Gerbil Genesis

08/28/2024

Not our route, but one we use and trust 🥰 Meeting the route on 9/9, ride along with us!

ALL ABOARD! 📣 Our official schedule is finally prepared!

Will you be a part of our upcoming trip? It’s not too late! ⏰ We are unable to add new stops, but we would be happy to meet with you at one of our planned stops below. Feel free to contact us with any adoption, surrender, or transportation inquiries! 📥

To those who will be meeting with us: we look forward to seeing you soon! ⭐️

08/14/2024

Not us, but another organization asking for help

🆘 To say we need your help is an understatement. The best way to describe it is we are in an inflatable life raft with a slow leak. We’re okay for now, but without help we won’t be for long!

🎁 Read all the way through for our updated Thank You Gifts & Giveaways!

A not-so-quick snapshot:

🐭 USQKS is in total (from the smallest mouse to the biggest rabbit) caring for just over one hundred rescue and sanctuary small animals. We are a foster-based rescue but Adam & I (Sammie) have a number of rescue and sanctuary animals with us in group foster. This includes the nine “orphaned” baby rabbits that are now fourteen weeks old AND Nellie & her eleven babies who will be turning EIGHT WEEKS OLD this Thursday! We are at max capacity and our current foster homes are currently full as well. We desperately need responsible fosters and adopters! Our greatest needs are for chinchilla adopters (or fosters) and rabbit fosters & adopters!

🐰 FUNDS NEEDED: Our current known upcoming medical costs are as follows:
🐇 SURGERY: Renny is scheduled for dental surgery on 9/10 to have incisors pulled. We are estimating that this surgery will cost about $400.
🐇 VACCINES: The nine orphaned rabbits go in for their 2nd RHDV2 vaccines on Monday 8/19. The cost will $315 - 1 sponsor = $280
🐇 ADD’L VACCINES: Renny + Nellie & her 11 babies will also need to be vaccinated. $455 for the 1st RHDV2 Vaccine + $455 for the 2nd RHDV2 Vaccine = $910
🐇 SPAYS/NEUTERS: We plan to have all nine orphaned rabbits spayed/neutered by November. Total cost $810 - 1 sponsor = $720
🐇 ADD’L SPAYS/NEUTERS: Renny + Nellie & her 11 babies will also need to be spayed/neutered = $1170
🐰 TOTAL for these KNOWN medical expenses alone will cost us $3480! All of these are scheduled to be completed by January 2025.

Adoptions are few and far between. Foster placement is the same. We have a few faithful donors helping us stay afloat. We also have supply donations trickling in here & there. What is keeping us most afloat is guinea pig boarding. We have limited boarding space available at this time and aren’t taking on additional boarders, but 100% of the funds that come in from boarding go to the rescue. Also, Adam and I are currently covering all overhead costs (such as our website, email, etc.) so that 100% of funds coming in go towards the animals’ medical and supply expenses!

Any expenses that we aren’t covered by adoptions, sponsorships, boarding, and donations are covered by Adam and I. We are on complete intake hold at this time until we get animals adopted, additional fosters and until these medical expenses are covered. As we have shared, we have a good number of sanctuary animals and medical cases as well. In the future, we hope to share their pictures & stories and have sanctuary sponsorship opportunities. We have been sharing some of their stories along with the medical cases as needs arise.

We will be breaking down these different needs along with some additional (more upbeat) updates over the next week or so. But, for today, we will be setting up a Facebook photo album with the vaccine sponsors needed by Monday and the spay/neuter sponsors needed for the nine orphaned rabbits. We will soon be adding the additional vaccine and spay/neuter sponsorship opportunities.

