Indys Rascals

After all that bad weather and transport being impossible to get wee shadow the gerbil and lucy the bunny to us - we now have another run organised yaaaaay.

Its to go ahead Saturday 6th Feb and a few mice are coming along for the ride to get them to a new home!

Unfortunately Eva the little gerbil that we got from the PAH rehoming section passed away.  Also our lovely own gerbil Rascal - the remaining half of our namesake had to be put to sleep today :(  We will miss him lots but im glad he’s with indy now.  They loved each other so much.

We are patiently waiting for Shadow who came from Rodent Rescue in Polegate, Sussex to arrive at us in the next couple of weeks.  He is currently in foster care at my friend Tracey’s house until we can get transport sorted for him and Lucy the bunny who is coming from Barnsley Animal Rescue Charity.

Shadow is a bit of a finger nibbler so we are hoping to get that sorted to make him more rehomeable!  He is a lovely grey agouti male and is being spoilt in his foster home - especially from Hannah who is trying to tame the beast!

Here is a photo of Hannah holding him - she’s a brave young girl!

Hopefully both animals should be arriving at their new home on the 9th of January.  Thank you so much to all those involved in the transportation

Unfortunately we are still offline for the time being.  Its a bit of a nuisance but we will get there in the end.  While we have been “gone” we lost Indy one of our own gerbils, Coral one of the rehomes and my beloved bunny Fiver.  Indy and Fiver had to be put to sleep due to illness and Coral seemed to have a wee stroke.  she improved and we were hopeful but the following day we found she had fallen asleep forever.

They will all be missed terribly and will add them to the memorial section soon.

Gordons Grandad also passed away which is very sad indeed.  Rest in Peace Grandad Duffy.  He was a lovely man and its a very sad time for everyone concerned.

We are offline for a while just now so if anyone has any enquiries please contact eddie@egerbil.com in the meantime!

We are not long back from a few days away from it all.  It came at the right time as it enabled us to have some time to ourselves and deal with everything that has happened over the last month or so.

With losing elliot so soon i was devastated and spent a lot of my time in tears just thinking of him.  The holiday helped me remember all the good times with him and the loving bond we shared.  I do still shed a tear fairly often but remember him with much love.  After our holiday we went to Dumfries to the lovely Phill’s house to pick up a bunny called Rupert.  He came from Kay at Bunnyhops rescue in Bolton.  He kept getting overlooked and had been there for a number of months so we agreed to take him.   We feel denying another bunny a home because of  how we feel about elliot wouldnt be fair to his memory.  If we learnt one thing from him - it was that quality time is much better than quantity.  With so many rabbits being in rescues all over the country i feel the best way to remember Elliot is to give other bunnies like him a chance of a new life.  Rupert is a very shy boy but is settling in nicely with us.  We are in the process of bonding him to Buddy, Mallow and Sasha and so far (touch wood) i ts going well.

Unfortunately Venus the rehome gerbil passed away a few days ago.  She was a lovely old girl and just passed away peacefully.   Sleep tight little one.

Unfortunately, due to Elliot becoming quite ill and not responding to vet treatment we had to have him put to sleep on Monday 22nd of this month (June).  We are all heartbroken and will miss him terribly.

We only had him over two months - but we had such a lovely close relationship that we will always cherish.

He was a very  loving bun who we feel priviledged to have had in our lives.  I did this little tribute to him from the Rescue he was in at BARC until the day before he had to be put to sleep.

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=8be14cd14012a90191b331&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

We have had two lovely people come to us with their elderly gerbils.  They are moving to China in July and were worried as to what  would happen to them.  Both are friendly and very nice natured gerbils.  Its obvious they have been well loved and cared for in their previous homes.  I thought i would share pics of these beauties.  We had them out for some playtime today and took a few snaps.

Venus

Neptune

Unfortunately two of my rehomes (Moon and Sunny) have ended up on Freecycle.  I am very upset about this as we always say to people if they cant look after the gerbils any more we would ALWAYS take them back.

The person has advertised them and wants a home for them “as soon as possible”.  They refuse to give them back to us and instead have disregarded all the welfare advice we had given them to ensure the gerbils best possible care.

The individual had stated “gerbils are great pets for kids”.  It always makes me cringe when people advertise animals as pets for kids.  Yes they are good childrens pets - but only if the adult will take responsibility for them when the child loses interest.  Very young children must be closely watched to ensure they do not hurt them.

The next piece of nonsense was that “they do not require handling like other pets”.  CRAP!!  Scuse my language but ive never heard such utter rot in all my life.  Of COURSE they need handling.  They need gentle regular handling to ensure they stay tame and are comfortable with being touched etc.  Otherwise can you imagine if you have to take them to the vet to be examined?  Very stressful for everyone concerned!!I can only assume with this that the person did not handle these gerbils - which would explain why possibly one of them developed a biting habit.

Last but by no means least - they enjoy running in their cage with a “little sawdust”.  Firstly i cannot stress enough that sawdust is very detrimental to a gerbils health.  This can cause respiratory problems as well as runny eyes, nose amongst other thing.  Dust extracted woodshavings can be used NEVER sawdust.  A “little” bedding for gerbils is no use whatsoever.   They need a good 8-10 inches at least - the more the better in which to build their tunnel systems.  They are burrowing animals not climbers so cages with bars are not good  homes for them.  The more depth and area they have for building their own tunnels the happier they will be.  A gerbil without tunnels is like a duck without water.

Please if you are getting gerbils visit www.egerbil.com and dispel any more of this wrong information being passed on from person to person.

Great news.  Two of the 4 male brothers who we have in for rehoming have now gone to their forever home with Vicki and Graeme in Edinburgh.  Both came all the way on buses and trains to get to and from our house to pick the boys up.  Thats dedication for you!

Ideally we wanted to rehome all 4 males together but we have decided to split them into two pairs as this increased their chances of finding homes.  Hammond and Clarkson are now called “Sonic and Tails”.  J.May and the Stig have also been reserved by Loz - its just trying to find the transport to get them there now may take a little while.

Rachel if you are reading ive lost your email etc - so if you could contact me about getting your cage back to you that would be fab!

Here they are enjoying their new home with lots of burrowing