Rat
Rescue :: Gerbil
Rescue
Gerbil Rescue
Back in July 2005, my daughter Coral asked me
if I could help with what came to be known as the Cambridge
Rescues. A vast quantity of exotics, hamsters of all varieties
and gerbils needed to be collected and transported to various
rescue centres and subsequently rehomed as far as this was possible.
I agreed to assist and we made our first journey to Bishops
Stortford at the end of the month and collected a significant
number of dwarf hamsters and gerbils in breeding pairs, some
of which had litters already, which we took to GBH Rescue in
Beckenham, Kent and placed into the care of Jacky Carter.
Jacky had previously asked Coral if she might like to foster
and rehome some animals, to which Coral agreed, thinking at
that time she was going to get some Syrian hammies, but no Syrians
were collected on that trip.
In one of the containers was a pair of silver fawn gerbils
with their litter which were old enough to be split away from
the parents. Mum and Dad were also separated, although Mum was
already noticeably pregnant again. As Coral did not have sufficient
space to foster them at her flat, we arrived back at my house
that evening with the pregnant Mum, her 3 daughters and a breeding
pair of Roborovski hamsters who had not had babies for the previous
8 weeks.
Within 10 minutes, my lounge had become a mini animal sanctuary.
We had no idea what to expect, never having dealt with new born
baby animals before.
Two days later and lots of squeaking indicated that Mum had
given birth. Having read a few articles on the Internet, I took
the plunge and gently investigated the nest to find 7 little
pink bodies. I was far too frightened to handle these little
guys for the first day or so – they looked so fragile – but
I was assured that the Mum would not mind and eventually took
the plunge, handling them every day for a few minutes and making
sure they were all okay.
Jacky had given us a crash course on how to sex them and we
eventually established that we had 5 little boys and 2 girls.
They went off to the new home before Christmas and Coral gets
regular updates from their new owner. It seems they are all
doing well and still providing lots of amusement with their
antics.
Being involved with those babies right from the outset was
a wonderful experience – we wouldn’t have missed it for the
world. Sadly, one of the older girls that we bought home to
foster, died only 24 hours after bringing her home, but her
sisters survived well and were also successfully rehomed. The
Mum and 2 daughters born at my house are now looked after by
my youngest daughter and I gather are almost impossible to tell
apart now.
As for the Roborovski hamsters, they had 5 babies about 7 to
10 days after bringing them home and the 2 groups – Mum and
2 daughters and Dad and 3 sons were all rehomed shortly before
Christmas 2005.
A happy ending all round.
Article by : Sylvia Meetens