THANK YOU GIFTS/GIVEAWAYS:

🎁 MONTHLY GIVEAWAYS: We will be picking a monthly winner from all those donate -OR- sponsor a vaccine or spay/neuter to receive a $10 Amazon eGift Card. There will be a winner for each month August, September, October, November and December in the hopes of starting off 2025 strong.
🎁 AUG. SPONSOR GIVEAWAY: Next week, one of vaccine sponsors of the nine “orphaned” rabbits will receive a $10 Amazon eGift card (since the planned gift basket would be hard to send to those who aren’t local). Right now, there is only one sponsor!
🎁 NOV. SPONSOR GIVEAWAY: Once the orphaned rabbits are spayed/neutered, one of their sponsors will receive a $10 Amazon eGift Card plus a custom pet portrait by Daytona Wolfe (can be substituted for $30 Amazon eGift Card).
🎁 JAN. SPONSOR GIVEAWAY: Once Renny + Nellie & her 11 babies are all vaccinated, we will be picking a winner from their sponsor to also receive a $25 Amazon eGift Card.
🎁 In January, once Renny + Nellie and all the babies are spayed/neutered we will be picking a winner from their sponsors to receive a $75 Amazon eGift Card.

Ways to Donate:
💚 Online Donation Link: https://square.link/u/nJDvMfd1?src=sheet
💚 Online Vaccine Sponsorship Link: https://square.link/u/NBitxvxb?src=sheet
💚 Online Spay/Neuter Sponsorship Link: https://square.link/u/fUmxZg1b?src=sheet
💚 Venmo: (under businesses) - If sponsoring, note sponsorship info.
💚 PayPal: paypal.me/undergroundsqueaks - If sponsoring, note sponsorship info.
🛒 Shop Our Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3TU9CYJ4NTF2X?ref_=wl_share https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3TU9CYJ4NTF2X?ref_=wl_share

* These gift cards are being donated by a generous supporter.
** Each donation and/or sponsorship earns additional chances to win a gift card. Sponsors are eligible for both the monthly and sponsorship gift cards
*** Anyone of who has already sponsored a spay/neuter will be receiving a crocheted bunny as a Thank You Gift but the volunteer who handles these needs some additional time to make them so be patient. We will contact you when they are on their way.

07/11/2024

Hopping on at Cleveland, let us know if this route can help you get the perfect pair for you or your family!! 🥰

ALL ABOARD! 📣 Our official schedule is finally prepared!

Will you be a part of our upcoming trip? It’s not too late! ⏰ We are unable to add new stops, but we would be happy to meet with you at one of our planned stops below. Feel free to contact us with any adoption, surrender, or transportation inquiries! 📥

To those who will be meeting with us: we look forward to seeing you soon! ⭐️

07/02/2024

We did it...!!! This originally orange pup began molting!

Schimmel?!?!.

Assumed female. NFS.

05/14/2024

Sooo... I've been holding back because of our bad luck lately, but we are now looking at a litter of 6; 2 of which I truly think could be Schimmel!!

Meet Larch (formerly Lucky) a male we were able to get from Shooting Star Gerbils right before retiring. Now paired with Justica, a daughter of Caapi (our one true Schimmel at the moment) we may really, actually, maybe have some Schimmel pups in house!?!

Larch: [A- C- D- ee[f] P- Uw- Sp+]
Justica: [A- C- Ee[f] P- Uw-] *Edit

04/23/2024

I haven't posted in a bit because frankly, I'm embarrassed and frustrated and we're essentially back at square one with the Schimmels. *Other pups always still growing up

03/02/2024

A rainbow? A Schimmel rainbow? Maybe?

Hoping for opinions on these pups. Mother is a Pink Eyed Schimmel (Aa C- D- e[f]e[f] pp Uwuw[d] ) and the father (photo 2) was adopted on the basis he at least carried e[f], but not much else is known besides having a Schimmel littermate himself. Starting to think he might not be a carrier after 3 litters... so what is going on here?

Litter 1: Assumed Cream but now not so sure.
Litter 2: Black, Slate, Grey Agouti
Litter 3 from left to right:

1- Schimmel or Nutmeg? Not sure what the toenails tell us.
2- Self colored, Black eyed. Not a shade we've seen. Is this a Silver Schimmel or something else just lightened by e[f]?
3- Grey Agouti
4- More ummm... Self colored, Black Eyed. Maybe a DEH with e[f]??
5- Thinking Yellow Fox because of a very clear line of demarcation. (*edits)
6- Black Eyed whaaaaat?

I want to see Schimmel and just don't know if I do?

02/18/2024

Aaaannndddd Vellozia has 6! A happy, hopeful night :)

Vellozia is the Pink Eyed Schimmel with her ef carrier mate Cosmos.

Mother of Katsura II and Katniss II (who we will see later, more fantastic news...!)

