Have I got a lot to tell you about the babes!

First of all, Mom added some crazy stuff to our cage. She went to the store looking for toys for us, things to climb, etc., but there wasn't much to choose from... that she didn't already have! TeeHee! So we went home and she set us up with ropes, rawhide chews attached to those things they sell for birds, and a few bells. The babes like to pull on the ropes and make the bells ring.

Since the babes are large enough to run around (including being able to find me in my most secluded spots!) Mom put in a bunch of toilet-paper roll tubes. She rigged a couple to hang from the sides of our cage, and left another on the bottom of the cage. You can ALWAYS find a baby rat in this particular tube!

While she was at the pet store, she also got me and the babes a new water bottle.

When Mom first put it in there, all the babes came to see what the fuss was about. They each in turn got their noses wet trying to figure out how the new contraption worked. One babe decided to put his whole mouth over the entire end of the tube; another decided that the way it worked was to stick his chin in it, and let it pour into his mouth (as well as all over the rest of him)!

But it gets ignored by the babes most of the time, as they prefer to use the little pink water dish shown above.

Mom took another look at the bottoms of the babes' feet, and has come to believe that there is only one girl in the entire group!

Mom and Dad have noticed that the one little girl acts differently from all the others. For example, yesterday after out-time, all the babes were in taking an afternoon nap - except for me and one little ratty babe.

When Mom calls for me, one little ratty babe always comes to see what's going on. And, when Mom lost a babe the other day, it was the girl. The boys are too layed-back to go and get themselves lost!

Recently, all the babes have picked up the enjoyable Ratty pastime of scrapping. This is play-fighting, and when they're in the mood to scrap but haven't yet found a scrapping partner, they run around the pen in a series of little rushes! Zoom, stop! Zoom, stop! Most of the time they don't look out where they're going, and they either hit a cage wall, our ladder - or, perchance, a scrapping partner! TeeHee!

The babes must be getting used to picture time, because they're very well behaved (for their age!) when placed in groups of three on a hand under bright lights!

The girl is one of these sweet cinnamon rattie babes. She's spunky, flighty, a lot more active than the boys, doesn't sleep as much, and is far more inquisitive. Mom wants to keep her, for sure.

When it came time for the black rat's turn at pictures, they already knew what was up. So they played this little trick on Mom while she was adjusting the camera -

Mom said 'Nice try boys, but you're supposed to be facing me!' I was typing on my Mom's computer, so I turned around and got to see the whole thing! TeeHee! The next attempt wasn't half as bad:

But as you can see, not perfect! Mom finally got them under control, though. Either that, or the little black babes were just tired of horsing around and finally decided to cooperate!

Devils in disguise, or...

Angels in Ratsuits?

I guess they had to prove that they are just as well-behaved as their other-colored siblings.

Earlier in the week, Mom and Dad were noticing differences between the color groups. Having three babes of three different colors to observe has really enlightened them to color considerations versus behavioral activity - but, why some rats might behave a certain way is still only my mom and dad's speculation, and will likely be one of those mysteries that humans will never truly understand. They're on the right track, though. I like listening to them talk about it, especially during meal time - because then I am sure to be able to steal a large portion of Daddy's dinner! Mom looks at her plate too much - even Daddy says so - so I prefer to steal from Dear Ol' Dad when he's busy talking instead of eating! TeeHee!

See you tomorrow!

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