It's ages since I've kept my ratty diary, but I seem to be in the mood for it at the moment.
I maintain the 'kittens available' list for our local rat club. So it wasn't unusual to get a phone call from a breeder who had had a reservation cancelled, asking me to put them on the club website. The trouble is, I accidentally offered to take the kittens myself. A little PEW and an agouti variegated boy. I think it's just too long since I've had kittens, and they were only 20 miles away.
I collected the babies today.
I was planning to call them Maxwell and Zachary, but once I met them the second boy didn't seem like a Zachary so I spent the journey home trying to think of a name for him. Then the fact that the breeder had called them little devils percolated round in my brain along with the name Maxwell, and reminded me of Maxwell's demon. So I decided on a science theme, and named the second boy Darwin. Sooo, Maxwell is the pink eyed white, and Darwin is the agouti variegated. They're a nice size for their age, no sign of snuffles or anything, and as lively as little springy things.
Raven is really feeling her age. I've rearranged their cage so that there's no way she can fall, but she feels so fragile to the touch. I held her close today and she just sat there bruxing at me. Little sweetie.
My five boys have been living together since the end of last year, when I 'accidentally' bought Toby from the pet shop and then had to find Oliver for some same age company.
Toby was nervous of everything at first, I know he'd been on his own in the shop for at least three weeks, whereas Oliver was completely fearless and believed that he was in charge of the cage, even though he was so tiny that everyone who saw him said 'Is it a mouse?'
It ended up with Toby living on the bottom floor of the cage and being chased back down there if he ventured higher up. It didn't seem that the others were being aggressive to him, just that he was scared of everyone else. That has continued until now, with him staying at the bottom, so I had to open the bottom door if I wanted a cuddle with him.
Then after I cleaned them all out yesterday there was an almighty racket from the cage. I don't know what was going on, because by the time I got there they were all playing innocent. But this morning when I went to feed them, Toby was in the top of the cage with everyone else! It's taken him eight months, but he's finally found the confidence to stand up for himself, and I'm so proud of him. I've finally had a five rat hug with them all at the top door.
We had a little mini intro session today. Max and Darwin met Theo and Oliver, one at a time, on my lap. It all went very well, just a bit of bum sniffing, no fluffing up or anything.
The babies have met each of the big boys in turn. No problems so far. Can't believe it's going so smoothly - I keep waiting for it all to go wrong.
The little boys' characters are starting to show. Darwin is slightly bigger, but prefers to sit in the hammock peeping cheekily over the edge while Maxwell comes to the door to say hello. Max usually starts the pinging about the cage, then when he bounces on Darwin, Darwin joins in. He is also getting a fixation about going down the back of the cage. Every time I open the door he zips out of the corner and makes for the top of the cage. Even if I get my hand to him, he's so smooth and wriggly that he can just keep going.
They both love the rat pouch, which is useful because although they take a long time to decide to climb onto my hand, I can just offer the pouch up to the cage door and they climb in.
I've made Raven a couple of sets of steps from a wine rack kit, which has helped her get up between levels in the cage. She was struggling to get off the bottom of the cage.
Well, I went away on Saturday morning leaving the ratties in the care of my family, and when I came back the little pink eyed white boy, Max, had a smudge on his nose. He's turned into a himalayan! Completely unexpected.
I suddenly have a lot more rats. I have eight babies who are looking for homes. Their mum was one of a pair who came from the RSPCA, who turned out to be pregnant. Their owner has raised them for 5 1/2 weeks, but they're getting bigger and more boisterous and she is now very grateful to hand them on.
The babies are all very brave and friendly. I've put the six boys in with my two newbies, who don't know what's hit them! These babies are only 9 days younger than my two, but seem to be half the size and twice the speed. The two girls are housed in a large hamster cage for now, which looks quite big enough for tiddlers like them.
I have an offer to home the girlies in two weeks if I don't find anyone else, but I'll keep looking for now.
I've found a place for the two rexy boys with one of my Kleeneze customers. I knew they had a rat, but it seems that he died a few weeks ago and they were delighted to reserve two of the babies.
I've put notices in the local pet shop and vets. I'm planning to require people to join the Midlands Rat Club rather than paying for the ratlets. That way I know I can keep in touch, and they'll have a support network.
I'm now introducing my big boys to all of the babies, because I don't know if I'll get left with any of them. My daughter quite likes the champagne boy, but I suspect he'll go quite soon. Very tempting to keep them all, but I'd have to extend the cage.
I did have a pair of boys reserved to pick up next month, but I've had to cancel the reservation. It's my own fault for taking Max and Darwin, then agreeing to take the foster babies. But I really wanted those agouti boys.
Annette
Last modified: Sunday, 04-Nov-2007 16:47:15 GMT
