Oh rats....

Last night Max and I noticed that one of his gerbils (Carla) was looking a little, ummmm... stiff.  The thing is that she was only mostly dead so we left her there hoping she'd recover. 

Around midnight I found myself wide awake in bed researching gerbils on the internet.  Somewhere around 1:00 a.m. I determined the only logical conclusion was the gerbil was hibernating because it got cold so suddenly.  To combat this condition I moved the cage from Max's room (where they were by the drafty window) to the family room, placing them directly under a lamp (you know, to warm her up and get her out of hibernation mode).  Feeling pretty darn accomplished I returned to sleep.  When the alarm sounded I rushed to check on Carla's status and there I found one really completely and totally dead gerbil.

Let's all take a moment to remember Carla as we once knew her. 

Alive:

Came home on August 15, 2011.  Died on October 30, 2012.