Fuzzies!! :)

Saturday, (the 28th) I got my 3 little rattie babies... :) They finally have all thier names today, Captain Reuben, Robert, and Riddick. I'm ridiculously amused by the fact that I have Bob the Rat now, heh. They came from a friend, and are siblings. I'd asked for 3 boys, but he accidentally brought 2 boys and a girl. This means I definitely have some decisions to make in the next few weeks. They're already 5 weeks old, and are technically capable of reproducing, but I think I've got a little bit of time to make a decision about thier housing. I could get them altered (either Robert and Riddick or Captain Reuben - the boys would be a marginally better idea - neutering is a much less invasive procedure, but still not my best option) or I could get Reuben a little girl buddy and house them seperately. I'm kind of leaning that way, since I had them all out today, and it was a little nutty with 3 out, if I had just 2 out at a time, it'd be much easier.

Thier housing situation isn't real great right now, they live in a 10 gallon aquarium. I'll be covering a much bigger cage with some chicken wire to prevent escapes soon to move one set in, and getting my old ferret cage back from DX for the other.

I'm starting to be able to tell them apart, although I did mark them with some blue food coloring to make it easier, heh. Robert is the smallest, and he's this crazy little adventurer, heh. He was the first to come out of the hide box when I had them in an empty litter pan to get them acclimated to being outside of thier home today, and he was also the first to climb onto my hand and out of the box...he's a little nut, heh. Riddick, on the other hand, the biggest, is a chicken shit, heh. But once you get him into your lap, he's very content to sit and be petted. Captain Reuben is mid range, I don't know what to think of her yet. She's brave, but still snuggly. Tho I don't expect to bond with her so much as I will the boys, especially my potential lap potato Riddick. My son Bug was quite enamored with them, so I think I might put him in the care of Captain Reuben and her future buddy...he's been pestering me for a pet for a while now.

I'll try and post pics soon...but with all 3 of them out, I don't know if I'd be able to handle a camera too, heh. At least not by myself, I'd need an assistant... *grin* I'm very happy to have them, they'll be much fun, and I'll post regular updates. It was also very nice to see my friend again...hopefully he'll be around to hang out and visit with the babies and such... :)

Edited:

I took some pics of them in thier home...the larger versions can be found at my Flickr page


Here they are in a furpile, so cute...first time I've seen them snoozing outside of thier hide box, which can only mean good things.


Above view of the furpile, heh.


The mighty Robert


And the sweet little Captain Reuben.

Didn't manage to get any of big ole chicken Riddick, tho. Well, he is in the furpile, he's the one on the bottom/middle, but... I'll just have to get shots of him when I bring them out tomorrow...