Sunday a Little Different- Introducing Austin and Morris!

Today I thought I could go through my week with the few pictures I took few and far between, or just focus on something I'm very excited about...and it's always best to focus on the things we enjoy, right? For a little back story- I've kept gerbils for a long time now (up to 9 at one point!) until recently, when my last gerbil in a 10 year run, Newt, passed away. At first I decided not to get any more and cleaned out the tank Newt had lived in. But as I popped in and out of the room the tank had been in, something seemed to be missing. There was no scuffling or anyone to give loo roll tubes to. So when I last cleaned out my degu, I put some sawdust back into the tank and put a bunch of toys in there too. I knew I was just waiting for some new babies to pop up somewhere! I looked round the internet and some duprasi jirds- fat tailed gerbils, stood out to me, and I'd never kept any before. As I read up about them they seemed pretty easy to look after, very similar to the mongolian gerbils I've kept for so long, but I tried contacting a few breeders and no one got back to me. So I looked around for mongolian babies people had bred, but couldn't find anything that wasn't miles and miles away.

Then this week when I went up to Pets at Home for my weekly quota of locusts for my bearded dragons I peeked in at the gerbils they had and these two just stood out to me! A new litter of babies had come in and there were some adorable colours, but this time I really wanted a dove grey, and there was one! He is patchy too so distinct from the other dove I've had in the past. As you always keep gerbils in pairs I picked his companion also for his nice colours- a patchy cream, a perfect match for a grey :]

I haven't been through the Pets at Home adoption process in a long time but it was very through, even though I said I'd owned plenty of gerbs in the past I was asked lots of questions to make sure I knew both what I was on about and what I was getting into, which gives me peace of mind that had I asked any major questions that they could've been answered clearly and knowingly. It was good also to think that hopefully the boys' siblings will go to homes that are going to know what they need.

As I left the shop their names came to me- Austin and Morris! I'm a sucker for old cars and these matching names just seemed to cute to pass up for a pair of boys! (If there had been a third it would've been called Leyland aha...) When we got home I let them make their way from the boxes they were brought home in into their new home. They were unsure of the tanks' tiers at first but soon their gerbilly curiosity got the better of them and they were up and down and checking everything out! I left them alone to get used to the place.
Two days in now and they are are much more confident of their surroundings, even little Austin is jumping from tier to tier with ease :3 They will nervously take sunflower seeds from my hand though the sound of the tank lid opening and closing is apparently very scary to them still! Poor boys. I'm sure they'll soon come to realise it means treats and new food xp


Dash, the degu, is getting used to having roommates again as well. For the first couple of hours she just sat and sulked in her bed to avoid all the noise and new smells, but she seems to have gotten used to it again, luckily! Maybe she's realised the newbies aren't around to steal all her treats ;p
Have you ever kept gerbils? I really think they make such interesting pets! I'd love to see pics and hear stories x3



Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
Bloglovin - Twitter - Instagram - Pinterest - Youtube