I’m sad to report that little Hazel has passed away; I’m not entirely sure of her age but I think she was only just over two, so this is a very early death for me as I’ve only had a couple of others die before their third birthdays previously.

She was found looking fluffed and listless, I grabbed her straight out to see if she was cold. I kept her in my hands for a good while to warm her up and set up a hospital tank with heat mat. Sadly she didn’t pull through.

Hazel when she first arrived home

Hazel

Hazel

Hazel

And more recently, only around a week before she and Isi also declanned…

Gerbils need plenty of substrate…

I noticed a lovely long tunnel along the girls’ tank today and a tiny little hole going into one of their ceramic plant pots… I kept an eye on them thinking I might see them digging away and looking cute.

Sure enough along came Skye and starts digging. Then, after a little while; as I’d anticipated, Sienab and Kobette are most likely dug, or kicked out of the plant pot

The videos aren’t great as the battery for my camera was on charge so I had to use my phone instead… But I think you can get the picture, regardless.

I love in this one how Skye appears to kick Kobette out! Teehee.

So, Hazel and Isi also fought.
I’m at a loss to the trigger and both times I’ve seen no warnings of anything going on. In fact, recently they’ve been sleeping on the top of their substrate in a happy little pile looking all cute and cuddly. Mind, the same thing happened with Cole and Tye – they too slept up top and looked perfectly happy; we were even able to lift the lid quietly and stroke them whilst they slept then one day they suddenly fought.

On Monday I saw Isi was in their sleeping spot, I moved a little closer to her to see if Hazel was hidden underneath (she’s a big girl) and I noticed her fur around her side looked a bit scruffy and I thought perhaps it was greasy. I moved to a different side of the tank for a better view and sure enough could clearly see her chin fur had a reddy tinge to it.

They’re now both in hospital tanks with a heat mat to keep them warm so they can put energy into healing.

I haven’t really taken any photos of their injuries; it’s a bit macabre really. But I have managed a few cute sleeping videos of Hazel.

Recently I had to split some Gerbils up through bullying.

I’d seen them displaying stereotypical bullying behaviour but was unable to pin-point just exactly who the culprets were. I assumed it was mum – REH and a daughter but could never tell just exactly who it was.

After checking their rumps I could see no sign of scabs from fur plucking – ‘bullying’.

Eventually I happened to be looking because I was certain my time would be up pretty soon and we’d see real fighting and noticed the fur around the beta’s mouth was somewhat ‘messy’. I pulled her out and yep, there were the scabs from fur being plucked.

I removed her and two younger siblings, then I noticed her litter sister also had the scabs. So she came out too and I put a younger sibling back in with mum to keep the split at 3 and 4.

I sat and watched the new ‘clan’  for around 20/3o minutes and noticed the beta and her sister being somewhat anxious around each other.

Oh dear, urm. So was it  mum bullying or these two?

After placing the sister back in with mum yet again and taking out another younger sibling and watching mum with the older daughter everyone seemed to be happy. And I’ve eventually come to the conclusion it must’ve been the litter sister trying to overthrow the beta, or even mum.

I now wish I’d left in the beta and removed the other sister, but they all seem happy enough for now.

I did think it was odd that the alpha and beta would be arguing and should’ve known straight away it must’ve been a different scenario.

Anyway, I took some photos of the new clan a few days after enjoying some millet which also show the scabs which can so easily go unnoticed to an inexperienced owner.

The beta Gerbil in question - you can just see scruffy fur around her cheek/neck

Beta again, no signs of issues in this shot.

Beta - see scabs on her paw, chin and a patch on her chest above her right arm

And again

Just make out her injuries

Beta

Beta

Beta

N.B – the reason I have no names for these Gerbils is because they do not belong to me, so I have not named them.

For those of you who didn’t see this on the eGerbil website… Some updated photos of my trio of girls form Ed, I assume they must’ve turned 1 sometime towards the middle of September??

Isi is a little madam still, I lost count of the number of times she ran up my arm to perch on my shoulder

A more typical shot of Isi…

Skye is stunning as always

Hazel snuggles into the comfort of my hand before relaxing enough to explore

I haven’t really taken any shots of the three girls for a while… I will try to soon though… I *might* just have ordered myself a new lens… Or maybe I didn’t… Mmmm.

Something interesting is going on down there...

I think Skye has lightened...

Something, very interesting!

As I haven’t updated on the three girls for a while here’s a few shots:

Hazel is scared of the big black round thing still

Just because she's so adorable!

Isi looks very shocked!

What do you think she's saying to me?

Hazel puts in an appearance and checks her reflection.

Isi comes to greet Hazel...

And Skye wonders how it's possible to have a credit card bill of 79p. I've no idea, this is Pete's!

Such a little angel...

For some reason yesterday both the Gerbils and the Jirds seemed to be rather cute…

The shots are a bit noisy due to the high ISO needed to get the shots… And as the Jirds move so fast sadly some are blurred, I’ll attempt more shots but likely they’ll be even noiser as I have to crank the ISO even higher to get nice action shots.

The Girls have moved their nest to a much easier site…

A clearer view of their nest in the tank.

The Jirds came out to see what I was doing hanging around their tanks…

Does my bum look big??

How very dare you!!

If you don't give me seeds NOW I will eat you.

Greetings

Yes, you may groom my neck/face

Now shoo, I'm off for a nap

And they still insist on living in that pot which is clearly far too small for their chunky arses.

Well, I tried!

Some shots of them on the sofa, it’s not at all easy taking shots of three nutcase gerbils running around… I look forward to them getting older and calmer…

Skye either wants to play with me, the camera or go back home... Which do you think??

Mmm, somehow I get the feeling they want to go home...

And this is what it’s normally like watching them on there…

And resume normal activity...

Skye's determined to get to me

So innocent, occasionally...

Madammoiselle Isi stops for a second...

... and is off to cause more trouble.

Thank lord it’s now Christmas and I get a break, it’s been a tough few weeks/months all I want to do is sleep. It’s amazing how much the darkness effects your moods.

So I gave the girls a tissue box to demolish… The poor thing didn’t even survive 24 hours before it was gone… Such a shame

I think I have some serious chewers on my hands, I don’t think even the Jirds manage to demolish a tissue box so quickly and those blighters can get through 2/3cm thick wood like it’s butter!

I love it when they pop their heads up like little Meerkats!

A clearer shot of Skye's dark patch

Isi seems to be obsessed with having bedding in her mouth...

It's almost like a security blanket...

So cute!

They're far too cute sometimes!

Hazel discovers the large chewable thing

I swear Skye smiles in every photo!

Isn't it funny how a photo can make a petite Gerbil look fat...

Scary evil eyes... No flash sparkle on the eye... She looks dead...

Again looking bulky, she's honestly a very small, petite little thing!

Hazel’s begun to really come out of her shell just recently, when I’ve had her out on the sofa she’s been zooming around and getting a little too confident for my liking – almost on a par with the cheeky madam, Isi!

A couple of days after the tissue box I also gave them some green tissue paper used to wrap a new mug… It looks like something terrible happened to one of Santa’s elves in their tank with green shreds everywhere!

I do have photos of all three on the sofa, boy that was interesting… Isi and Hazel repeatedly jumping up the back and Pete herding them back down again. I didn’t manage many shots before I gave up because they were just far too confident. Perhaps it’s time to allow them out on the landing and stairs so they have more space to run around… Although it could be interesting when I try to get them back, exciteable Gerbils are not always the easiest to scoop up, especially when they know they’re going back home!