If you have an aversion to domesticated rodents, you may want to skip this post. I’ll be back with yarn and knitting in a few days, but for now, this little episode of “The Things we do for our Kids,” just had to be recorded…
If you read about the dramatic Christmas save of 2016, you’ve probably been wondering about Captain Whiskers. (And if you didn’t read that post, you might ought to.) Maybe you’ve been hoping for an update, but were afraid to ask. My friends, I have good news. Captain Whiskers is alive and well….
And in fact, after a brief courtship he was married (in God’s eyes, as my mother would say) to a certain “Miss Lavender” late last fall. (Shortly thereafter, Captain Whiskers returned to life with his brother, and longtime companion, “Cream of Wheat.”)
Thought their marriage was brief, it was fruitful and 24 days later six blind, hairless, ugly cute babies were born.
You might be wondering how this all came about. Who is Miss Lavender? Why is Ginny breeding gerbils? Or maybe these just seem like normal everyday events. I have no idea anymore what’s normal and what isn’t. Maybe everyone breeds gerbils and they’re just keeping it a secret because they don’t want to seem weird.
Anyway, here’s the story:
Last year, Larkspur told me about a plan that she and her friend Josie had devised: to acquire a female gerbil to mate with Captain Whiskers in an effort to continue the noble bloodline (Josie’s words) of “Willow the Gerbil.” I thought it seemed like a reasonable idea. (Willow belonged to Josie, was her favorite gerbil, was Captain Whiskers’ father, and has crossed the rainbow bridge. Hopefully I haven’t lost you. I really should draw a family tree.) So one fateful day in early October, I took Larkspur to the pet store and we bought Miss Lavender in hopes that Willow’s bloodline might be continued…
I wasn’t expecting the babies to be so cute. Especially based on their day one appearance. But once the fur came in, they were pretty darling.
On day 19, the babies’ eyes opened and Josie arrived to choose her royal pair.
About four weeks later, the babies were ready to go to their new homes. A playdate was scheduled and after an afternoon exploring the woods, we said goodbye to four of the six babies.
Oh, but it doesn’t end there. No, no, no… I haven’t told you about Giuseppe yet.
Our litter of noble gerbils contained five females and one male. (Larkspur told me again and again that first time mamas usually only have a few babies but Miss Lavender is an over achiever, I guess.) We kept one of the little girls to be a companion to Miss Lavender, and the other four went in pairs to Josie and another friend, but that left us with an oddball male named Fernando, to whom of course Larkspur had become very attached. Gerbils need to be in pairs to be truly happy (same sex pairs for obvious reasons), so I did the sensible thing, the only thing, and contacted a local hobby breeder about getting a friend for Fernando. Because breeding gerbils leads to needing more gerbils somehow. Trust me when I tell you that I didn’t expect it to…
On Giuseppe’s homecoming day, I met the gerbil breeder in a grocery store parking lot (for the sake of convenience) and we had the loveliest of chats about gerbils and genetics and how bizarrely interesting the whole gerbil scene is. She shared that she was taking a large group of her own gerbils to a gerbil show in Maryland at the end of the month. I laughed and told her, “You know they make movies about people like you, right?” And we both had a good laugh. (I was thinking of this movie which is about chickens, but the premise is the same. I loved that movie, by the way.)
Fernando and Giuseppe now live on our homeschooling table and do an excellent job of distracting everyone from their lessons. And while this has all been more fun that I ought to admit, I don’t plan on breeding gerbils again in the near future. Please hold me to that.
p.s. In all seriousness, gerbils make lovely, relatively low maintenance pets. Sharing just in case the question of gerbil ownership has been weighing heavily on your mind lately… 🙂
Mary says
You should really consider writing your story for a children’s picture book – I look forward to the adventures of Giuseppe & Fernando!
