Gerbils My Pet and Me

-Hello and welcome to My Pet and Me, I'm Rory.

-And I'm Ferne.

We hoped you'd join us. We were getting the barn ready.

Lots of animals make excellent pets and we love

meeting you and yours.

-We do. What are your plans, Rory?

-I'm off to meet some new friends.

-And you can come with me, too. Let's go!

-Have fun!

-See you.

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# Down every street

# Are pets to meet

# Some big, some small, some skinny, some furry

# Some keep very still, some always in a hurry

# Some have four paws

# Some have sharp claws

-# Some quack

-Some bark

-# Some purr

-Some moo

-# Some grunt

-Some squawk

# Some cock-a-doodle-doo!

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# Have you met my pet and me? #

Today, we are in Glasgow to meet Leah and her pet gerbils.

Let's go and find them. Come on!

-Hi, Leah.

-Hi, Rory.

-You must be Dad, hello.

-Hi, Rory.

Lovely to meet you, looking forward to meeting the gerbils.

-Where are they?

-In the playroom.

-Oh, let's go, then!

Oh, wow! This is great!

Your gerbils must love it in here, look! What are they called?

-Elsa and Olaf.

-Which one is which?

Elsa is the light one and Olaf is the dark one.

-Are they boys or girls?

-Girls.

Female gerbils are called does and male gerbils are called bucks.

-Do you know what baby gerbils are called?

-Pups.

That's right, pups,

-but these guys look a bit too big to be pups. How old are they?

-Two.

They look very happy, but I'd like to take them out

and say hello properly. Can we do that?

-Yeah, they are very friendly.

-Excellent.

It's very important to regularly handle your gerbils,

but don't force them if they don't like it. When you handle them,

be careful and gentle, so they don't get scared.

What's the best way to pick them up?

-With both hands.

-Yeah, both your hands together, underneath them.

-Is there anything else we need to do when we're holding them?

-Sit down.

That's right, so they feel safe and close to the ground.

-Right, are you going to pick them up?

-Yeah.

-Let's have a look.

Oh, wow!

Elsa is beautiful.

There you go, you hold on to her.

Let's see if we can get Olaf.

Oh, hello!

They are gorgeous. What amazing pets! How often do you take them out?

-Once a day.

-What do you play with them?

-I like to cuddle them.

What do you love most about them?

-They make a mess out of their bedding.

-Do they kick it all out?

-Yeah.

-Who cleans it up?

-Mum and Dad.

-Not you?

-No!

-Oh!

-So they're messy AND cuddly?

-Yeah.

-That's a fun combination!

Leah, your gerbils are very, very cute.

Ferne, could you give us some fun facts about our new furry friends?

Of course, Rory.

In the wild, there are lots of different types of gerbil and they

come in lots of different colours, like black, brown and white.

Wild gerbils live in burrows and dig long tunnel mazes.

They like to build homes with lots of different rooms

for sleeping and storing food.

Gerbils like to forage for their food.

They need a balanced diet of seeds, veggies, fruit and grasses.

Gerbils are very social animals and enjoy company.

They can make great pets, but need lots of care and attention.

-How do you look after your gerbils?

-I feed them and give them water

and make sure their home is nice and clean.

Their home has a special name, doesn't it?

-Gerbilarium.

-Isn't that a funny name?

-Yeah!

It's a great word and this is a cool thing, isn't it?

-It's like a tank down here and a cage up here.

-Yeah.

-Very unusual.

-How often do you need to clean them out?

-Once a week.

-Is today a cleaning day?

-Yeah.

-Thought you might say that!

-What do we have to do first?

-Take the gerbils out.

Let's do that, then.

There's one.

There you go, and there's two.

Get this big bin bag...

Let's get this bedding out.

I wish they could kick it out to us, so we could get it.

-That's your favourite thing, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Right, last little bit.

We've taken all the old stuff out, what do we need to do next?

-Put all the messy stuff in.

-OK. This is going to be fun!

-Yup.

-Sweep it around.

-Yup, nearly done.

-Excellent.

-Think the gerbils are having fun in there?

I think they are! OK, guys? One more thing we need to do.

Put some of the old bedding in, then they'll know it's home,

because it'll smell familiar.

Just a little bit there.

Wild gerbils live in burrows they dig themselves,

so if you have pet gerbils, they need to be able to do that, too.

-I think Elsa and Olaf will love all this bedding, don't you?

-Yeah.

I'm also pleased to see that your gerbilarium is nice and big,

so they have lots of space to exercise.

