January 22, 1999 was Brook's last morning in the only home she's known up to that point. The Tanaka family decided that it would be good for the two daughters off Brook's that they now house, to have their mom living with them. Brook joined them that morning (the girls I had called Swan and one of the Socks twins). There was no doubt she was happy to see them. As I walked in the place where I was dropping her off, a cage sat in the middle of the room. The two little girls both came right up to me as I approached the cage, recognizing the first human they ever knew. And when I put Brook in the cage, they all wrestled and played and were happy.

Brook's last night at my place was a cheerful one. She ran all over as she usually did, hitting every spot she could, including her favorite place, the board separating the living room and the hallway I have up, so the rats in one part of the house can't get to the other. She loves to wreck my rug, digging a hole right down to the wood underneath (which of course will be coming out of my deposit when I finally move).

I left the three boys in their cage while mom ran around, occasionally coming up to them (here in their "I can't believe I'm in jail" pose), taunting them and playing with them through the bars.

She and Felix played quite a bit throughout the living room, bouncing around the couch and chairs and everywhere else the super active girl could fit.

As for her two other girls, the ones I called Goldy and the other Socks twin, they have been named by their new family, the Lafavors, Michiko (Goldy) after the Japanese princess and Coco (the Socks twin), because of her color (excellent names!). They have also been introduced to two more girls, purchased that same day the Lafavors took Brook's girls. So those four lucky girls will be seeing the country from a nice cage in the dashboard of a Winnebego. Can you think of any more lucky a rat family? I'm pretty excited for them.

Meanwhile, the three boys that remained with me are growing up fast. They're great little guys. Dusty (in this picture, yeah, that's not Brook) is the spitting image of his mom right now. I've accidentally called him Brook a couple times. Not just looks but personality too. He is far and away the most investigative of the three boys. He wants to get into everything. He plays quite a bit with the bigger guys, his uncles, especially Claude.

Kato (shown here) and Hercule are the spitting image of their dad. As you can see, they're getting big. Once they achieve the same size as their dad, I'm going to have problems telling them apart at a glance. Of course, Kato has that great white dot on his forehead which still cracks me up. All three boys fur is really shiny, as you can see here. Kato and Hercule both had dark black fur until about a week ago, when the little specs of white sprinkled throughout their fur started to show up, just like their dad's. Kato is the most pettable of the three boys, but they all have their moments where they like to be held.

The three boys have been placed in the big cage with everyone else. They get along fine with their uncles now that they can wrestle with them a little more evenly. The only one now who's not in that cage is Monty (the stroke victim who's somewhat retarded). I'm still trying to get it so Monty can be with the boys, but right now, they're too small. I'm afraid if I'm not supervising, Monty will hurt them. I'm going to wait a little while longer before I let Monty live with the little ones. They're not even two full months old yet (they will be Feb. 6).

They love veggies, especially corn and peas. When I put this dish out everyday, they attack it!