Sad day; Spanky the Gerbil has passed away

[NathanAllan]

Spanky died early this morning sometime between 2:00 and 2:30 am. It's a sad day for my wife and I but I choose to celebrate her life. She lived a good age of three years which is good for a gerbil. She was pampered every day and had the best food and company of her sister, Kinky, who is quite lonely now but we're looking into getting her a new roommate.

Spanky was a genius gerbil. When her wheel got stuck against the food cup she would get out and push the cup out of the way so the wheel could turn. She also would stack the bedding up against the wall of the cage so she could poke her head up and take a look out at the "real world" sometimes. Kinky was always the dominant one in the cage but Spanky had it all upstairs while Kinky had the advantage of being bigger. No regrets here, she had a great life.

I know this is off topic in the biggest of ways but that little gerbil was a part of this vintage computer lover's life.

Nathan

[IBMMuseum]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I had mice (one at a time) as a teen, and learned how smart they can be. Even still have a soft spot to release a couple (far from home) that were lucky enough not to be killed by the cat.

[Brendan]

I'm sorry to hear the bad news, Nathan. I had gerbils at 3 different times. The first time, Squeaky and (as it turns out) Don had quite a litter, all of whom I gave away to friends (except Squeaky). Next, I had 2 males, Bo and Mo (short for Mohawk - he had stripes on his head). I used to let them run aroud my bedroom and on my desk with my Tandy Color Computer. They're the cause of some teeth marks/missing insulation on my floppy disk data cable. :rolleyes: Finally, much later, my girlfriend (now wife), got me Peek and Poke (Basic language pun intended) to keep me company when I graduated from college and moved away. They used to ride around in my shirt pocket. Sadly, they're all gone now. But as you said, you have to try to focus on the positive - how long they lived and how much fun they were to have around. They're my favorite rodent, being so active and intelligent.

[Erik]

Our condolences on your loss.

Pets are part of the family.

[NathanAllan]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. And my wife appreciates it, too.

Nathan

[GraceUGrad2006]

Very sad I have had two animals die and it is crushing It took me a while to get another pet after that.

[JDT]

I'm sorry for your loss,

I had all sorts of rodents as pets growing up, I even bred fancy hampsters for pet stores.. In about 2002 I bought 2 "feeder" rats from a pet store only because I had overheard some guy needed to feed his snake. Turns out those two rats, Thunder and Lightning, god rest thier souls, turned out to be the most sweet affectionate pets I've ever kept. Super smart and always willing to prove it! Lightning died in his sleep at about 2 and a half years of age, Thunder had to be put down a few months back because he had a completely inoperable tumor that was the size of a baseball.. mind you he was 9" long (not including tail).

Just for the "aww" factor...
http://jdthiele.tripod.com/personal/rats.jpg

anyway... my condolances, I know what a nice friend he must have been.

[IBMMuseum]

...Super smart and always willing to prove it!...

The second mouse I had would reel in a length of yarn to pull a ladder across between two platforms. Poor mice, they had a teenage boy as a master. Cats hanging around the cages too (but getting their noses bit if they stuck it in the cage).

I made a parachute to drop off a 50 foot height. One time the chute didn't open & the cockpit I designed bounced off the ground. I rushed down, opened it up, & saw my mouse look sleepily up at me, like he wasn't disturbed at all.