SOME THINGS TO CATCH UP ON

Well, I suppose I should mention first that Wren was adopted!   I put him/her on Craigslist and found the most awesome home.  I was very careful to ensure this was an adoption and not a snake's lunch.  A family of 5 (with 3 girls and 1 boy) called me to adopt Wren and they were visiting grandma's house 5 minutes from my place so I drove Wren over there and the girls came jumping and skipping out of the apartment because they were so excited to get a new Gerbil.   I checked in on them yesterday and here's the report after the first day:

Hi, Yes, everything has gone well, We put the new gerbil beside the other one and it seems their eyesight is not so good as they seemed to smell  each other first and look around. Because the cages are lower half plastic and upper half wire, unless they stand on the hind legs, they cannot see each other. Once they noticed each other they touched noses and tried to dig and bite the cages to get to each other. At this point it looks like two gerbils in love, but it could be two gerbils trying to protect their territory as well ( they are very anxious to get to each other ) To be safe, we are not putting them together until they get used to each other and to each others smell. They were so noisy that my kids separated them overnight and most of this morning they slept . We read articles that suggest we should exchange their cages everyday for a while so they get used to each others scent. We are keeping them side by side as well so they can touch noses. I think the white gerbil is a male. Our old gerbil seems to be a female. The internet suggests males behave more calm and are not as afraid of humans and this seems to be the case.  Thanks

So a happy ending for an unusal foster pet!

I also missed sharing some pictures from the TG reunion weekend.  Isabelle has a hard time getting into the box/back of my truck so she slept in the tent with Dave and Sail slept in my truck with me.  She looked so comfortable so I took a couple of pics....

Sleeping on the bed I made for her (nice smile)

...and then the pillow thief on the bed I made for ME

It was nice to spend some time with Sail again and I hear she is doing really well up at Turtle Gardens.  I think she needs boundaries combined with the right amount of freedom and TG offers that.  I offered boundaries but couldn't offer her the freedom she needs.  It also doesn't hurt that TG doesn't have a bunch of rabbits on their front lawn and squirrels running across the street : )

I also found a couple of pics of Isabelle that I hadn't posted yet and thought I'd share them.  The expressions she gets on her face is one of the endearing qualities I really like about her.

Her expression when I look into the back of the truck
when we get to the beach.

This is her I-want-something expression.  She was staring me
down so I'd put the camera down and pet her some more.

I took Isabelle to the vets office tonight and Dr. Ubi said he thought she was closer to 7 or 8 years old and not the 12 years that was told to TG when she was surrendered.   I have been thinking the same thing, that she just doesn't seem THAT old.   She is slower because of her weight and maybe that makes her seem older but he said that by looking at her and her teeth, he couldn't see that she would be over 10 but maybe even a couple of years younger than that.   So that's very exciting news for her adoption prospects.   Turtle Gardens requested a geriatric panel on Isabelle so we will know tomorrow how her overall health is.  I will write more about this tomorrow.