A story about the runt that keeps surviving
Discussion
We had baby tyrannosaurs Gerbils not long ago. Several gerbils, just one runt. She is half the size of the other babies and remains minuscule in comparison, her 'clicking' respiratory infection still a part of her life, but she has grown and survived what I would guess is at least 5 weeks.
She was so ill in her early days, she couldn't hold her self up to suckle and get milk, the babies would fight (blindly before their eyes opened) to find/drink from mum. She was often found, before her eyes opened, alone in some corner or the middle of the cage sheltering under anything to keep her warm, she just didn't have the strength to climb back into the nest.
I've failed to nurse a dozen or more of these critters through a respiratory infection, its always a sign of the end. We couldnt help but wonder, should she be put down (because 'we know best') or let her struggle on and possibly survive.
Been keeping gerbils for 25 years and Ive never had/seen a runt before - we decided to let her carry on trying to live.
The only way to keep her alive, keeping an eye on her and knowing she wasnt drinking, was to feed her milk by hand. Im very familiar with feeding rodents by hand, but usually meds - they hate it. So this was the first time I hand held/fed milk.
Method: Heated teaspoon of luke warm milk, hold it in one and and the baby gerbil in the other, then wait. And wait. And wait. Eventually she would take a few sips then fall over/lie down in my hand. Repeat till I grew blue in the teeth.
She made it. Is older, much stronger, still very ill but much better. I just wanted to say, as incredibly happy and touched and amazed as I am, she is different from the others now. The only gerbil who comes running to sniff my hand when I put it down, and jumps in, and stays there. She has no fear of people whatsoever, but also gets on well with her enormously bigger siblings and parents.
Dogs and cats warm to owners. Fish never do. Gerbils learn trust easily, but are still somewhere in the middle (of dogs and fish - they always run off in the end). Its been incredibly cool helping something so small, who is returning the tiny amount of love by refusing to run off, wanting to sleep in my hand rather than running off and playing with the others.
Its a nice feeling, when such a small creature that is timid by nature, shows absolutely no fear whatsoever and tries to sleep and snuggle into your hand again and again, and keeps coming back every time you pop it back in the nest. 25 years... never seen this before. I feel rather proud. And am so glad we didn't have her put down.
That is all.
She was so ill in her early days, she couldn't hold her self up to suckle and get milk, the babies would fight (blindly before their eyes opened) to find/drink from mum. She was often found, before her eyes opened, alone in some corner or the middle of the cage sheltering under anything to keep her warm, she just didn't have the strength to climb back into the nest.
I've failed to nurse a dozen or more of these critters through a respiratory infection, its always a sign of the end. We couldnt help but wonder, should she be put down (because 'we know best') or let her struggle on and possibly survive.
Been keeping gerbils for 25 years and Ive never had/seen a runt before - we decided to let her carry on trying to live.
The only way to keep her alive, keeping an eye on her and knowing she wasnt drinking, was to feed her milk by hand. Im very familiar with feeding rodents by hand, but usually meds - they hate it. So this was the first time I hand held/fed milk.
Method: Heated teaspoon of luke warm milk, hold it in one and and the baby gerbil in the other, then wait. And wait. And wait. Eventually she would take a few sips then fall over/lie down in my hand. Repeat till I grew blue in the teeth.
She made it. Is older, much stronger, still very ill but much better. I just wanted to say, as incredibly happy and touched and amazed as I am, she is different from the others now. The only gerbil who comes running to sniff my hand when I put it down, and jumps in, and stays there. She has no fear of people whatsoever, but also gets on well with her enormously bigger siblings and parents.
Dogs and cats warm to owners. Fish never do. Gerbils learn trust easily, but are still somewhere in the middle (of dogs and fish - they always run off in the end). Its been incredibly cool helping something so small, who is returning the tiny amount of love by refusing to run off, wanting to sleep in my hand rather than running off and playing with the others.
Its a nice feeling, when such a small creature that is timid by nature, shows absolutely no fear whatsoever and tries to sleep and snuggle into your hand again and again, and keeps coming back every time you pop it back in the nest. 25 years... never seen this before. I feel rather proud. And am so glad we didn't have her put down.
That is all.
Papa Hotel said:
Mobsta... someone's hacked your PH account!
Nice story though.
Why those cunning bNice story though.
ds! When I find out who compromised my account security, I'll string them up by their knobs and feed them to the sharks! Then blow up the sharks, and sell the remains to the pig farmers. Then 'nuke the farm from orbit, just to be sure!'baptistsan said:
Pics?
Pic below for you. 1) Her tiny deformed tail, all crooked and bent, is out of sight.
b) Count the correct number of gerbil poos and win a Lamborghini.
III) She is sufficiently deformed that her front right paw is... half invisible! (Sorry, phone cam, night time, no flash).