Lindsey says
I’m late to this discussion but…
One daughter had hamsters and that story is spookily similar to yours. My other daughter had rats. Oreo and Templeton. They lived together and had many babies. Getting rid of the babies became a problem so we had Templeton neutered. All my friends howled with laughter when they heard about it. What can you do when your child thinks splitting up the couple would be cruel…apparently there had been a wedding ceremony.
Gwen says
This whole saga had me itching to share with you a lovely tidbit about Switzerland, where I’m currently living. It is illegal here to have just one guinea pig, gerbil, or parrot, as they are prone to loneliness. Yes, there’s an actual law on the books, since 2008. Follow this out a little bit down a life line and you quickly see that once a person gets one gerbil, a la Giuseppe, you’re doomed/blessed to have gerbils for life, since you can never let one die out by itself. Henceforth, the ever-entrepreneurial Swiss also have gerbil rental services, from which you can rent a single gerbil to keep your surviving gerbil company in its last years.
Cats, by the way, aren’t required to have companions. But they are required to be given the opportunity to see other cats out a window. Also true.
Katja says
Oh dear, now my daughter wants to breed gerbils at well 🙂 Considering our menagerie of horses, dogs, cats and chicken I think that might be too much for me right now, no matter how cute those little blighters are!
We’ve had some drama a few weeks ago when one of our two gerbils dyed suddenly at 2 years old. Fortunately we found a male close by whose partner had died as well, and they are close in age. Introducing them was a lengthy affair, and there was some blood. But now they are BFF! So your picture with the divided cage was very familiar 🙂
Dana says
Oh this takes me back to my own childhood! I LOVE rodents (much to my husband’s dismay!) I had gerbils, mice, hamsters & guinea pigs! My mother wouldn’t allow rats … until I had children. Then she just HAD to have rats. She brought home not one, but TWO pregnant rats to my children.
Twice!
lol!
Joy says
Thanks for sharing this story Ginny! It makes me want to go and get some gerbils just so I can have them on our homeschooling table : )
Taryn @ WoolyMossRoots says
I love your humor, thanks for the laugh!
Oh, and have you seen the movie Best In Show? It’s about dog shows and it’s incredibly hilarious! Haven’t seen it in many years, but I remember laughing a lot.
Lucia Marcella says
Taryn, I loved that movie so much! Thank you for reminding me of it ♡ I should really watch it again soon to brighten up a dreary winter day.
And Ginny, well, I breed turtles… which might just beat you for unusual animal breeding 😉 (people told me over and over how hard it was for turtles to have babies in captivity, and 8 years in my rescued box turtles began to make sure their noble bloodline will live on :D) Congratulations on your adorable little gerbilings!
Laura says
This took me back to my childhood gerbil misadventures. At one point I think we were up to 15, as we were not too savvy about sex identification. There were some dramatic escapes, including one gerbil who escaped into the laundry pile and actually went through the washer and lived to tell the tale. Another escaped to the outdoors, where she lived for some time before my mom was witness to her unfortunate demise. And lots of soft, sweet babies who run off your hand. It probably is a little crazy to keep gerbils at all, but it is a good sort of crazy.
karen says
what a fun mom you are! I will hold off on gerbils for now. I have a new kitten and a middle aged dog (old?) who are trying to navigate a friendship of sorts. That’s enough mayhem in my life for right now.
love the little furry buddies and the story!!
Laurel says
Such a sweet, little story! I loved it! We had a colony of Himalayan rabbits growing up that was always expanding. And we may have done a bit of showmanship with them….. 😉
Elizabeth says
loved this! of course the pictures are incredible! I am glad for these pets in your / your family’s life! pets can really help a family bond and stay close! God bless you all! and those cute gerbils! with such wonderful names!
Julie C says
Just thank you.
Much love.