-Shall we put the toys back in?

-Yeah.

-OK, you pass them over to me.

Bury them in here, hide them, so they get excited when they find them.

-Now, this isn't a toy, what's this for?

-To cut their claws.

Their claws keep growing all their lives,

just like our nails, and a rough stone like this

means they can rub them down so they're not too long, perfect!

-Is that everything done?

-No.

-What do we need to do?

We need new food and water.

-Good thinking, we should do that now, shouldn't we?

-Yeah.

OK, put the water bottles in.

Right, old food.

Clear the old stuff.

And let's get the new food.

There you go. What we've got here is gerbil muesli.

It's special gerbil food made up of different seeds and nuts.

-All the food's in now, there's one thing missing.

-The gerbils?

-Yeah!

-Think they like it?

-Yeah.

-Straight in to explore!

Olaf, always thinking with your stomach!

RORY CHUCKLES

-Oh, look, Elsa's eating as well. What do we need to do now?

-Wash our hands.

Let's go!

Elsa and Olaf are munching on some sunflower seeds

and I think we deserve a treat, too. What have we got here?

-Sunflower seed cakes.

-They look delicious.

-We'll enjoy these as much as Elsa and Olaf enjoy their seeds!

-Yeah.

Now, if Elsa and Olaf could do anything,

what do you think they'd do?

If my pets could do anything, they'd be magic gymnasts.

They would wear blue leotards and blue tutus,

and they could hang upside down by their tails.

And they could pull a rabbit out of a hat.

Then they would take a bow and everybody would clap and cheer.

-Oh!

-We are like big gerbils in these tunnels!

We are, aren't we? It's loads of fun, but why are we

playing outside in the garden? The gerbils are inside.

It's a clue to what we are going to do.

What are we going to do? Not let them out in the garden?

-We're going to make a special playpark for them.

-Great idea!

Let's go!

LEAH GIGGLES

We've got all our toys, but we should put down some bedding and set up

-the pen so they're safe, right?

-Yeah.

-Right, let's pop that out.

There we go. Looks cool.

If I pour this bedding in, will you spread it all around?

Right, you start spreading it around.

OK, that's looking nice and safe.

Which of the toys do you want to put in first?

-The wheel.

-You pop it in first, then.

If you're making your own gerbil playpark at home,

it's really important that all the toys are gerbil safe,

so make sure everything they have is OK for them to chew on.

-What next?

-The hut.

-The seesaw.

-And then you're going to put the swing in?

-Yeah.

-Right, I'll put the climbing frame in.

-And we've got a few tubes left, don't we?

-Yeah.

-We'll put all these in.

They'll love running through these and hiding in them!

-Anything else they like to do with these?

-Chew them!

-Good for their teeth, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Right, what do we need to do then?

-Put the gerbils in.

-I'll go and get them.

Come on. Ch-ch-ch!

Right, are you going to pop Elsa in and I'll go and get Olaf?

Here comes Olaf! You pop Olaf in now.

Having a good run around first! Through the tube.

-Having a good explore, aren't they?

-Yeah.

Will somebody climb up the climbing frame?

-Who's braver?

-Olaf.

-Yeah?

Olaf's come to say hello!

Hello, Olaf. Hello. Oh, the climbing frame, look, you were right!

Olaf was the first on. You're very adventurous! You are!

They really like chewing tubes.

-I think they are really enjoying their playpark.

-Yeah, me, too.

-I like seeing them play together.

-It's fun, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Thank you for introducing me them, I've loved learning about gerbils.

-Thank you for having me.

-Thanks for coming, Rory.

'My Pet and Me!'

GUINEA PIG SQUEAKS

-Hi, Ferne. Hi, wee Jellybean!

-Hi, Rory.

You look happy, what have you been up to?

I had such a great time with my new friends,

-we had so much fun together!

-That is amazing!

Jellybean's just having a bit of a cuddle.

Aww, he looks very happy. Pets are brilliant, but remember,

don't touch an animal unless the owner says it's OK.

Two pets you can definitely play with are ours.

Go to the CBeebies website and play the My Pet And Me game.

Thanks for spending time with us, we hope you had fun, too.

# Today we met

# Our lovely pets

# We see how much you care for them

# Thank you so much for sharing them

# Time for us to

# Just remind you

# After you've played with your pet

# Wash your hands, don't forget!

# It doesn't matter what pets you've got

# You might have one, you might not

# It's still fun finding out

# What having a pet is all about

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# Come back and see my pet and me. #

-ALL:

-Bye!