For Little Blue

I am sad to say we lost Little Blue today, she was spayed on 10/04/09 and ended up getting a terrible infection after she would not leave her incision alone, it left her weak and sick. She just could not fight anymore, so we had her put to sleep today. My heart is broken and she will be missed terribly. Here is something a friend of mine posted on my facebook after we lost her this evening:

May the tall grasses keep you safe. May the seeds be always plentiful. May you always find warm friends. May the rains fall soft upon the fields and until we meet again, May the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand.

altered Irish Blessing

The girls

Sweet sisters: Poppy and Ember

Camille

Chile

I cannot believe it has almost been a year!

I cannot believe my boys will be one year old soon. The time has really flown!

They are such great boys too. Last night I had them out while I watched TV and they explored the table and couch a bit, but kept coming back to me in the recliner for scritches and a snuggle. Toby even took a nap in my lap for awhile. Although, I love all my ratties very much, Toby is a very special boy and has stolen my heart so completely. I think he knows it too! When I put them up for the evening Toby reaches for me or puts his little hands in the way so I cannot close the door and then looks at me with such soulful little eyes that I have to take him back out for a bit. He is spoiled and I could eat him up.
Toby




Felix

The girls are in this blog now too.

I decided to include the girls in this blog. I was going to start them a separate blog. But have had a hard enough time keeping up with one. So have decided to post any intersting/cute stuff about them along with the boys. They are Poppy and Ember two beautiful sweet sisters. Poppy is a black Berkshire rex and Ember is a black English Irish. I also have Little Blue, an American blue Berkshire that fit right in with Poppy and Ember. They are all three very sweet girls that love to get goodies and come out to play on my bed. Then I have three younger girls: Chile is a beautiful fawn Berkshire Dumbo, Camille is a Himalayan Dumbo Rex and lastly baby Drew, she is an American Mink Berkshire Rex.


Baby Drew

Too many boys...

I have a friend that was also very in love with my boys and since I had so many of them and they were all getting so big for the Martin's (since the critter nation ended up not working out for us) I decided to let her take three of them: Dune, Casper and Miles. Which although , very hard at first ended up being a great choice for all of us. Now the boys are more comfortable and still get all the attention they deserve.

We are still here

I have not posted in forever...sorry. I went back to work full time in April and with the Rattery and a 2 year old it has been kind of hectic. The boys are doing great, as well as the girls. I eneded up switching the boys to a large Martin's cage...I had the double unit critter nation for my boys since Feb and although it is a beautiful cage. I was frustrated with it for several reasons. First the pans were too shallow for bedding so I had to use fleece, which the boys peed all over and then destroyed. So I was having to change the fleece like every 2 days at least and always running out of it. Also b/c of the shallow pans they would throw out a ton of poops/food stuff all the time. I was constantly having to vacuum around their cage (to keep my 2 year old from playing in or eating it :0) Lastly and the real kicker for me, living in a top floor apt, I was not able to take it outside to hose down and it was way too big and heavy to get in the shower. So even with wiping it down I could never get it clean enough (since pee would get in the grooves)
Overall it really is a nice cage and If I did not have so many rats to clean up after, maybe the fleece and poops on the floor would not bother me as much. But I think you would definitely need a way to hose it down good regularly. Most people that have a CN love them, so maybe I am too picky :) or maybe my boys are complete slobs :)either way the Martin's works better for us.
I ended up selling it to Carolina Rescue really cheap to help them out. Rather than save it and maybe not use it for awhile.

My Review of Critter Nation Double Unit with Stand

All Pet Furniture

Designed with critters and their owners in mind, style and comfort meets user friendly. The ultimate home for your little friends has arrived with the Critter Nation Double Unit by Midwest® Homes for Pets. Now your pets can eat, sleep, play and interact with one another in th...

Critter Nation Double Unit with Stand

My boys love their critter nation!

