December 25, 1998

I didn't have a lot of time today to spend with all the rodents being Christmas and all, but I knew I should clean out the cage the babies were staying in, since they inherited the boy's cage for the time being. I didn't want to actually move the cage out into the kitchen where I normally change the bedding and clean it up, so I brought the bedding and cleaning materials to the cage. I have the cage in the hallway between my bedroom and the bathroom. I have the doorways to my room and the doorway to the living room blocked off by large pieces of board, so when I lifted the top of the cage off its base, I knew the babies couldn't go anywhere. It would be okay for them to run around. And run around they did.

For the first time in their lives since they've had the ability to see, they were all allowed to freely run and play outside their cage. They had a ball. They got to explore the hallway, behind the door, parts of the bathroom and climb over me. They wrestled on the rug, attempted to chew the door jam (a trait they inherited from their father), tried to chew on the rug and even ran from me as I attempted to put them back in the cage. They were having way too much fun.

One girl climbed onto Monty's tank, jumped in, then wondered how to get out.

This baby ran from me as I tried to get him from out of behind the door. He saw his brothers and sisters at the end of the hallway and headed towards them.

The babies enjoyed some more peas, corn and string beans. I brought a whole slice of cheese for them to split, but Brook tried to take most of it and stash it like she does with everything. The babies still enjoyed what cheese they were able to keep from their mom. Being able to run around outside the cage, the babies found new and interesting places to run and hide that I'm sure they'll be looking forward to the next time they're allowed outside.

This baby surveys the cage half-way cleaned.

I put the regular ferret tubes back in the cage, which as you see here (outside the cage while I was cleaning), Brook stashes a lot of her stuff in them. That's Kato running down the tube there. I also put some mouse tubes in the cage too (I have a lot sitting in a cubbard). The babies love them. They have been running through them way more than they did with the ferret tubes. They play and wrestle in them, even though it's a tighter fit than the bigger ones. They've got a least a week or two of fitting in those small tubes easily before they'll outgrow them. They're loving small spaces, like all rats I guess.

Here we see a whole group of the brothers and sisters trying to find good places to chew. Of all the rats I have, only Felix, their father, is the real habitual chewer of the bunch. It appears some of his offspring may have obtained the love of forbidden wood.

Dusty is as adventurous as they come.

Socks, the cute little girl, runs along the board I have blocking the doorway. She appears to be the fastest of the babies, although I haven't seen all of them at full speed yet. This one's a peach, though. She's a great little girl.

A group of them tried to sit behind the door where I have stuff blocking the frame where Felix used to chew all the time. They too, tried to chew. I tried to reach them to get them out of there, but they wouldn't budge. They were enjoying that little space in there. A few minutes later, they came out on their own. I'm going to have to block that space off more.

Brook is a really pretty rodent. She has blossomed so well. It's easy to see why her babies look so good. All their fur is shiny and flawless and they're all nice, playful little pups. She is such a good mom, especially for being so young herself. I'm proud of Brook. She and Felix have some great babies. Felix got to meet his babies for the first time, and today, actually got to touch a couple without a cage between them. I held the baby in case Felix tried to do anything, but all he did was sniff and lick. It's like he knows they're his babies. He was gentle with them. As time goes by, I'll let him get closer and closer (and since he's fixed now, he can't do any harm in other ways, if you know what I mean).