Of recent weeks, I’ve been rather missing the two small rodents (usually gerbils) that used to keep me company in the study at the old house . So I was distinctly excited when I passed the newsagents this morning to see an ad “Baby gerbils free to good home”…Having floated this past the (very enthusiastic) Good in Parts offspring, I wondered aloud to WonderfulVicar’s wonderful wife whether she thought this might be a good idea. Her reaction
“Aaarghhhh……they are just like rats!!!!!”
So now I am left wondering whether there are more people in the world who would think “Oh, how sweet” if they encountered small furry animals with beady eyes, sitting in a cage in the clergy study when visited to pour out their souls, or whether the majority are with V and would think “Oh no………rats………plague……….fleas!!” and run screaming from the room.
Straw poll of blog readers urgently needed. Please record your views below.
As a supplementary, would you feel differently if the animal in question was a hamster rather than a pair of gerbils? I really REALLY want to know.
No problem for me, so long as they're in the cage. Lots of people have pet rats anyway, surely nobody would think that healthy looking small caged animals could be disease-ridden vermin!
ReplyDelete(But I much prefer cats)
I'm just greedy, Sue...I want dogs, cats AND small furry rodents! Can never have too much animal company...
ReplyDeletehonestly? no. don't get any! you already have more animals than is sensible....! but if you insist on choosing between gerbils and hamsters then hamsters win, no contest!
ReplyDeleteGo for gerbils they are fantastic and they re-cycle toilet roll cardboard at a great rate which improves their teeth and saves the planet - hamster however fight, eat their young, and smell
ReplyDeleteAnonymous has missed biting humans from hamster's vices - with six kids worth of experience of rodent pets go for gerbils - handle them from young and they are great - you can even leave them for 48 hours as they self regulate their own food whereas hamsters (stupid vicious little animals)will eat the lot in the first two hours and do they smell when pregnant!!
ReplyDeleteCaroline, you're no fun ;-)
ReplyDeleteI know there is absolutely no good practical reason for indulging, but nonetheless it is rather tempting. Anon, I've enjoyed both hamsters and gerbils till relatively recently (though many of the hamsters were rather short lived, which is always distressing)...and I do have a home for loo rolls with a mice owning friend...Oh, I don't know...all very difficult.
I like gerbils, hamsters are okay, somehow I'm not fond of guniea pigs.
ReplyDeletePeople will have preferences but as long as you're not getting them out and asking everyone to hold them when they visit I can't see a problem - If there are gerbils wanting a home then perhaps it would seem the thing to do :-)
ReplyDeleteDo you see many people in your study, and is it possible to be allergic to any of these small rodents? Everyone I know seems to be allergic to cats - including my vicar who left here recently looking as if he had a streaming cold.
ReplyDeleteI'd echo that cat and dog hair is much more likely to be a problem for the allergy prone amongst us.
ReplyDeleteI doubt rodents have that effect though do they?
Much more likely to be a smell issue in a small study I'd guess.
But then maybe detering parishoners from lingering might have attractions ;-)
Hmm, gerbils - cutish I suppose. But if I were visiting I might find them distracting. Guess you could always put a cover over them though.
ReplyDeleteNow you know my aversion to small rodents, but I think a couple of gerbils would be nice. You could of course get a small cage and simply move them when the phobic come?
ReplyDeleteMy only reservation would be whether they would be yet another distraction from that sermon that needed to be written etc etc!
ReplyDelete;)
Anything furry seems pretty good to me ;-) Actually gerbils are pretty un-ratlike as far as rodents go... We recently acquired a ridiculously tiny Roborovski hamster from our younger daughter - near-transonic fluffball is the best description (hamster not daughter... well, having said that...?) - who has renewed our faith in rodents... Mable the dog (yes that is how she's spelled) and Figgy the cat are remarkably uninterested.
ReplyDeleteNo, go for it, Kathryn. I can't see anyone actually being horrified by gerbils in the flesh... You know what St Francis said, anyway, "If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men!"
Is the world divided into two kinds of people? The Normal ones, (like you) who love animals, and the rest (like me) who think it's bad enough to have children, and it least in that case you've biologically got no choice.
ReplyDeleteWe've got a theory that it's the youngest child in a family who is more likely to love pets - that's our limited experience. Do tell us, Kathryn - are you a youngest child?