Julie
Mrs B says
Incredibly sweet and funny post. I love your photos (always) and especially of the gerbils’ growth and development! We have a hamster. He is a very lucky little guy, receives conscientious care from my daughter, who has read all the hamster care books and decided which ones make the most sense. We have no idea who his parents were, though 🙂
Michelle says
Oh goodness! Thank you for the laugh! <3 I certainly don't know what's 'normal' anymore either! *michelle
Ashley D says
I’m not a rodent person, but those tiny gerbils were pretty adorable! Always love your beautiful pictures!
jamie says
Did you tell the girls about the gerbil show??? You know they will totally want to go, right?? LOL
cirila cerilo says
Ginny, I loved your gerbil story! Too funny.
Kathie Gray says
Dear Ginny, I think breeding gerbils is a completely normal thing to do, in fact I used to do it myself! I didn’t mean to but it was quickly apparent that the two females I bought for company were not! That soon led to having two breeding pairs and at one point I had 20 gerbils in the house. Sadly after graduation I went travelling to Africa leaving the gerbils with my Mum and they all pined away in a few weeks.
Enjoy your gerbils, Kathie.
Rachel Bee says
Oh what a lovely story that has restored my faith in gerbilanity.
We had to look after some gerbils one summer from my dad’s school when I was about 8 and they had babies…we hadn’t realised they were a mixed couple. The birth was one surprise, but the discovery of just the heads about 2 days later was another…Put me off rodents for a looooong time. Apparently they can eat their young if they feel scared or threatened. We can only guess that perhaps our cat or another rodent (they were living in the back of our outhouse) scared them into the ‘flight’ part of the contract!
Kathryn Cobb says
What fun! I won’t even get into the “Kitty Picnics” that hubby and I have every morning with Tut and Cleo, our Burmese cats. No kids, no grandkids, no excuses. They just have always known they are Royalty.
Mellisa LaLonde says
Soooooooo let me get this straight? you are now the proud owners of 6 gerbils right? (laughing my tail off right now) your blog brings me such joy!!!
Ginny says
Yes, that’s right! This was not the plan!!!!!! lol!
Jennifer says
What a nice post. I had gerbils as a child. I didn’t realize that my first two were a male and female (I assumed they were both female) and was so surprised when the first litter of six was born. I didn’t know they could breed again immediately, so I didn’t separate the parents, and within weeks, I had another litter! It was fun but there were so.many.babies everywhere.
Jodie says
Totally didn’t see the whole gerbil thing when I just spotted the title of your post. I loved this one. I understand the animals needing buddies thing, just with cats though. Your posts are always wonderful. Thank you
Meryl says
Everything about this is delightful! It’s amazing how engaging and wonderful even the tiniest pet can be when you’re paying attention.
Lauren says
Oh Ginny, it is so nice to know I am not alone! We have a dog, turtles, lizards of various kinds, scads of frogs and toads, salamanders, a brief stint with mice, a hermit crab (Pagoo!), a brief stint with a baby woodpecker, a hurt squirrel, etc., etc. I loved your comment about not knowing what is normal anymore! I was beginning to feel like “My Family and Other Animals”. At least we have great stories to tell!
Jeannie Gray says
OMG! Those babies are SO cute! I had gerbils (and guinea pigs & ferrets) growing up but my kids wanted to go with pet rats after seeing the Science Museum of Virginia’s rat basketball show. I had a pretty hard time learning to love the rats (not sure why they bothered me but gerbils didn’t) but once I learned to like them, I really liked having them.
Ryan says
Baby gerbils are sooo cute! I used to have gerbils. Our current vermin of choice is the guinea pig. Gerbils were way easier to take care of, but I love our little “piglets”.
Ginny says
I had guinea pigs as a kid, and loved them sooo much!
Ravenna says
“I have no idea anymore what’s normal and what isn’t.” <– yeah, this. But we have decided that normal is overrated. 🙂
The gerbils are adorable. I'm curious if they are quiet. I bought a hamster when I moved into my first apartment and the thing was SOOO loud that I swore off rodents, though I love their cute little faces. 🙂
Ginny says
They are pretty quiet! I can’t compare to a hamster though. I do know that Larkspur is a light sleeper, and wouldn’t be able to handle having them in her room if they were too loud. Her bunny had to move out for just that reason. He was too loud at night!
