They seem happy to use the new tube to get up and down, and don’t seem to be missing the sock. Both of them seem to enjoy sliding down the tube, but there are a few squeaks if the other one is sat at the bottom.

The wheel is back to being their toilet again, so much for running in it. They don’t seem to be very impressed by the jingly ball either.

They pushed it almost in front of their green tube, so that they have to hop over it to get out. Apart from that they didn't seem to move it around much or to be that bothered about it jingling.

Gadget has been climbing again today, and I managed to get a picture. It isn't great, but you can see what he's doing. There is also a picture of Gadget gathering paper for the teapot.

I’ve noticed that they have started scuffling with each other. I think it is because they are both growing up, and trying to establish territory. It isn’t anything nasty; it tends to start of with sniffing each other’s noses, then pinning each other. I will keep an eye on it though in case it starts to become more serious.

Something else I noticed today was a peculiar noise that they were making. Not their usual squeaks that they make when one of them steps on the other one, but a rhythmic lower pitched squeak. I wondered if it was something else making the noise, but it went on for quite a time and was definitely coming from them. They were sat in the teapot at the time. I’m not sure if it was one or both of them, but I will listen out for it happening again. I may even be able to get a recording of it.

The w(h)eel

This morning there was even more paper in the teapot. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to get any more in there, but I'm not a gerbil. There was also more evidence of digging around the back.

I also did some gerbil research and found that Gadget's colour is lilac, and Gizmo is known as a dark eyed honey or sooty fawn. The gerbil book I have mentioned that lilac gerbils tend to be clever, so it seems that it is in Gadget's nature.

The toilet roll tube was nearly chewed all of the way through. They certainly do like chewing things, Gadget still has a nibble of your hand when you put it in the cage.

I thought that Gizmo was learning how to use the wheel, because he took a couple of steps in it. I later worked out that this was because he was digging with his back feet, because both he and Gadget had decided to use the wheel as a toilet. This is quite good in a way, because it keeps their cage cleaner, but it isn't so good because they can't use their wheel without having an unwanted shower.

I tried them with a bit of carrot, they both had a nibble but didn't seem very interested. I tried them with a bit of cheese too, but they didn't even try that.

This evening we had a play with them, because we wanted to get them used to our hands. It was fun to hold them, but they are very active, so it is hard to keep hold of them.

We used our solid wash tub, with some of their toys in. It is deep enough to stop them climbing out, but lets us pick them up easily. This was the first time that they had a play with their log tube. They really enjoyed it, running in and out of the different holes and chewing the bark off. I put it in the cage for a bit and they had a good play. I decided that I would take it out overnight, or it would have been completely chewed in the morning.

Bringing them Home

We brought Gadget and Gizmo back to our house today, after staying at my parent's house yesterday. We took out the food dish and water bottle for the car journey, but left them some food incase they were hungry. They spend the journey safely on my lap in their travelling cage.

When we arrived we left them to settle down while we prepared their proper home. We covered the bottom of the cage with woodshavings and then shredded paper. When we had set it up we let them in to explore.

Gadget was the first to explore everywhere, Gizmo chose to stay close to shelter behind the wheel. Gadget ran around all of downstairs and plucked up the courage to run up the tube to upstairs. It was getting down that was the problem, he sniffed over the edge and the top of the tube several times before choosing to jump over the edge! He must have decided that this wasn't the best way down, because when he ran up again a few minutes later he chose to climb back down the tube. After the first journey down the tube he was happy to zoom up and down as he pleased. Gizmo was much shyer and did not decide to go upstairs.

I was pleased to see that both of them used the water bottle today. Something else that we noticed both today and yesterday was that Gadget climbs straight onto your hand when you put it in the cage. Gizmo is more tentative, but he does come over to sniff you. This certainly seems useful for taming them.

I gave them some broccoli stalk as fresh food, they nibbled it a little but didn't seem highly impressed.

I decided that they could do with a bed in their cage, and though of a perfect object to use. I had bought a teapot to use at work, but found that it was useless at pouring out. I hadn't wanted to throw it away and was intending to use it as a plant pot. This would make a suitable bed for the gerbils. I put some paper in it for them and placed it in the corner of the cage, with the spout as a stabiliser.

The boys seemed to decide that this wasn't their type of bed, because they promptly pulled out almost all of the paper and used the smooth surface to run on like a wheel. They also made a rather impressive tunnel round the back of the teapot. You can see this where there is less paper in the photograph.

The gerbils made a bed for themselves underneath the green tube instead. They gathered lots of the paper and cuddled up It was fairly sheltered and they seemed happy.