Day 18

My babies are full of fun and personality! Watching them play and learn is amazing but also tiring: I don't get much sleep right now!

Day 16

This is getting to be a busy job! I sure can't seem to get away from these crazy pups! Even the top of the cage was no longer safe: Mama upgraded me to a hammock. The babies are now stealing my food! They don't even eat it! They just lick it and hide it away from me....*sigh*

NOTE: Instead of a group shot today, there is a 2 minute video of the babies running around. It is taking too long tonight to post the URL but watch for it tomorrow!

Day 15

Due to Valentines Day, Mama was too busy to post pictures. Here are the day 15 pictures: all babies now have eyes!

Day 13

(Too busy to comment!)

Day 12

Day 11

The babies are just about to start wandering around on their own. Some have aleady started! I am spending a lot more time trying to keep them in the nest, and Mama can't seem to stop snapping pictures. All my babies are named and promised!

Day 10

Day 9

The babies have changed so much that I can hardly begin! Girls 5 and 7 appear to have fawn hoods and grey/black varigated spots on their back/rumps...this means they may be "tri-color!" Orpheus is defnitely not a PEW: he is showing some cow-like spots. Raven, Ebby and Albrecht continue to grow, while girl 3 (also a berk) still seems a little runty. Kerrigan hasn't developed any other markings aside from his strongly colored split-cap hood: he'll be a handsome boy! Girl 6 may be silver or a light grey. Girl 4 is appearing to be silver or a possible hemi (cream with siamese cat-like markings on her face and rump). Finally, Bronsart continues to appear silver: a very special boy indeed!

The babies' fur is coming in nicely and they feel soft as silk.

Day 8

It's hard to believe that my little ones have been here more than a week already...and yet you should see how hard I have to try to feed all eleven babies now! The babies are changing by the day...by the hour! After a week I thought it might be good if Mama showed you each of the babies individually this time.

Day 7 - Week 1

It's hard to believe that it's been a whole week already! Though, these babies sure do keep me busy! Their fur continues to growand I can't wait to see what they will look like in their second week.

Only 3 girls are left to claim! It's hard to believe how fast they are snatched up but my mama tells me they will have GREAT homes. Three of my babies even have names already!

Day 6

It is day 6 and finally time to start distinguishing the lighter colored babies! My pups' fur is coming in nicely, and they just keep growing! Girl 1 is really quite large compared to her brothers and sisters! Some of the girls and one of the boys show a potential
"blue" or silver coloring, possible agouti and there's one little girl that just might be tri-color! Very exciting times :)

Day 5

It's amazing how fast these babies grow! They're sure on the move now: not far or fast but they don't sit still!

They now have a very fine layer of fur which makes them very soft.

You can see all of the girls on the bottom left, and all of the boys on the bottom right.

Day 4

My babies are still growing. They are larger, heavier, and feel slightly soft to the touch because of the light layer of fur coming in.

In the collage, the bottom two photos show the babies by their gender: all of my baby girls are on the right, and the four boys are on the left.

Day Three - Boy are we growing!

My babies are sure growing! They have almost doubled in weight. You can certainly see the colorings coming in, and, if you look closely, you can see that their ears are beginning to "bloom!"

They are getting stronger: when Mama holds them they sure squirm!

Day Two

It's day two and boy am I sleepy! These little pups require a LOT of attention! I feed them about 18 hours each day, leaving only a total of 6 for me to tidy the nest and have a little snooze or two.

If you look closely, you can see that my pups are starting to show a little bit of coloring on their skin: this is the fur beginning to grow in. It will take about a week or a week and a half for their fur to be in enough to truly see the colors and markings. Their ears ears are still closed but you can see that they are "dumbo" ears like mine: low on the head. This makes them even more special!

Day One - February 1st

These are my babies! They are born without fur, but they do have whiskers and nails! They are about the width of your pinky finger but not as long. Their ears and eyes are closed tight, but their tiny mouths can sure eat!

They are sometimes called "eepers" because of the "eep" noises they make to communicate with me (when they want food or warmth, or when they're fighting for the top of the pile!).

Welcome to the world, little ones!

My name is Brynn and I am a fancy rat. I am called a "dumbo" rat because my ears are low on my head and not folded like a "standard" rat's ears. Each fancy rat has name for the coloring of their fur. My color is a white and black, split cap (that means there is a line down my face), verigated (that means my back coloring is patchy). Long name, huh?

I just had my first (and only) litter of babies (called "pups" or "kittens") on February 1st. There were 11 healthy babies: 7 girls and 4 boys...we think. My job, now, is to feed them and keep them warm for the next four weeks until they are big enough to eat solid food. I am a mammal so I feed my babies milk.

In this blog you wlil be able to see my babies grow from day 1 until day 35 when they are big enough to go to their new homes. My mama (Mrs. Shanks) hopes to keep one of my little girls here with us.

I hope you like the pictures!

NOTE: If you double-click on the photos, you will get a much larger version for close-up viewing!