Come To The 2008 New England Gerbil Show!

The American Gerbil Society's 2008 New England Gerbil Show is rapidly approaching! This year's show will be in Nashua, New Hampshire and takes place on May 17th.

Gerbil breeders and owners from around the country will be at the show to show off their gerbils, sell gerbil merchandise, and even adopt out gerbil pups! It's a great opportunity to learn more about gerbils.

AGS members can also enter their gerbils in a gerbil show (just like a dog show, except with gerbils). Although judging occurs behind closed doors, at the end of the show, winners are announced.

There is a wonderful pet class where kids can bring their pete gerbils and compete for fun. Prizes awarded for best chewer, shoulder sitter and lots more.

Click the banner below to learn more about the New England Gerbil Show. Hope to see you there!

I will be there showing off my two little girls Simone and Mona. I will also be selling my knitted rodent merchandise (rats, gerbils, mice) in honor of the Chinese Year of the Rat.

Mona and Simone

Knitted Gerbil Stuffies Finally

I finally found a pattern on crafster.org for knitted gerbil toy stuffies. It is a variation on a bunny pattern. The orange/rust colored one is the first with worsted weight yarn and the second one is made from white cotton yarn. Still works in progress. Still need to work in it. What do you think of them?

Year of the Rat (2008)

Happy Chinese New Year. It is the year of the rat. Yippee! I love all rodents. Mice, hamsters, gerbils, rats. I have a hamster and seven gerbils. I used to have a mouse.

I also knit. I have been into making knitted toys lately. Especially mice and rats. Check out my 2007 projects link to see some pictures of my work. I found this picture while surfing. A hamster knitting! Too cute. Fits right into my blog.

Rat Knitting Pattern I have changed the ear pattern a little bit. I like it better. I use fishing line for the whiskers. They look so cool now.

Henry won 3rd Place

I am so proud of my hamster Henry. On Sunday January 27, 2008, he won third place in our local APL's 2nd annual pet photo contest fundraiser. He has such the cutest face. This is photo that he won with. His prize is a pet photo shoot with a professional photographer.

Happy New Year and Gerbil Family Expanded

My gerbil family has now expanded to seven gerbils and a hamster. I did want to mention that I also had a little baby gerbil Stewie. He was a very small little gerbil. I think he may have been the runt of the litter. He was a beautiful gerbil. A rare color also. i got him on December 14th and he passed on December 18th. Mostly likes from respiratory infection. He never made it back from the vet. This is baby Stewie. I will always remember you.

This is my new baby gerbils. Meet Little Bear, Spot, Simone and Mona. All their birthdays are in October. Spot and Simone are Halloween gerbils. Little Bear and Spot are with Buddy.

Loss of a Good Friend

With a very sad heart that Honeybear passed on yesterday morning about 9:53am. She was getting worse. We both made that hard decision. She was over 3 1/2 years old. A very long lifespan for a petstore gerbil. She was such a sweet gerbil. She loved her bestfriend Buddy. A 3 year old schimmel male. Her fur actually lightened with age. Her fur used to be darker in her younger days.

Honeybear - Possible Sick little gerbil

My little gerbil Honeybear might be sick. He has been having labored breathing for the past couple of days. She still does all her normal gerbil stuff but when she is sleeping or eating the hard breathing is very noticeable. She is over 3 1/2 years old. Her BF Buddy is 3 years old also. I am taking her in to the vet this afternoon to have her checked out. If it is respiratory infection then we can treat her. Otherwise we would just have to enjoy her and make her comfortable.

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Back from the vet and $70.00 later. The vet first listened to her heart to see if he heard anything. He did not hear anything. The vet took X-rays. Used the dental x-ray machine. He did find something and showed me the x-rays. Honeybear has a slight collasped lung on her left side and is retaining some fluid. Which is the cause of
hard breathing. The lump that HB had a few months back was on her left side.

He weighed her (91 grams). He prescribed Lixotinic (Lasix) with furosemide. They are a vitamin supplement and a diuretic to help with the water problem. .2ml twice a day oraly. He said give the medicine to her for a long as she needs. Probably the rest of her life to help ease her breathing. He gave her the first dose in the
office. The medicine is slightly sweet so she took the medicine ok. She was such a good girl at the vet's. So calm and tame towards the doctor. Didn't bite once. Buddy came with her for support.

When she went for X-rays, the vet carried her in the towel I brought and she looked so adorable with her little head sticking out.

Money doesn't matter. It was worth it to know what the problem was.