Casey Cary, NC 4/18/2009

 

5 5

Pros: Durable, Spacious, Attractive Design, Easy to Clean

Best Uses: Small Animals

Describe Yourself: Long-time Pet Owner

"I bought a double unit critter nation for my 5 rattie boys about 2 months ago and they love all the space they have now. I love how easy it is to clean and move (even though the cage is heavy) since it has casters, it glides along easily anywhere in my house. The doors open up the entire front of the cage, making it very easy to reach anywhere inside. My only small complaint is the pans, I wish they were a little bit deeper. I do use fleece and litter boxes with my boys, but they do not always use their little pans ;) and still throw quite a bit of stuff out every night and since they are constantly chewing up the fleece liners I wish I could use bedding. :) But compared to other cages on the market for rats, this is hands down the best choice. I also like that the shelves and bottom are solid, so safer for their little feet. It looks more like furniture than a cage. Ours is kept in the living room and looks very nice."

()

Another month birthday...

Toby and Miles are now 6 months old!
That is Miles on the left and Toby on the right.

Miles

Toby


Casper and Felix are now 5 months old.
That is Felix on the left and Casper on the right.

Casper

Dune

and here is our sweet Dunie, sporting his completed nose point and white body. :)

Dune is 2 months old today!

He is so handsome and sweet. this pic does not show it well, but he has turned into a seal point Siamese and has a nice dark little nose. :)

Dune is changing...

I thought I would share the latest news with everyone. Dune is turning out to be a Siamese! He may even be a blue point, since his coat color is so light and the points are coming in so late and they look more grey than brown. He would be considered a mismarked siamese b/c he is hooded. But eventually his hood will fade out completely and although he will still be hooded genetically, you would not be able to tell by looking at him. It is already much lighter. I think he is a beauty and the points are just starting to show. I actually noticed it last week, but thought it was my imagination. Then the breeder emailed me asking about him b/c his brother was changing too. :)

The boys are growing on up.

Toby and Miles are 5 months old today and
Casper and Felix are 4 months old today.

I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. My boys are almost men. :)I was looking at some of their baby pics yesterday and they really were so tiny!
Here they are enjoying their most favorite snack...Yogurt!!!

All 5 boys are together now.

I introduced Dune to the big boys Friday. I have to admit I was a little nervous.The boys are HUGE now and Dune is such a little guy. But my boys are awesome.They smelled him, groomed him and that was it. He was one of the gang. Nobody acted ugly at all. The first few days he did not sleep in the hammock with them, but Saturday I noticed Toby (who loves his hammock) had gone to the shelf to sleep near Dune. Not touching, but close. :)

We have a new little boy.

He is a beige broken hooded little guy.
He was born on 1-18-09 and is super sweet.
Zoë LOVES him and thinks he is hers. :)

Here is Dune! :)

We got our new liners and hammocks from Javakittie :)

I love color coordinated (and blue :))


Checking out the new setup


Casper and Miles chillin' in the tube hammock

Having some corn!

I LOVE this picture...the boys all lined up and enjoying their corn.

The boys patiently waiting while I clean their cage.
They are so adorable!

The boys are 4 & 3 months old today!

My boys are growing up. I cannot believe how fast it is going!
They are all wonderfully sweet, cute, curious and lovable.
Here are some pics with their present...the critter nation :)


Here are Toby and Felix, eating peas in the new cage...
Just look at those little hands holding peas!

Impressive, isn't it...

The new critter nation!


and here it is beside the boys current cage (Martin's R-680)

Look what came today!

It is here already!!!

WOW!

I checked my tracking number and our critter nation is in
Greensboro, NC already!

My two baby girls! :)

Here are the two girls I am getting from Nicole soon.

Poppy
She is a black berkshire rex


Ember
She is a black irish



Photos courtesy of Nicole at Rats of Keona.

YAY!!!

I ordered the double critter nation for the boys today!
I also ordered some custom liners and hammocks from Kat's Rat mats.
In just a few weeks the boys are going to be living in style.

I cannot wait to show it to them!

For some reason they love this chair!

The kids left this little chair out and during last night's freeplay the boys were completely fascinated with it! It was so cute.
Casper was by far the bravest!