She runs like a hedgehog (not quite like a normal gerbil her age, but almost) and is the most gentle of gerbils. Very confident, but slower and sleeps more than the usual crew. She needs a very good home with someone who can convince us before taking her, that they are the sort who will handle her daily. Year on year, for her 3 year life cycle. Changing cardboard to gnaw and cage toys daily to keep her interested in life (gerbils are explorers, and like new experiences of any kind, but must have them daily for the ultimate gerbil life).
Its easy to change a gerbils toys daily, as it takes seconds. It's sad when owners don't, for the above given reason. I dont go running to the gerbils laden with toys under my arms every 12 hours, but I will take away anything they have and replace with a toy from last week which will seem new to them, whenever Im passing their cage.
She comes with 2 siblings, as only three of the babies born were females. The females cant live with their male brothers (gerbils are not fussy who they sproing with) so, as gerbils should never live alone, she will only be given away to a loving home which has a generous enough space to house 3 gerbils.
Would anyone reallywant to look after stumpy for the rest of her life? Had no intention to start a classifieds thread, sorry mods.
Happy to deliver if local enough (SE Eng).
I had two gerbils a few years ago. Both lived to be about 3, and died within a week of each other 
. A black and white one called Crusoe and a golden and brown (very similar to runty) called Fritz. I had a massive gerbilarium for the two (about £150 quids worth I think) and they loved it! I do miss having gerbils, but for a small animal they are a bit of work, especially with a setup as big as mine, and especially if you use peat rather than sawdust - I only did that once! I sold that cage, but do still have my smaller spare... Hmmm. If I'm honest I probably didn't handle them enough - I would get them out most days and let them have a run around the house, but they never became particularly tame with me, but were easy to handle.
In all honestly my little terriers reaction to a mouse the other days probably says having a slow, runty gerbil will not be a good idea - as much as I'd love to. I'm not SE england either, although I will be south central over christmas. No, bad idea!
Does runty get bullied by the others or are they all friends? I ask this as my OH has had a number of dwarf hamsters over the years and at one point we homed 2, one being the runt of the litter - unfortunatly he was killed by his bigger brohther after about 6 months
. A black and white one called Crusoe and a golden and brown (very similar to runty) called Fritz. I had a massive gerbilarium for the two (about £150 quids worth I think) and they loved it! I do miss having gerbils, but for a small animal they are a bit of work, especially with a setup as big as mine, and especially if you use peat rather than sawdust - I only did that once! I sold that cage, but do still have my smaller spare... Hmmm. If I'm honest I probably didn't handle them enough - I would get them out most days and let them have a run around the house, but they never became particularly tame with me, but were easy to handle.In all honestly my little terriers reaction to a mouse the other days probably says having a slow, runty gerbil will not be a good idea - as much as I'd love to. I'm not SE england either, although I will be south central over christmas. No, bad idea!
Does runty get bullied by the others or are they all friends? I ask this as my OH has had a number of dwarf hamsters over the years and at one point we homed 2, one being the runt of the litter - unfortunatly he was killed by his bigger brohther after about 6 months
Reminds me of one of our Ferrets (had 24 of them) who was desperately ill but against all odds survived. I remember holding him for hours & hours massaging his back (he couldn't use his back legs)
& was told several times that although he wasn't in any pain, it would be best to put him to sleep.
Anyway, he did survive & regained full control of his back legs & lived for another 4 years.
Moral of the story is..... Don't give up hope.
Trouble is, we have 10 cages/vivs/aquariums of Gerbs, reptiles and fish, plus rabbit and cats. Time to look after stumpy, yes, but no time to keep her super tame with daily handling.
Balders, her name is stumpy, but I absentmindedly call her runty as you did. And no, she doesn't get bullied, her siblings and parents seem to love and accept her. She does get knocked over when lightening orish (black gerbil) runs by, but is on her feet in seconds and doesn't seem to mind one bit.
Hamsters are the polar opposites of gerbils. They kill, eat their babies, lash out at humans when surprised, are ten times less intelligent and can take 24 hours to fully explore a new cage, whereas a gerbil will have explored a cage including pipes which require jumping into in minutes.
Gerbils never ever bite. One exception: introducing them to gerbils they do not know. As friends go, you are either in or out, and the only reason you'd be out is if you were never in, in the first place. They love each other, kiss and groom each other.
The only selfish trait particular to gerbils is the tendancy to run away into a corner with food, as, if there is only one bit, they do not share. I of course abuse this insight by placing one large hard to carry treat inside a cage and watching one gerbil try to run away with it whilst the others give chase.
Stumpy used to fight for air, seconds away from death if she had been drinking not breathing, opening her mouth and making "howling at the moon" gestures like a wolf, gasping and fighting to get breath after breath. It was like watching a video of an animal drowning underwater. Her respiratory infection is still there, but she runs and breathes far better now. She is just... Minuscule!
