R.I.P. Nice One and Peanut

Two gerbils died on Saturday. :( Nice One was my favorite girl gerbil and Peanut was the new male we acquired just this week.

Lawrence and I picked up a male gerbil Thursday night to breed with the most docile and friendly of the 4 gerbil sisters we already had. Since the gerbils needed to be introduced slowly (i.e. they shared a cage but were divided by a barrier so they could get used to each other's scents) and we had only one water bottle for the two of them, we took them with us on our trip to NY this weekend so we could switch the gerbils from from one side of the cage to the other to ease the introduction. Stupidly, we left them in my sister's car over a little under two hours. When she called me to callously tell me that I was a retard for leaving them in the car like that, I was heartbroken. For the rest of the weekend, Lawrence and I recounted the ways in which we could have avoided their deaths.

Ironically, they died because we were trying to extend their lineage; when they did pass one day, it'd be easier to take since their offspring would still be around. They will certainly be missed.