Sherbourne, Avon and Cole have settled in well with their two new uncles, Brunel and Otis. They took three or four days to get used to one another before they moved in together.
The agouti Essex buck is now called Kindred Spirit, and the blue agouti blazed Essex buck is now called Poetic Justice. They have happily moved in with a large group of older boys in their new home.
No-spot agouti girl and Three-spot agouti girl are in their new home and are now called Smartie and Waffle. Waffle had a suspected ear infection but it's responding to Baytril. "They're still nuts when they come out for a run round but happy being picked up and handled lots." They will be moving in with two bigger girls soon.
Littlest Essex and One-spot agouti girl are still living here with the girls who are staying, and will be going to their new owner soon.
Blythe, Swift and Arrow are remaining here, living with Grace and Chloe, my two Kropotkin girls.
Avon, Cole and Sherbourne have lost their Uncle Otis, so they're looking after Uncle Brunel to stop him getting lonely.
Waffle has retained the head tilt :-/ but otherwise seems well.
Littlest Essex and One-spot are now named Arwen and Galadriel and are living in Nottingham. Here they are with a friend.
Waffle and Smartie are living in a lower cage to accommodate Waffle's head tilt, and both doing well in their Staffordshire home.
Poe and Kinnie are enjoying life in their high-rise cage in Lincolnshire.
Blythe, Arrow and Swift are enjoying life here at Ratty Corner. Arrow is doing well at shows, but won't be bred from as she's a little skittish. Swift is a sweetie, my agouti cutie. Blythe is the calm and bold one, and I plan to breed from her next year.
Sherbourne, Avon and Cole are turning into big strapping bucks, almost as big as Uncle Brunel, and are still shiny and gorgeous. But why on Earth did I put three agoutis together in the same cage??
Kindred Spirit and Poetic Justice have grown into friendly, licky boys. They are living with a group of boys who are having ongoing problems with abscesses, so will not be shown.
Waffle and Smartie are getting quite big now. Smartie enjoys grooming her owner and Waffle is very licky. They are doing well in their lower level cage and enjoy creating havoc when they come out to play. Waffle is still quite tilty when she gets excited.
Arwen and Galadriel are "cheeky and outgoing and get on great with their cagemates".
Arrow, Swift and Blythe have grown into lovely young ladies. Arrow has calmed down a lot, Swift is a confident and busy girl, and Blythe is a sweet calm girl and has just had a litter of babies.
Sherbourne, Cole and Avon have grown into lovely, loving, chunky bucks, not fat but I think I'll have to watch their diets. They're still living with Brunel, but he's not well and won't be with us too much longer.
Here are Smartie and Waffle happily enjoying some peas.
Dad Diggory is 21 months old now, and still looking really fit and healthy. I don't know how mum Kitty is doing as I haven't been able to contact her breeder lately. The girls I kept, Swift, Arrow and Blythe, are all wonderfully healthy. Blythe's offspring are also doing well. Sherbourne, Avon and Cole are now living as a threesome as the older boys have all left us. Avon had a respiratory infection a couple of months ago, but it cleared up well with antibiotics. Sherbourne is, I hope, going to become a dad next month.
Smartie and Waffle are fit and well, although Waffle is still tilty. "They're full of mischief still but are growing up to be gorgeous girls, I sometimes wonder if they're half gremlin though...they're brilliant to watch when they're out together, they often sit next to each other washing like a pair of bookends :)"
Poe and Kinnie are "...GORGEOUS! I adore them."
RIP Kindred Spirit, died suddenly from unknown causes. Possibly related to ongoing abscess problems.
Diggory is now 25 months old and doing really well. Swift, Arrow and Blythe are fit and well, as are Sherbourne, Avon and Cole. All have had no problems (other than mites) over the past months.
Arwen and Galadriel are doing well. "They are still as cheeky as ever and I'm sure Galadriel has teleportation powers as she often gets out of the cage without me noticing, once she spent the whole night out after magically slipping out during feeding time."
RIP Poetic Justice, died after being lovingly nursed through a nasty abscess.
I've had news that their mum, Kitty, is doing well, as are her two brothers.
The crushing news is that I found Avon dead in the cage. I have no idea what it was, or whether it is related to his brothers' deaths. Hoping with all my heart it's not a return of SDAV.
Talked to Poe and Kinnie's mum, who feels that their deaths were down to the infection they had. There has been no more illness here, so Avon's death remains unexplained.
As there is no way to tell whether the early deaths were a problem with the litter, or just a nasty coincidence, the plan is to breed the line down but begin a second unrelated line which can take over if needs be, and not to home any rats for crossing into other lines in the meantime.
Blythe, Arrow and Swift are still as fit and active as ever.
Sherbourne and Cole have two youngsters living with them, and seem to be fit and well.
Smartie and Waffle are doing well, and enjoying life with three younger cagemates.
Blythe and Arrow are still fit and well. Swift was put to sleep in February with a large and invasive abdominal tumour.
Sherbourne and Cole are living with four younger rats. They are beginning to show their age, but are still healthy and active.
Sadly Waffle was put to sleep today. She injured her back leg and went down hill after that. Smartie is still cheeky and active
Arwen died unexpectedly in mid March, having seemingly recovered from a respiratory infection.
Ratty Corner is the home of Brandywine Stud, NFRS Registration 2011-04
Last modified: Tuesday, 13-Apr-2010 23:39:45 BST
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