She has her own platform to help her reach the water bottle. Thank god I saw her trying and failing to reach the water after mum stopped giving them milk. I'm 100% sure she would have died long ago if in the wild.
When she was half dead (most of her life) she looked so completely and utterly lifeless and very very sad. Gerbils are ridiculously resilient but once they go downhill, that is it. Stumpy was as ill as she could possibly be for weeks. Her temperature was as low as temperatures go without behind dead, week after week. Terribly cold to the touch, not feeding and too sick to lift her head to drink. She is still a tiny runt, but all that is behind her.
She is like one of those micro machines miniature cars with her own little engine as she runs around the cage with her comparatively giant siblings, on a happy mission of her own. Much much better and seems perfectly happy.
Balders, her name is stumpy, but I absentmindedly call her runty as you did. And no, she doesn't get bullied, her siblings and parents seem to love and accept her. She does get knocked over when lightening or
ish (black gerbil) runs by, but is on her feet in seconds and doesn't seem to mind one bit.Hamsters are the polar opposites of gerbils. They kill, eat their babies, lash out at humans when surprised, are ten times less intelligent and can take 24 hours to fully explore a new cage, whereas a gerbil will have explored a cage including pipes which require jumping into in minutes.
Gerbils never ever bite. One exception: introducing them to gerbils they do not know. As friends go, you are either in or out, and the only reason you'd be out is if you were never in, in the first place. They love each other, kiss and groom each other.
The only selfish trait particular to gerbils is the tendancy to run away into a corner with food, as, if there is only one bit, they do not share. I of course abuse this insight by placing one large hard to carry treat inside a cage and watching one gerbil try to run away with it whilst the others give chase.
Stumpy used to fight for air, seconds away from death if she had been drinking not breathing, opening her mouth and making "howling at the moon" gestures like a wolf, gasping and fighting to get breath after breath. It was like watching a video of an animal drowning underwater. Her respiratory infection is still there, but she runs and breathes far better now. She is just... Minuscule!
She has her own platform to help her reach the water bottle. Thank god I saw her trying and failing to reach the water after mum stopped giving them milk. I'm 100% sure she would have died long ago if in the wild.
When she was half dead (most of her life) she looked so completely and utterly lifeless and very very sad. Gerbils are ridiculously resilient but once they go downhill, that is it. Stumpy was as ill as she could possibly be for weeks. Her temperature was as low as temperatures go without behind dead, week after week. Terribly cold to the touch, not feeding and too sick to lift her head to drink. She is still a tiny runt, but all that is behind her.
She is like one of those micro machines miniature cars with her own little engine as she runs around the cage with her comparatively giant siblings, on a happy mission of her own. Much much better and seems perfectly happy.
Edited by Mobsta on Monday 3rd December 17:33
Turn7 said:
Got to keep her Mobsta surely ?
We're going to keep her. She is too small to be sold and has started losing tufts of fur. She will live with her parents and grow up with a new generation of baby Gerbils which are about to hatch out of their tyrannosaurus eggs, never seen a runt in any breed of animal before, the only thing which feels right is to keep her near mom (and me, woohoo) for another 8 weeks, and keep on giving her vitamins in her water. She will grow up alongside the next litter, although they will outgrow her in no time I'm sure. Her temperature is up and normal, her fur patchy (could be bullying, although we saw no evidence of this whatsoever) and her respiratory clicking mostly gone. She runs like a miniature gerbil still but is climbing and eating brilliantly(!!)
The only thin to do is hang on to her, to make sure to make sure sure, she is ok. The patchy fur will grow back, it's a bit of a mystery though as it happened overnight and there was and is no evidence or signs of anything to cause it, between her and another gerbil.
Turn7 said:
NIce one, really hope she makes it.
She is past the "make or break" stage. But thanks.The sudden loss of fur and uncertainty behind that, is reason enough to keep her on. If she starts to grow up admist a new set of babies, the older ones always look after and help out with the younger ones... Maybe we will get to the bottom of her fur loss, or at least see it not repeated.
Re: fur loss, it's her. No other gerbil shows the slightest sign of anything similar as we've segregated them - it's just her.
I'll chuck up photos as the weeks progress.
Its an older photo, above, but she survived.
We put her in with the litter of babies who followed her own litter, keeping her a generation longer than we normally would. She got on well with her baby siblings, who caught up (in growth terms) with her size fairly swiftly.
We normally supply pet shops in the South East, but they were all fully stocked (and probably wouldnt want a runt with a crooked tail anyway) so we found her an amazing home locally, living with people/kids who had owned gerbils before.
A happy end, despite the tail being somewhat short
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