Best wishes to all the new beans :)

02/17/2024

Finally some good news for our Schimmel pairs! Katsura II (Agouti ef carrier) and Caapi (Schimmel) have welcomed 5 new potential Schimmels without any complications! All black eyes so we will just have to wait and see when they color up in a few days.

One of these will be paired with someone from Almond's line in the pursuit of having Schimmels descended from our founders (and without inbreeding... we just want to be clear on that since it would be faster but goes against our breeding practices)

The hardest part is waiting!

01/22/2024

As an update to our Schimmel project: It's been a rough time. Still many other pups growing up, however.

Our first efef producing pair had a singleton, which passed with no known cause. Second litter produced only one light colored but still pink eyed child, a male (third photo). Third litter is now 2 Black and 2 Agouti... *sigh*.

In the meantime we had another Schimmel male with a Sapphire ef carrier, however the female died in labor overnight, a first for our kennel and not only disappointing but quite traumatic for all.

This pair is that same Schimmel male (named Caapi) with a sister of the Sapphire, an Agouti ef carrier we have named Katsura II. They are expecting their first litter now and we're just hoping for the best.

09/25/2023

The little Schimmel pup is doing very well, and is a female! We need to hold onto this one to continue the line - and she has a mate picked out - but hopefully mother Vellozia has more on the way!

09/14/2023

Vellozia, our RE Schimmel, and Cosmos, the ef carrier, have had their first litter together... However, it's just one single pup. Sometimes singleton litters have the odds against them, if they're not strong enough to stimulate milk on their own. Other times they really thrive from being doted on. The pair is new and the pup is still only a few days old. Best wishes for them all!

08/05/2023

The Schimmels have arrived, thanks to the work of Jo Kelley, and the first of our planned pairs have been bonded successfully! She is the Red Eyed Schimmel on the left, named Vellozia, and sourced from Jennifer Peters Ormord, while he is an ef carrier from Jo that we're still deciding a name for (needs to be a type of plant, any suggestions??) They will be expecting Schimmel pups soon enough!

07/25/2023

I caught this mother and daughter cuddling and just had to share... Daughter is a Nutmeg in the middle of her molt, mother is a Dark Eyed Honey. But I just love the way her tail is wrapped around the pup🥰 These two would also be available as a pair.

07/22/2023

Here are just a couple of the pup pairs we have available, these happen to be males but there are females as well. We've mostly received requests for the youngest pups lately, needed for introductions. This has left a few litters passed over completely, but they are still plenty young enough to bring joy for years to come! Message us to find out everyone we have available!

07/09/2023

Another recent breeding pair we've put together, this time for the Apple line...

She is a Burmese from a branch of Apricot's, removed by more than 6 generations, and he is a surprise Red Fox from Magnolia II, a Siamese. As was the case with his elder brother Zahr, he would carry either c[h] or c[chm], so matching with a Burmese is perfect to see which. They will have Black and either Burmese or Siamese, but she also carries p, giving us chances at Sapphire or Dove, and some Pink Eyed Whites as well.

07/07/2023

Two litters of seven were born this week, both part of the Almond line, and both on the same day! Two brothers were bred to two sisters for this generation, and both have now been separated so that they are the last litter(s) for their mother(s). These pups will almost all be Dark Eyed Honey and Honey Cream, but some may contribute to our Schimmel project.

07/04/2023

After managing to find 1 gerbil that is efef and available, and 5 more that are just ef carriers, I've worked out how best to combine them based on relations and genetics, while still figuring out a way to get a true Schimmel that is descended from one of our original lines: Almond's. Pictured are the 6 current generations. I think I can accomplish this with 2 more generations and will have Schimmel by generation 8, but the whole operation depends on four specific pairings working out, and getting the 'right' pups from each pair. Wish us luck!!

06/26/2023

With all our talk about Bonsai, we've finally bonded him to a mate, a Grey Agouti rescue we've named Orchid II. Believe it or not, he is not a Grey Agouti, but a highly ticked Spotted Blue from two Dilute parents. With this pair we should see Agouti, Grey Agouti, Black, and Slate, with any other surprises along the way. However, every pup will carry a, d, and uw[d] regardless, to make another generation of Dilutes down the line while taking advantage of new blood.

