blast them both. If you can watch them both closely for a while and consistently perform this action the greater the chance of success. It's completely humane too. Good luck, and keep me posted.

In reply to this comment by persephone:
Our rats are both girls, but they fight like crazy. Do you know if this is normal?
In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
My son showed me this video a while back after he had downloaded it onto his PSP. He has a couple of pet rats, so he's kind of into them. Let me say this much about owning a rat:

They're good pets. They're smart and friendly, and of all the rodents you can possibly own (i.e., mice, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, etc.), they are the LEAST likely to bite you. We've owned three rats, and none of them have ever bitten us. Trust me; I've owned most of the aforementioned rodents, and rats are the best. The first rat we had, Jasmine, was so cool. She knew her name and would come when you called her, and she would lick your hands and feet if you let her. She had her own little rituals when we let her out of her cage to play, including begging for peanuts and nibbling on an old blanket in my son's bedroom. When a second rat we owned had babies, Jasmine helped watch them while the momma took a much needed sleep break. Jasmine died almost a year ago, and we still miss her. She was a good girl.

So don't be bagging on rats, y'all. They're just trying to get by like the rest of us, and they ain't so bad if you give them a chance.

Our rats are both girls, but they fight like crazy. Do you know if this is normal?
In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
My son showed me this video a while back after he had downloaded it onto his PSP. He has a couple of pet rats, so he's kind of into them. Let me say this much about owning a rat:

They're good pets. They're smart and friendly, and of all the rodents you can possibly own (i.e., mice, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, etc.), they are the LEAST likely to bite you. We've owned three rats, and none of them have ever bitten us. Trust me; I've owned most of the aforementioned rodents, and rats are the best. The first rat we had, Jasmine, was so cool. She knew her name and would come when you called her, and she would lick your hands and feet if you let her. She had her own little rituals when we let her out of her cage to play, including begging for peanuts and nibbling on an old blanket in my son's bedroom. When a second rat we owned had babies, Jasmine helped watch them while the momma took a much needed sleep break. Jasmine died almost a year ago, and we still miss her. She was a good girl.

So don't be bagging on rats, y'all. They're just trying to get by like the rest of us, and they ain't so bad if you give them a chance.

My son showed me this video a while back after he had downloaded it onto his PSP. He has a couple of pet rats, so he's kind of into them. Let me say this much about owning a rat:

They're good pets. They're smart and friendly, and of all the rodents you can possibly own (i.e., mice, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, etc.), they are the LEAST likely to bite you. We've owned three rats, and none of them have ever bitten us. Trust me; I've owned most of the aforementioned rodents, and rats are the best. The first rat we had, Jasmine, was so cool. She knew her name and would come when you called her, and she would lick your hands and feet if you let her. She had her own little rituals when we let her out of her cage to play, including begging for peanuts and nibbling on an old blanket in my son's bedroom. When a second rat we owned had babies, Jasmine helped watch them while the momma took a much needed sleep break. Jasmine died almost a year ago, and we still miss her. She was a good girl.

So don't be bagging on rats, y'all. They're just trying to get by like the rest of us, and they ain't so bad if you give them a chance.

We all love vibrating hamsters.

But vibrating gerbils are better.

"LOL I've been feeding the hamsters Jolt cola, but they crash after a while."

Hamsters! Well that's your trouble right there.. Gerbils are MUCH faster.

At that rate, each gerbil provides about 0.0003 horsepower.

did the gerbils manage to evade often, or their prison was a fortress?

Figuratively. I decided to move the gerbil town (about 5 habitats of various sizes and fun little features, connected with tubes) into the garage w/ the rabbit.

You kicked gerbils?? Nice!

This is so fitting seeing this since I kicked all my kid's gerbils into the garage tonight.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Draft the Retarded Gerbil in '08 - he's got my vote.