Heidi says
Somehow I got a little lost in this……Don’t you still have Captain Whiskers & Miss Lavender too? Wouldn’t the marriage still continue or did they get divorced????
Ginny says
It’s quite the soap opera, isn’t it? I wasn’t sure how much detail to include, lol!!! Captain Whiskers lives with his brother and lifelong companion, Cream of Wheat. I had to be careful during the courtship with Miss Lavender, so that Captain Whiskers and Cream of Wheat’s bond wouldn’t be broken. Capt. W spent half the day with her, and half with his brother, and once the deed was done, returned to full time living with Cream of Wheat… It was tricky!!!
Heidi says
Thanks so much for the happy clarification! There’s nothing quite so great as a good gerbil romance. ?
Teresa says
Oh the slippery slope! ?
BARB says
I had Gerbils the whole time I was growing up and adored them !!!!!!! They were the sweetest of Friends ……
Thank You for this story and for reminding me of my Wonderful memories :0)
btw …… Your names for your Gerbils are Way better than mine ever were !!!!!!!!
Emily DeArdo says
Oh my gosh, this is so cute. The noble bloodlines! I love that the mom is named Miss Lavender! That’s a great name for an animal.
Angela says
The whole “noble bloodline” is priceless. Parenting takes you places and you hear things you never in a million years would have imagined. And those little babies are super cute.
Katherine says
This was such a delightful and hysterical read this morning. I learned so much more, than I think I ever wanted to know, about gerbils. ?
Anna says
thanks for sharing this lopvely story. When I grew up my sister and I had also mice, sometimes upt to four and it was nearly a never ending story as you always need a new one for the lonely mouse…
I wish you a pleasant time with them 😉
Cristina says
Amazing! This looks much better than the mice breeding station my children were running last year ???
Rachel Wolf says
And… I’m crying. This was so hilarious, and the perfect explanation to anyone wondering what parenting is really like – on a nuts-and-bolts level. I love you.
Missy says
Oh, they are very cute. When I was in 7th grade, I also acquired gerbils from my science teacher. It was for the sci nice fair. I started with three babies and the mom and weighed them everyday and I’m sure other things that I can’t remember. What I do remember is that a few months later my science teacher came to pick up almost twenty gerbils. What a kind lady to take that problem off of my mom’s hand!
Bee says
Ha, thanks for this story! Glad to know that Captain Whiskers is thriving and that he has lots of friends these days.
I look forward to seeing where this gerbil adventure will take you… ;). They’re so cute!
Olivia says
We just added a hamster to our menagerie, and I am more besotted by her than I expected! She is called the Oracle of Delphi (just Delphi, for short) – d’you think my son has been reading too much Percy Jackson? We had gerbils at school, and I agree, they make great pets.
Caroline says
Eek, I had no idea they were so cute! And presumably you have no issues with cats and gerbils living in harmony? Or should I go read the 2016 post!!
And can we talk about the odd shoes? Or is this very normal for forest walks.
Beautiful photos as always x
Helena says
This is the sort of thing I would have loved as a kid (I had a succession of hamsters and gerbils over the years, but never got to breed them), and would love to let my kids do now, or at least have them as pets, but my husband is completely against rodents as pets and says we have enough with the cat, the dog, and the chickens. Some days I agree, some days I lobby for another cat, a few more chickens, and maybe another dog…and some days I’m ready to find everyone a new home and go live by myself in a tiny house in the woods. 🙂
Glad Captain Whiskers is thriving and his lovely genes have been passed on to a new generation. 🙂
Becky says
Ginny, this is exactly what I come here for…I love this, and I love that you say “yes” so often…gerbil breeding…who knew?!