Wow, those babies like their kale. I put a handful in the cage and it's almost all gone. They must have had it before.
I'm still introducing all the baby boys to all the adult boys. We had a big playtime on the table, with not a single problem. If I didn't have the tinies I think I'd be putting Maxwell and Darwin in the big cage at next clean out. As it is, I'm not quite sure what to do.
I'm getting worried that I'm going to end up with four of the boys. I've put ads on the MRC forum, Fancy Rats, my local pet shop and the vets. I've had a few enquiries but nothing has come to anything. My other half will go spare if I can't home them!
My two newbies and my foster boys really deserve the term mischief. They're so funny.
Here's my Darwin chilling in his hammock
Max climbing
Darwin about to leap. Poor boy can't fit through the holes in the storage box. All the others run straight though.
Babies with their egg food
Everyone having a drink at the same time. They have two water bottles, but that one tastes better.
Asking Ginnie for a hug
Breakfast this morning
I have a confession. I've lost one of the little girl babies. It was entirely my fault.
They were running round on the table yesterday morning while I fed the big girls, and both managed to push into the rat pouch I'd left on there and then fall off the table in it. One of them came back into the cage when I put it on the floor, but I haven't seen any sign of the other one since.
I had my humane trap set all yesterday and all last night with a bowl of water and some banana, which they loved the other day, but no result. I'm not sure it would hold her anyway, because I removed the spring to stop it hurting tails and she's probably small enough to push her way out of the gap by the door. I think I need to do some major house tidying here to see if I can find where she's got to.
It's scarey because she's so tiny and it would be so easy for her to get hurt. It also means I can't get any of the boys out to play in case they get on the floor too.
Oh rats!
Little horror was on my Ratty Corner stock shelves eating the cardboard boxes. I held out the rat pouch and she walked in.
Phew.
The big boys spent a couple of hours with the babies while I cleaned out their cage, but I chickened out of putting them all in together. Maybe next weekend. The rexy boys are staying until their new mum gets back from holiday, so they're included too.
Oh dear. I seem to have named the boys. The champagne boy is Archimedes, one boy has a dash and a little dot down his back, so he's Morse, one has a dot beside his stripe, so he's Doppler, and one has a tree shape, so he's Tesla just because that starts with 't' for tree. I need someone to take them away soon. The rex boys have called themselves Hubble and Edison, even though they're not staying. But I need to call them something when I'm talking to them, don't I?
I need to find homes for these babies soon, because I'm getting very attached to them. I really don't need this many new ratties!
I've got the babies in the big cage and the big boys in the baby cage, looking a little cramped. I think we might go for integration tomorrow. I'm going to put all of the unreserved buck kittens in with the boys. I'm not sure about the two reserved ones. Hum, what to do?
No, I think I'll wait a bit. Let them go back into their own cages tomorrow.
Blaize has a fourth tumour. I don't know what to do now. She gets really upset by the surgery. It took her a month to stop biting me last time. Vet's tonight.
The baby boys and the big boys are all getting on fine. They can go in together this weekend. (Yes, I am putting it off - I've jumped the gun and regretted it before.)
It's not that easy, is it? I thought they'd all be spoken for by now. I've put up cards at the local pet shop and the vet's, I've advertised them on the Fancy Rats forum, ratlovers_uk, and on the Midlands Rat Club forum and website, and I still only have homes for four of the eight. Plus which, my other half is convinced I want to keep them all, (which I do) so if I can't place them he'll think I did it on purpose. It seemed like such a good idea at the time!
I had some free time yesterday afternoon, so I went for it. Stuck all the boys on the table for the afternoon and gave the cage a really good clean out, then popped them all in together. It seems to have worked. Louis lost his temper once, but the baby was next to one of the narrow tubes I put in, so he got away easily.
Spent a lot of time on the baby girls today, because they seemed much more skittish than the boys. I think it's because the boys just surge forward together while the girls only have each other. I've named them Poppy and Lily for now. Lily is the braver of the two. A couple of hours of attention seems to have made all the difference. They're more brave now than at the beginning of the day. I need to give them an hour a day to keep the improvement up.
It's wonderful to walk up to the balcony on the boys' cage. They all come out for a hug and I get covered in ratties looking for love. Noses in my ears and chewing on my hair. They are such wonderful little creatures. I'm so lucky.
I think Dali has spent the whole day asleep on the table. I put the ladder down to the table from his and the girls' cage at breakfast time and then forgot about it. He was still on the table when I went to clear the table for our evening meal.
Went
to visit an old friend yesterday. She got my number from the petshop
and didn't realise it was me until we were speaking on the phone. She's
got an accidental litter of seven girls (and I think two boys who've
been homed). I popped in for a quick word and spent an hour and a half
there.
Lovely little agoutis and blacks. They might need
rehoming due to allergies, but it would be a shame because they're very
much loved where they are. I was very good and didn't offer to take
them all.