06/26/2023

Our kennel is officially on the lookout for Schimmel genes...!

From our first three Lt. Dark Eyed Honey females we created three separate lines. Apricot's has become the Dilute line, Apple's has become the Colorpoint line, and Almond's line has been otherwise unspecified while producing more Dark Eyed Honeys in this generation. We'd love to focus on producing Schimmels, and we know it will take a couple generations to avoid inbreeding. What is out there??

06/19/2023

Here we have some fathers and sons, guaranteed male, bonded and hand tame. First is a trio of Blues. Second is a Sapphire father and Spotted Dilute Burmese son who would need to be pet only. Third is a Spotted Agouti father with an Agouti son.

06/17/2023

Also available: A group of males made of a senior ex-breeder and four of his grandsons. They would be available as a trio with the senior, as a pair of pups, or all together. Grandpa is a Nutmeg and the pups are Dilute Slate, Lilac, and Cream.

06/17/2023

Friends, we have a lot of gerbils! We've accepted returns and rescues, and separated a few breeding pairs turning one tank into two several times over. I hope to highlight some available gerbils over the next few days or weeks in the pursuit of finding them a forever home.

Here we have a group of gals, a mother and four daughters. They would be available as a sister pair, a mother and daughter trio, or as a group.

06/04/2023

Blueberry had her final litter after being separated from Xyris, and with this pair we've seen Blue and Dilute Nutmeg, with spotting options. With only a few generations of Dilute gerbils in our kennel, it wasn't until this pair that the ticking effect on the Blue coats really came through. It's most extreme in their son, Bonsai, who we've selected a mate for, but the difference can be seen in the two Spotted Blue pups in this last litter. One shows the light ticking while the other does not.

05/09/2023

Our last post was about Evodia II and Cedar II, and now those pups are grown up. They have some unexpected variety which is always a plus, with the surprise appearance of a (possibly Dilute) Lilac and Cream alongside the expected Dilute Slate. This means both parents also carry the recessive for pink eyes, p. It's only their first litter with the second growing up, and we're very excited to see what else we'll get from them!

Color codes (not including inherited recessives):
Lilac: aa C- D- E- pp Uw-
Cream: aa C- D- E- pp uw[d]uw[d]
Dilute Slate: aa C- dd E- P- uw[d]uw[d]

03/16/2023

Sometimes our breeding pairs are made to extend the lineage of one of our main lines another generation, and the colors of pups they will produce are just a bonus. Other times we do make pairs with certain colors in mind, or even just a specific mix of genes to eventually make a color we've never had.

Evodia II and Cedar II were put together in an ongoing effort to make more variety of Dilute coats, by passing on their recessives that will hopefully be matched up again in the next generation.

She is a Dilute Silver Nutmeg: aa C- dd ee P- uw[d]uw[d]
He is a Lilac: aa C- Dd E- pp Uwuw[d]

So they will have Black, Blue, Slate, and Dilute Slate, but these pups will also all carry d, e, p, and uw[d].

03/09/2023

Another recent pairing just had their first litter, the first of the 7th generation for Apple's line! Our heir is the father, Zahr, a Spotted Black who's mother is Siamese, so we knew he had either colorpoint gene. Then we brought in a Burmese we've called Begonia II, from a fellow breeder to bond with him. This tells us which colorpoint gene he has by matching it with her double c[chm] to give either Burmese or Siamese but not both... (was hoping for Siamese) and I'm fairly certain that's a Siamese pup!

02/15/2023

Pied Blue pup from Blueberry and Xyris, a male we've named Bonsai! We'd hope to bring in a mate for him, since we're running out of unrelated dilute carriers. He has a similarly colored brother (not a full collar but a nice neck spot) who can swap for a female, but that wouldn't be necessary. Hoping to find a solid female that at least carries a and d, super bonus points if there's a copy of uw[d].

01/23/2023

We have generation 10!!

Pups > Ulmus II > Satinwood > Isophysis > Xeronema > Ixora > Peppercorn II > Dogwood > Peppercorn > Apricot & Ashwood

01/20/2023

To continue Almond's lineage we paired two sisters, Sunflower II and Almond III, with two brothers. Almond III was the first to have a litter with her mate, Zizyphus, bringing their line to 6 generations!