Of gerbils

Yesterday my brother wanted to hang out so we went to the pet store together. He has been thinking about getting a parakeet, so he wanted to look at those, and I was just accompanying him and hoping I didn't like any of the animals enough to want to buy one.

Unfortunately, if I go into a pet store, you can count on me to come out with hopes of a new pet. If I had any money, I probably would have bought him on the spot.

Here he is:

When we passed the small animal section the first time, all of the animals were in thier hideaways and I said something to the effect of, "Let's skip these, rodents are boring because all they do is sleep."

When we came back around to that part of the store, one of the gerbils was awake. He would run frantically on his wheel for a few minutes, his long tail bobbing up and down. Once he lost his footing and flew all the way around the wheel, going upside down like a roller coaster because it was going so fast. Then he would dash over and hop in his food dish to eat before going back to the wheel.

Once he came over to the glass and stood on his hind legs and looked at us, and I think he was smiling at me because that's when I fell in love.

Well, right then one of the employees came over and offered to let me hold one. That's when I fell more in love.

More benefits of the gerbil beside unbearable cuteness:

1. They are not smelly. Their cages only need to be cleaned out every two weeks and I couldn't smell it on my hands at all after I held one.

2. They are inexpensive. The ones at this pet store were $15, but I was reading online that they can usually be found for $8.

3. They are friendlier than most other small pets.

As soon as I have enough money I will most likely buy a pair of these.

~Jane~