Not a lot of people truly appreciate the rodent. There are mice, hamsters, beavers, and my personal favorite: the gerbil.

Gerbils live for about three to four years. Once, there was a gerbil that lived to be over five years-old! That's truly amazing, since that many be the only one case of that. My gerbil, Panda, lived for about a year and a half.

Gerbils have been kept for pets for about 30 years. They are fearless! Once, when my gerbil was at my Aunt's house, and their cat, Red Boy, poked his nose through the cage and Panda poked her nose out to touch his! He would spend a lot of time prowling around the cage and trying to figure out if he could "get her." Panda wasn't afraid at all!

Here are three types of gerbils: Mongolian (The most common species; grey and white with black eyes. For example, my gerbil, Panda, was Mongolian), Albino (White with reddish eyes. For example, Mickey, my gerbil, was an Albino.), and mutant (Any other color coat a gerbil may have. For example, my other gerbil, Kristen, was black and white with black eyes.)

If you are a first-time pet owner, you live in a small area, or you don't have much time for a pet but want one anyway, then the gerbil is for you! Gerbils are small mouse-like creatures. They live in cages (so they don't take up any more then the cage does). They are compact (although I wouldn't suggest taking them anywhere!). And they produce very little urine so their cage can be cleaned as often as every day or as little as every week.

There aren't many negatives about gerbils. The only things I found that may be negative about them is that they only live a short time, and that you need wire cages because they gnaw through plastic cages like nothing. Gerbils need to have something constantly, like a small piece of wood, for them to chew so they will refrain from chewing on the plastic. They chew so much because their teeth are actually constantly growing and if they don't chew on something, their teeth will grow too long and they will not be able to eat! Therefore, they will die! You don't want that to happen! Do not give them cardboard to chew on!

Something else interesting about them is that if their mate goes away, they will not accept another mate or maybe not even their own again!

Thank you for reading my article! I hope this gets accepted to the Times and others that I write! Thank you all!

!Adios!
-kittypet