Fuzzbuts!

Seth reporting again,

Sorry that a few days turned into a few weeks, exams do strange things to the flow of time.

Our pinkies have long since turned into fuzzbutts and are now fully fledge little ratlings.

Here are some pictures for you ~^_^~

This is our dark hooded boy. He's a deep chocolate brown colour now.

Ratling piles- like twister without the mat.

They were even more adorable when they started opening their eyes:


This is Winston (a girl) She was the first one to open her eyes. We nicknamed her that because I thought she looked like Churchill when she was a pinkie.



And this is what they looked like at the beginning of this week.

They were 4 weeks old today and mid-next week we'll be separating the boys (5) from the girls (8) to prevent any "accidents." And then before you know it they'll be off the their new homes :(

Pinkies!

Hi, Seth here.
(Trying to post again without the computer eating everything)

Florin dropped her litter on Friday, in the middle of the day. Typical Florin to go against everything we've read. ^_^
She had 14, but sadly one died in the night. She's doing just amazingly as a first time Mum with such a big litter. I don't think she's ever been happier or more proud of herself. She keeps coming over to me and bruxing like: "Look what I did!"

Here's a corner of the wriggly pile.

They're squeeking right now, probably fighting over poor Mum who doesn't have quite enough nipples. *peers* ... ^_^ I can just see some little legs trying to kick a brother out of the way ^_^

Most of them seem to be dumbo and taking after Mum in markings, although they're mostly variegated, there are a couple of lighter/darker ones that have me a bit confused. Their fur will come through in the next few days and then I can do some reverse genetics on Mum. I thought I'd got it all figured out from looking at her sisters, but that's the fun of genetics isn't it. (Geek alert)

Anyway! Here's a video of them all (it's a bit poor but there's a good shot of them all in there) and a picture of Mum helping herself to a snack ^_^.

I'll update again in a few days when the sausages have turned into fuzlets. ^_^

Prison Bar Blues.

Hi! Seth here.

We just put the girls back into their cage after an extra long weekend playtime but no matter how tired we get them, they never want to go home! So here are a couple of pictures of them using their evil psychological methods to make me take them back out again...



Here we have Pippin employing the: "I'm so adorable don't you just want to take me out and play with me" look.



Here's Penny using the "I want outta here so bad I'm gonna chew the bars" Guilt-trip method.

Bella is opting for the more subtle but no less heart-breaking "mournful staring" regieme.



And finally we have the oh-so-obvious, Mistress of Glaring "You will pay for incarcarating me!" Miss Florin. (She's quite scary.) 

Needless to say, if you're thinking of owning a rattie, make sure you have a heart of steel, or they'll take over your life, then your house and then... it's only a matter of time before I find Florin using my credit card to shop for cheesey puffs online!

Laters!

And Then There were 4

Hi again!
Seth: (is busy hugging Florin who wanted to come out and play)
Nat: So where were we? Oh yeah. Our girls came home and shared many a fun rattie play times with us, peeing on our hands, digging up the litter bag, attacking our mouths in a ferocious yet loving attempt to see what was inside...

2 Weeks Later...

Seth tells me he needs various rattie things at the pet store and I started thinking about Penny and Florin's poor sister and if she had been given to a good home yet. I talked to Seth about it (who was completely unhelpful and said it was up to me) so I called the pet shop and she was STILL there! How could no one want this lovely baby dumbo rattie?

I said we should go down to see if the pet store would sell her to us as we already had her sisters but when we got down there, they wouldn't sell her without a friend (to keep the new ratties all in pairs).

Well...I was just going to call it quits but SETH said-
Seth: That's it, blame me you big crazy hormone bag.
Nat: (smiles innocently)

She really wanted that rat. We would have been there all day, also Penny and Florin did NOT get on. Not in a violent way, it's just that Penny and Florin have rather different personalities... and well Florin... she's annoying. I wouldn't want to be trapped in a cage with her for most of the day either. And so you see, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we needed those new rats.

Not only that; but the new rats the store had got in were farmed rats! *Shocked and horrified gasp* We had to rescue at least one of them! And we did, in the way of Bella a blonde hooded top-eared rat who, whilst shy and terrified of being picked up, so clearly wanted to be loved.

Breaking news!

Seth: I hear from my associate that THREE of the girls just bundled into the hamster igloo we got for them, and the top has popped right off the base. *sigh* 

So without further ado, it is my pleasure to introduce Pippin and Bella:

Pippin discovers what's inside socks.

This is Pippin, she looks much like Florin cept she's half the size and her hood reaches all the way to her bum. She fit right in when we got her home and was out of the cage as soon as we opened the door for her, exploring, avoiding me, and trying to wiggle her way into Seth's underwear (I'm pretty convinced all 3 sisters got the tart gene). She's clever like Penny but playful like Florin and Penny was really happy to see her. In fights, she never takes anything without dishing something equal back and we call her sneezy because she sneezes all the time (though she's getting less sneezy as the days go on).

Bella looks out longingly at play-time .

And this is little Bella, she's a week younger than the sisters so she seems tiny by comparison. Especially next to Florin! She's so shy and she still hates being picked up, but she's quite alright with being handled now. I'd love to see her real personality when she's come out of her shell a bit. The way she teases Florin, I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't end up being a bit of pre-madonna.

The end. Beginning.