When I was a little boy, I was allergic to cats ‘n’ dogs, so the only pets I was allowed to have were the occasional gerbil or two. I guess those rodents really gnawed their way into my heart, as I still have two. Anybody else own one of these lovable scamps or have any non-rectum related gerbil tales to share?
Mr. Cooper,
I know you and him aren’t on the best of terms right now, but do a search (right hand, top of screen) for postername “WallyM7” and key word “gerbil”. You will laugh your buns of, guaranteed. And he maintains the gerbil wasn’t shoved up his ass, so it seems to meet your requirement.
gerbils are not legal in CA…even in S.F… 
Aw, man…I couldn’t find it. Is it a thread about gerbils?
BTW, are gerbils ACTUALLY illegal in California? If so…why? I mean, I have an idea (infestation concerns), but I want to hear it from the horse’s mouth.
Here is the thread Coldfire brought up: Why me?
I never had a gerbil. We did have a hamster and some mice, are they eligible for inclusion?
I am a proud and devout gerbil fan. Yep, had several; actually Flash Gerbil kept me company at college.
They are wonderful critters; clean, friendly, funny, and cuter than hell. Flash used to ride around in my shirt pocket, and he loved rolling around the floor in his clear ball. They’re such bright-eyed, adorable little suckers.
Every time I got to pet store to buy chow for the woofer, I check out the rodents. (I’m a huge guinea pig fan, too.) Gerbils all conked out and sleepin’ in a heap, paws folded, tails wrapped and cuddled up…awwwww.
You are NOT alone!
Veb
And ***why *** do you know this? 
Yes, it’s true. No gerbils in California. Something about introducing non-native species. Like hamsters are native!
They are actually afraid of them getting loose and breeding and destroying our agriculture. Ask the Aussies about rabbits. Ferrets the same, although I’ve sure seen alot of them. People smuggle them in from out of state. Someone told me they had changed the gerbil rule, but I still don’t see them in pet stores. Can anyone tell me whatthe difference is between a hamster and a gerbil???
Gerbils have long tails and big hind feet. Hamsters have only vestigial stumps of tails, and regular feet.
Hamsters are quieter than gerbils. Hamsters are solitary, gerbils like to have company in their tank. You can keep two same-sex gerbils together, but two same-sex hamsters will fight to the death.
Gerbils are better at climbing up on the water tube and chewing on the lid. Hamsters don’t climb much.
They both stay up all night running around in their squeaky exercise wheels, driving you absolutely crazy. Even lubricating the wheel with vegetable oil never works for us for very long, so gerbils, hamsters, mice, and rats always end up living in our basement, where we hear them through the furnace vents, squeak squeak squeak all - night - long, thong thong thong thong THONG!
Isn’t that from a song by Sisqo?
Regardless…yes, Duck-Duck, you pretty much described gerbils to the tee. I was given a gerbil by my girlfriend for my last birthday, and he seemed pretty listless until I introduced another male into the cage with him. Now the two play and eat and drink and sleep together with no fighting at all. If you do this while the two are still youngsters, they’ll grow up in tandem without incident.
What I think is great about the little fuzzballs is their attention to personal hygiene. If you watch them for any period of time, chances are you’ll see them stop whatever they’re doing at least once to preen themselves, fluff up their hair, etc.
I can’t believe Californian legislators actually maintain this anti-gerbil stance. I think the chances of any escaped gerbils gaining a foothold in the local ecology(i.e. not starving or being consumed by dogs within two days of their break out) fall somewhere between slim and none.
Come on, folks. Let’s all band together and vote YES on Proposition 737, the legalization of gerbils in California…for medicinal purposes, of course.
When I was a kid, I had at one point or another every rodent known to man.
Hamsters: good little pets. Didn’t have any problems with them. I had three. They were quiet and well-behaved. At least, until the day I discovered that one had been half-eaten by the other two. Aaaaah! Aaaaah! Flashback! Daddy, what happened to the brown one? Why can I see it’s ribs? It’ll be OK, won’t it.
Gerbils: overall, ditto. Then the two males had babies. A big litter of them. One sunny afternoon, my mom went to clean the clear plastic cage. She took the bottom off to clean and put the top out in the yard. That evening, she remembered. Yes, they had been deeply fried. But my sister had accidentally pulled off one of the baby’s legs anyway, so it was probably for the best. IIRC, the units bought 2 new gerbils and told us the babies had moved out. We were young.
Guinea pig: named it “Meeper” because that’s what it did. It emitted a loud, shrill “Meep!” over and over and over and over all night long. Every night. My main memory of this was that the homemade cage had sharp edges that scraped up my arm every time I cleaned it.
Mouse: The little bugger was an escape artist. We took the wheel out of the cage because he was climbing it to get out. Then I saw him jump a foot straight up, grab hold of the lip where the wheel had hung, and squeeze out a tiny hole in the lid. I was awakened one night by little mouse feet scurrying across my face.
Rats: yes, I had two rats as pets. They, along with the Guinea pig, came from my junior high school science teacher, who liked me, and apparently hated my parents. There was a white one and one that was white with a black head and spots. They were mainly useful for creeping people out.
So those were the Rodents of My Childhood. I won’t get into the hermit crab incident…
The way to get good Gerbil is to grill them over an open flame, spreading lots and lots of butter during the whole cooking time. This is to insure that the meat will not dry out.
I grew up with Quasimodo my guinea pig which the lady across the street borrowed for a sex education endeavor for her small kids [she bought a female guinea pig].
The kids had guinea pigs in Central Africa - they’re eaten as a delicacy. Kinda like HomeSlice described above…
My son had a fancy mouse, Jerry who ended up with his feet up for some unknown reason.
My daughter has two dwarf hamsters and they are so cute! They are incredible escape artists, but eventually turn up after running around the house and driving the two dachshunds apeshit.
I guess you can add us to your list.
Ohmigod, Quasimodo was borrowed by Mrs. Slutsky for a…SEX DEMO??!?! My childhood has just been shattered.
Is that the politically correct term?
Yes, Quasimodo’s Mr Johnson was in demand for a sex education endeavor organized by Mrs Slutsky… [no comment or quips on her name pls]. I remember being a bit put out that I didn’t see anything other than two guinea pigs just sitting there… but something happened because Quasimodo was returned exhausted, baby guinea pigs were born and then quickly eaten by momma guinea pig. Sigh the experience wasn’t just sex education but a quick life cycle exercise.
This must be a common experience because the same thing happened with our kids and chickens. Some friends gave us a couple of hens and a rooster, hens lay eggs, eggs hatch, kids excited chasing chicks around the yard, dog hungry and ate all the chicks, rooster give to house staff [we were too blurry-eyed from his 2am noise], hens slaughtered and eaten for dinner.
Sorry for this hijack, but how did your parents teach you about sex?
If you like gerbils, you’ll love Degus. They look just like gerbils, but are much bigger. I used to have 2 when I was in college. They can be found in pet stores that specialize in exotic pets.
IMHO, hamsters are rotten, mean little fuckers. I have seen a new breed of hamster though, the Black Bear Hamster, which supposedly is bred to have a sweeter temperment.