Some friends of mine went to Israel for a few weeks for a wedding. We’ve been asked to watch thier two gerbils while they’re away. The gerbils have no names (the owner is a pre-school teacher and the class renames them every September). Since we already have a hamster in the house, we didn’t think taking on two more gerbils would be a big deal.
When we got them, we saw that there was a larger brownish colored one and a smaller black one. We were told that the black one needs ritalin. We watched them for a few minutes, and decided that they needed more to do. So, we threw in paper towel roll, which our hamster loves to play with. The two of them shredded it to pieces within a few hours.
My wife finally came up with names for them. We call them Satan (brown) and Beelzebub (black). Don’t ask why, my wife just blurted it out and in the end, it seemed kind of funny to name the gerbils Satan and Beelzebub. And since I have a really strange sense of humor, I thought the names were perfect.
Well, we’ve noticed some patterns in their behavior. Very often, Satan will be lying down on his side or back (he looks dead when he does that, but he’s not) and Beelzebub will constantly just stick his nose into Satan, as if to wake him. He’ll just keep doing this over and over and over, while Satan ignores him and tries to sleep. It reminds me of Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie (“Hey Bert, are you asleep?”); except that I hear it in my mind with Beavis and Butthead’s voices (“Hey, Satan, are you asleep? Heh. Heh.”).
These little hell-beasties are quicker than my hamster and more difficult to grab a hold of. Of course, I figure that they aren’t used to us yet, and are therefore more skittish. Also, it will take Smokey (our hamster) a few days to chew a paper towel roll down to nothing. Satan and Beelzebub finish it up within two hours. Lastly, Beelzebub bites; not hard, but he bites.
Well, it’s been two days. The kids love the gerbils (I won’t let them hold them) and find them entertaining. Satan and Beelzebub are growing on my wife and I as well. Soon it will seem like they are just regular members of the family: Zev, Lisa, Avraham, Chaim, Tzivya, Smokey, Satan & Beelzebub.
Zev Steinhardt
