^^Demeter with Hera at the SPCA
When I brought her home, she was a skinny little thing, and seemed to be the lowest on the pecking order. After a few good doses of Sarah overfeeding, she chunked up a bit to a nice weight. She lived in a 10gal for a few weeks until I was able to find a cheap 30gal. Unfortunately, that's when the trouble started. Maybe three weeks after I moved them to the 30gal, I noticed that Demeter was very nervous with her tankmates. She would run and thump when Hera came near. Not knowing much about declaning at the time, I let this go on for another week until I saw the Demeter was losing fur on her rump. A close inspection showed this:
Obviously something to worry about. She was removed at once and washed off. The poor girl healed up fine, but I needed someone to intro to her. I felt she was getting lonely. So at the 2012 NE gerbil show, I got Persephone.
Perseph and Demeter stayed in the split cage a long time, mainly because I've been away a lot and hadn't been able to switch sides on a regular basis. Perseph seem interested in Demeter, but D was aggressive when I held them together to test the waters.
I was in Canada for a week-long vacation starting on Sat the 4th. Two days before it was time for us to go home, I had a call from our petsitter. It seems that Perseph had broken in to Demetey's side of the split. When the petsitter found them, Demeter was dead, and Persephone was bloody. Perseph's injuries turned out to be shallow, and she's recuperating in a travel cage right now.
Demeter was always a little frisky. I remember her jumping out of my hands when I tried to check her...things...to make sure she was a girl. She loved pumpkin seeds and naps. I'll miss my little Agouti-a-cutie more than words can say.