Today I got most of my deliveries done, then we're off
tomorrow to visit eldest daughter for a belated housewarming. The car
boot's full of stuff I've found since she moved out, so that's make
some space around here.
The ratties are all gorgeous, of course.
Darwin looks so big next to the other babies. Even Maxwell, his
brother, doesn't come close. There's only nine days between Darwin and
Max and the little babies but it's hard to remember that.
Blaize
was getting stroppy with Dali this evening, which he doesn't need when
he's chronically short of breath. I suspect that the tumour is starting
to bother her. Vixen has got awfully fat too, I hope there isn't
anything tumour-like going on in there. Rats just get old far too
quickly.
Had a good, relaxing weekend. Great to visit my daughter on Sunday for a flatwarming party, and meet her in-laws again.
I
phoned up my friend with the baby rats today and told her that if it
came to the crunch I'd take the baby girls. I don't like the idea of
them going to the RSPCA because although they would get fed and watered
they may not get handled. Haven't told hubby yet. I've advertised them
but no takers so far.
The
boy ratties are growing and getting confident with me. The two baby
girls are still nervy, but happy to play inside my jacket. I don't know
what else to do with them. I get a big histamine reaction to their claw
marks, very itchy, but they need lots of people time.
It's
taking a big part of each evening just keeping the ratties fed and
exercised and the cages clean. Fun really, but I don't know how long
I'll be able to keep it up if other commitments come along. Just have
to get on with it I guess.
I should have done it before. I moved the girls into the Freddy cage that
I had the boys in to start with. Rather than upsetting them it seems to
have given them an incentive to explore. They've really come on today.
I've
put the girls and my friend's girls up for adoption on Fancy Rats.
Maybe we can even mix them to make different colour pairs. My two are a
little more timid than hers though.
I got myself a ratty powered dishwasher yesterday. No more washing up ever again!
William is getting really tired out by the babies. He comes out to play and finds a nice place to nap. 
Toby
is doing really well at the moment. From being bottom of the pecking
order and not allowed up from the bottom floor, he gained the
confidence to start coming higher in the cage. The idea of getting two
new babies was to help build his confidence further, but having eight
of the little creatures in the cage has really given him a boost. He's
one of the big boys now! Oliver is still rotten to him sometimes
though. It's such a pity they don't get on, because I only got Oliver
to keep Toby company when he was little.
Well,
it's been a fairly good couple of days. My friend brought five black
girlies round last night, and then a couple came and adopted Poppy and
one of the black girls. I hope they're getting on OK. Lily seems lost
without her sister, though she's in with the other four girls with very
few problems.
There's also someone interested in taking the
remaining girls for herself and a friend, so I may actually have placed
all of them. That seemed relatively easy, so why did I have such
problems with the boys? Still, I'm glad they're staying. They're all
wonderful boys.
I took loads of photos of the girls, here they are http://www.rattycorner.com/gallery/200605/thumbnails.shtml?1.
I've only had most of them a day, but I'm going to miss them. Little
mad things, all of them. I gave them some peafishing in nice warm
water, which went down quite well.
My husband's camera can take
much longer videos than mine can, so I took a film of my boys this
evening. I'll have to wait for him to upload it before I can show it
off. I can see me taking loads of pictures from now on.
I let
the boys out on the table after the girls had been there most of the
afternoon, letting Lily meet the others. Of course, the table smelled
of girlie, so Oliver got all puffy and started molesting the little
boys. Oops.
Dali is still very short of breath. Blaize has the
tumour growing so I need to keep an eye on her. I'm not having it
removed, she gets too stressed out by the ops and she's had three
removed already. So when it gets too big she needs to go up to the vet
to be pts. It feels like a betrayal, but she gets so so upset by
operations, about a month to get over it and she's getting a lump every
two months. Vixen has put on a lot of weight. I'm just hoping she's
getting tubby and not growing another tumour inside her.
Well, it looks like I've got homes for all of the baby girls. Poppy has gone off to Warrington with one of the black girlies, Lily will be going to Wolverhampton with three of the other black girls, and one black girlie is going to someone just round the corner from me who has a lonely 7 week old girl.
They won't know what's hit 'em. These little black girls are the cutest looking little demons. They're completely uncontrollable and absolutely adorable.
I've also started posting all of my videos on youtube. I've found some old ones with rats who are no longer with us, and taken some new, longer, better ones of the current ratties. Here they are: You Tube
The girls all have confirmed homes. The last four are going off to Wolverhampton via the show at Sawley next weekend. It's a roundabout route but it's easier than driving up that way. I'm going to miss the little demons.
I've entered all of the young boys in the show, plus Oliver. The other boys will stay at home - William is difficult to show because he always has porphyrin on his neck, Louis has a tendency to nip, Toby just doesn't like crowds and Theo is sounding rattly. Of course this means I have to get everyone's nails clipped during the next week. Oh joy!
Annette
Last modified: Sunday, 04-Nov-2007 18:32:15 GMT
