Geronimo Entertains a Guest
As the previous post indicated, Geronimo the gerbil is normally a very quiet pet. So, while checking my email recently, I was mightily surprised at the great commotion coming from his residence inside a ten-gallon aquarium. I looked over to see him racing back and forth. When I got closer, I spied a tiny gray mouse desperately trying to evade the gerbil by jumping straight up into the air whenever Geronimo approached. The circus wound down when the mouse burrowed deep into the bedding and Geronimo seemed to have forgotten that he was still there.
On demand, each family member in turn later saw a re-enactment of the show, produced by the merest stirring of the bedding, which frightened the mouse into frenzied escape maneuvers, and inspired Geronimo to give chase. After every hilarious episode, we tried to figure out how to get the mouse out of the aquarium without setting the gerbil free also. We really didn't want either of them roaming the house and we could hardly dispatch the tiny resident without traumatizing Geronimo.
We also puzzled over how the mouse had joined the gerbil in the first place. Had the mouse scaled the outside of the glass aquarium somehow? Every possibility we thought of seemed implausible.
The mouse exhibited amazing athletic prowess. Perhaps the mouse's straight-up leaps would one day land it outside the aquarium and our problem would be solved. But the thought of the mouse roaming around inside the house was not comforting.
One day when Hiromi walked over to look at Geronimo he was startled to see the mouse perched on the upper edge of the aquarium. Without thinking, he brushed him back inside, off the rim of the aquarium. Now we knew he would soon be loose in the house if we didn't intervene.
The mouse was a really cute little fellow with beady black eyes and large round ears. But our deeply-held aversion to mice in the house prevailed, and we planned a last meal for the mouse, should he make an attempt to escape. We set a baited trap on the lid that covered a portion of the aquarium.
The next morning the mouse was caught in the trap. The cats in the garage rejoiced at our good fortune and theirs. Problem solved.
Geronimo has returned to being a quiet and docile pet, and the house is blessedly free of rustling, squeaking, mouse-like noises. Geronimo is not the only one living here who resents hosting mice, and "I'm so glad we're all agreed. . . . "
On demand, each family member in turn later saw a re-enactment of the show, produced by the merest stirring of the bedding, which frightened the mouse into frenzied escape maneuvers, and inspired Geronimo to give chase. After every hilarious episode, we tried to figure out how to get the mouse out of the aquarium without setting the gerbil free also. We really didn't want either of them roaming the house and we could hardly dispatch the tiny resident without traumatizing Geronimo.
We also puzzled over how the mouse had joined the gerbil in the first place. Had the mouse scaled the outside of the glass aquarium somehow? Every possibility we thought of seemed implausible.
The mouse exhibited amazing athletic prowess. Perhaps the mouse's straight-up leaps would one day land it outside the aquarium and our problem would be solved. But the thought of the mouse roaming around inside the house was not comforting.
One day when Hiromi walked over to look at Geronimo he was startled to see the mouse perched on the upper edge of the aquarium. Without thinking, he brushed him back inside, off the rim of the aquarium. Now we knew he would soon be loose in the house if we didn't intervene.
The mouse was a really cute little fellow with beady black eyes and large round ears. But our deeply-held aversion to mice in the house prevailed, and we planned a last meal for the mouse, should he make an attempt to escape. We set a baited trap on the lid that covered a portion of the aquarium.
The next morning the mouse was caught in the trap. The cats in the garage rejoiced at our good fortune and theirs. Problem solved.
Geronimo has returned to being a quiet and docile pet, and the house is blessedly free of rustling, squeaking, mouse-like noises. Geronimo is not the only one living here who resents hosting mice, and "I'm so glad we're all agreed. . . . "
posted by Mrs. I at
6:01 PM
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