Ben, Monica and Joey

Ben, Monny and Joey were part of Missy and Pookie's forth litter, a litter of seven, born on the 14th of June, 1996. Originally, I was supposed to give them up to friends or to the pet store, until their mother died in August. Then, I decided to keep them just as a reminder of their mommy--and now they're my little guys! They're also known as Uncle Ben and Uncle Monica by their many, many neices & nephews and grandneices & grandnephews.

Ben

Ben was the "little brother" of Joey and Monny for quite a while, since he was the submissive one of the trio and so he stayed a bit smaller and thinner than the other two. He also developed some sort of ear infection which now causes him to walk at a bit of a tilt! However, he seems to be healthy, otherwise. His coat is nice and shiney, and he's a genuine sweetheart = ) Now that both is brothers have passed away, I'm going to try to get him a friend soon.

Joey

Here is Joey just about a month prior to his death. He looks perfectly healthy in this pic, and in fact he was. He showed now signs of serious illness til about 24 hours before his death. To this day, we're not really sure what caused him to pass on to "gerbil heaven", but we just hope he didn't suffer. He was the middle brother, about in between Ben and Monny in size, and he was my fun-loving little guy. He will be sorely missed = (

Monny

Sadly, Monica "Monny" Dani died on September 16th, 1998, mysteriously. He died in his sleep and I found him curled up like he was asleep, lying on his back. Monny was the leader, the dominant male. He was the first to start a tickle-wash-tackle with Benny, where he would pounce on him and begin to give him a bath (see picture below). He loved to sit atop their multi-faceted wooden chew toy and preach to his little brother about his behavior. He also loved running around their tank and digging furiously, strangely enough not unlike his niece Mystery. He will be missed = (

Those tickle-wash-tackle games can be *brutal*

What the guys like most of all, is having fun. They love running on the wheel, dashing around the tank, and driving their owners nuts by knocking their can against the tank in the middle of the night. Occaisionally they'll wrestle each other to the ground and then give each other a nice grooming, and then curl up together for a little nap.

They used to live in a 3 story cage (along with their late brother Ross, a black gerbil, who disappeared back in June '97, without a trace), then moved into a 2 story plastic Hartz setup (see above) and now are living in a regular, every day ten gallon fish tank. They especially love their wooden chew toy, and run through it or sit on top of it all the time.

Take a look at a really big picture of their old tank.

Happy happy 2 year birthday little boys!

On June 14th, 1998 Ben and Monny (and sister Phoebe) celebrated their two year birthday. Happy birthday boys! So I let them run around in the bathroom for a bit to get some nice new pictures. Well here they are!

The Boys on the loose!

Catch me if you can!

Hee hee!!