December 22, 1998

For the first time in their lives, the babies had actual food outside their mother's milk. I walked in to see the babies. Even though they've really only been able to "see" me for a little over a day, they all jumped out of their towel in the tank as I bent down. I put my hand in and they all huddled around that chunk of flesh that they knew so well since their fourth day on Earth. I noticed one chewing on a piece of bedding so I put a piece of corn that I was feeding Brook, in with them. They all nibbled on it. So I put a couple more pieces of corn and peas in. Socks actually took the pea, held it and ate it like a long time veteran.

Within minutes, there were a few pieces of corn and peas lying around them. They would nibble for a few seconds, then play, then sleep, then move, then wake up and nibble some more. They're also really moving around a lot. They explore their tank and all the amazing colors outside the window. Dusty was actually digging a tunnel in the bedding, another first (that I 've seen) of the babies doing real rat stuff.

They see that dang camera all the time too and are used to it. They sense something about it, so they always gravitate towards it. These are babies, but their more like little rats. They see and eat, smell and play. They're way beyond their years. You'd think these were three week old rats, not two-and-a-half.

When they're not sleeping, at least one of them is wandering around. It's really funny to see all of them. They all go in different directions and the tank is so big to them, it's like a whole, huge room. But outside my bed and bedroom floor, this is all they've really seen in their short lives.

I've got some funny footage of one of the babies licking himself as he hunched himself into a little ball, while on top of his brothers and sisters. He just rolls right off them all, still maintaining his "ball" status the whole time. I might make that into an .avi file for everyone to see. There are a few little things like that they've done that really crack me up big-time.

Here's my little guy Dusty. He's a great little fella. He's taken to me quite fast. I'm looking forward to him meeting his dad when he gets a little older. His dad (Felix) has always been great with small rats.