Gribbles

There are two new additions to the Shaffer/Tuma household: Fluffy and Sally.

Fluffy and Sally are Gribbles. Gribbles are gerbils that three and six year olds can’t pronounce. Fluffy is a black Gribble, and Sally is a gray Gribble. When they first arrived, and Kristen asked what the girls wanted to name them, Jaime said, “Fluffy. ‘Cause she’s kinda fluffy.” Paige thought for a moment and said, “I think mine is named Fluffy, too.” To avoid a Gribble identity crisis Paige’s second choice, Sally, was utilized. I was rooting for ‘Alfonzo,’ but was overruled by the women folk.

Rodents now roll through our house in yellow plastic balls, usually fleeing a small child intent on ‘helping’ them to roll faster, or discovering how well yellow plastic balls bounce.

This is not my first experience with the buck-toothed little fiends. Growing up, my sisters kept two guinea pigs in a cage in the basement. If any of you are reading, sisters, perhaps you remember what their names were. They were the long haired variety, which must be great for cold weather, maybe not so great for prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. They met their untimely end when the girls left them outside in a makeshift corral for several hours in the August sun.

My younger sister Carly kept a bunch of domesticated rats in the room she inherited from me when I moved down to KC back in January ‘04. They pretty much reeked – sorry Carly. One by one they began to die of some strange rat virus. I kept expecting a call from a relative breaking the news that my entire family had mysteriously died of Bubonic plague. The rats died, and the humans survived.

Anybody remember Sugar Gliders? We had a couple of them, too. Think flying squirrels, but smaller, with cute, giant eyes. They also made these adorable little poops. My friends and I used to toss them to each other out in the backyard until my mom discovered us and made us stop. Everything was going well until one day we came downstairs to find one of the pair lying on the floor of the cage, its head mysteriously flattened, although with no outward signs of duress. We never did solve that mystery. Instead we just gave the surviving sugar glider away, as it now creeped us out.

I have never had Gribbles, however. In fact, I am fairly certain the term didn’t exist until this past Monday. Hopefully they are a resilient species, as I’m afraid they may have a difficult road ahead of them having Paige and Jaime as their masters.