
In March of 2007, when I was 12 years old, I got two gerbils as a gift. I was very excited, I was always feeding them. I put a hamster wheel in the cage and one of them was always running on it but the other one could not quite figure out how to use it. I also bought a hamster/gerbil ball and the same one that had got onto the wheel right away, learned how to use the ball and always wanted to go in it. The same thing happened to the other gerbil and he could not run very well in the ball.
After about 6-8 months, I was not quite as interested as I used to be in them. A couple of times I would forget to feed or get them water for a day or two, but they did not die from it or anything. But one time I forgot to feed them and give them water for more than just a couple days. I found a bloody half of one of my gerbils later that week. It seems that the other one had got so hungry or thirsty that it had started to eat the gerbil it lived with. After a week or two the I found the cannible gerbil very weak. I tried to make it eat some more but it could not. Then it started to run around the cage like it was crazy. It died that night.