Happiness Is a Pocket Kangaroo

Pets that are fun to play with, easy to care for and that thrive in captivity are hard to come by. For the past decade, the furry favorite has been the hamster, but it tends to be neurotic, eat its young and bite the hand that feeds it. Now another member of the rodent family has arrived on the scene, warming children's hands and parents' hearts wherever its fuzzy face appears.

It is the Mongolian gerbil (pronounced jur-bill), a ball of fluff only four inches long (plus three inches of tufted tail) that looks and leaps like a vest-pocket kangaroo. It is socially quite acceptable, has impeccable manners and irresistible charm. Its credentials are faultless: a desert species native to Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, it is clean, odorless and friendly, eats little (sunflower seeds, lettuce, corn), excretes less (three drops of urine a day), and never bites. Besides all this, it is happy, playful, loyal, fearless, curious, and can be taught tricks.

The gerbil was brought to the U.S. for medical research eleven years ago, moved into the pet world only in the past year. Word spread through the kiddie grapevine with the help of once-a-week TV appearances on NBC's Birthday House and a plug from Barbra Streisand (who owns two) on her recent CBS special. Today gerbils are in demand from New York to Alaska. In La Grange, Ill., the Parkway Pet Store sold 16 after putting a sign in the window. In Atlanta, the Ark Pet Shop has already sold 125, has more orders than it can handle. Creative Playthings sells some 50 gerbils a week at $15 a pair, through its Manhattan retail outlet, Princeton, N.J., headquarters and well-known catalogue.

All gerbils need to be happy is an 8-in. by 21 -in. cage carpeted with shavings and provided with a few means of entertainment. They are also indefatigably curious, run to explore any new object that is presented them. Loving and monogamous, they are happiest when paired. Their gestation period is 24 days, and under ideal conditions they will produce an average litter of four once a month during their four-year life span.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.