My Lovely Rats

Merry Christmas from the Ratties!!

My clever mum made these xmas mice, although they look more like rats to me!

The boys have a brand new home: A glorious Explorer cage from Pet World Direct. It’s fabulous. It’s well built and sturdy, with plenty of room, while having a much smaller “footprint” than my previous Furet XL. The bar spacing is great - it would suit young rats from 6 weeks old. The price was fantastic. So easy to clean! The only draw back with the cage that I can see is that it’s very heavy, so it’s not so easy to transport - but you can unscrew it all and flat pack it. I’ve thrown these cage furnishings together, so it’s not as aesthetically pleasing as it could be, but here it is:

The rats are extremely comfortable in their new abode, as you can see here:

Stripe taking it easy

Jinx and Dublin live in the top portion, and Shy-Shy, Stripe and Pip live in the bottom.

Jinx peeps out of his new house

Today my lovely rats are mostly dreaming of eating Christmas dinner!

Tags: Housing, Special Occasions by admin
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Rocky took ill with a tumour only a short time ago, and began to lose weight rapidly. I fed him soft food twice a day for as long as I could, but last night he didn’t even attempt to come out of his bed. He was panting with every small movement, so I decided it was time to let him go.

We took him to the vet this morning, wrapped in a fleece, and he gave me one last feeble brux when I scritched his neck. He very rarely bruxed, so this was a lovely last memory of him to treasure.

Here’s some pictures of him through his too short life:

Here he is when we first took him home, at 6 weeks old. All the boys were very nervous, but Rocky was the first to venture out and explore the big wide world that was our dining room floor!

“Hi!”

Sleepyhead

This picture was taken when Rocky was still a youngster, full of vigour and mischief. He always gave me a cheeky nibble on my ankle in the same place, whenever it was free range time! He did that all through his life, right up until he got sick. When he was little, he was always the first one to find a place I didn’t want him to go, and was very good at evading detection, by hiding in the most unreachable places!

Rocky soon filled out and became a big bruiser of a rat!

Peepo!

Rocky looking his adorable self. He was such a handsome rat! He was very poor sighted and used to rock his head from side to side (like Stevie Wonder!) as if he was dancing.

One of the very last pictures of Rocky. He was enjoying his baby porridge, only stopping to rest briefly. He loved his food, possibly more than any rat should!

Goodbye Rocky, go run free at the Rainbow Bridge. You will be forever in our memories and hearts.

Today my lovely rats are mostly eating a little less in their dish.

Tags: The Rainbow Bridge by admin
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