May 1, 2008 -

I have slacked off on the photo taking. I am now doing it every other day. Their development, in physical looks, is now slower. But their development in actions and personality is still changing each day. Many of them are playing together and some are loners. The two girls seem to intimidate the boys. I can't wait to remove them from the boys and see how they begin to develop without being picked on. And the girls always steal their food from their mouths. No wonder why they are physically bigger than the boys.

It is fun to open the cage door. Ok, maybe fun for me, not so fun for Willow. I usually open it to play with Willow, but as soon as I go for the latch, the babies all seem to wake up and run to the door. They clammer all over Willow and she can no longer get attention from me unless she can scurry past them and up my arm. There is a little boy with a pink tip on his tail about 1/4" long and he too has learned to scurry up my arm. He is adorable and will be staying here with me. He loves to sit on my shoulder under my hair and then he sniffs my ears and licks my cheek and hands. I will have to make another choice of boy as well as I do not want him to be alone in his age bracket.

I have been taking Dawn out more and more the last few days. She seems to really be getting depressed when I have to put her sister back with her babies. Although I wonder if Willow hasn't already weaned them. Her nipples don't look like they have been sucked on and the food of lab blocks and fruits and veggies seem to disappear rather quickly. They are not being stored anywhere, so they are being eaten and the food bowl, when placed in the cage looks like a scene from the rats in India. There are ears and tails everywhere and you almost can't see the bowl anymore.

Yesterday, I held Dawn up to the outside of the cage with Willow and her babies. Willow made no motions to tell me she didn't want Dawn around. She seemed to want to play with her sister. The babies were reaching for Dawn as well and Dawn made no aggressive moves towards the babies. That is good and I will continue this introduction so that when it comes time to separate the girls from the boys, the two baby girls can go in with Willow and Dawn.

I am having another issue with the babies - their wanting to try biting new things - like fingers. So I have been dipping my fingers in formula and letting them lick it off. Believe it or not, that seems to help some of them lick first. The girls again are more eager beavers when it comes to the prospect of food. I wonder if it isn't just the different variety as both girls are hooded and all the boys, except one hooded, are greys.

All I know is that I am enjoying their little antics and am glad I have experienced this at least once. I certainly didn't expect it and feel blessed that Willow remained healthy, that all the babies are healthy and that Willow has been such a great Mom.

May 15, 2008 -

Oh my gosh - can we say Wild? The baby boys go nuts when I get in there. They scurry all around their cage in excitement. I can't believe how fast they can move. And they popcorn - not near what I thought they would do, but they do when they get themselves all excited. And the baby girls, well, they climb up to the top of the box to get closer to the exit of their cage anxiously waiting for me to open the door. I have to be careful with them as the two hooded girls are little devils. They are fast and can jump high to escape. And once they are out of the cage - well, you had better be fast than they are or you may never catch up to them. It is amazing how something so small can challenge the speed of light.

I tried to introduce Dawn to them in person this time. She still shows no signs of not wanting to accept them. I believe that they will all be fine, but I am going to wait until they are a bit older just in case. Dawn has mellowed out a lot. Even with Willow back in the cage with her. I do know that her disposition changes alot when she is out with me. Today I had her out with me in the living room. That is a challenge since we have many cats. We have one cat, Hissy, who stands up to all dogs (she was raised with pitbulls and rotwiellers before we got her) and is the boss of all the cats. So I was really concerned how she would react to Dawn's curiosity as she approached the resting Hissy on the sofa. In the end - Dawn had Hissy running off. What a sight! I thought it might have been a fluke, but a little while later, Hissy tried to come back on the sofa and met nose to nose with Dawn. Off and running went Hissy. And then there is Kira. She was very curious and would follow Dawn at a safe distance. Until Dawn decided to pull a 180 and was face to face with Kira. Now Kira is an agile cat and easily surprised. And when she is surprised, she usually leaps straight up in the air like a spring that was just let loose from a can. This is what she did once she realized there were two beady little eyes and long whiskers staring her in the face. Poor Dawn, I think she just wanted to make friends. But she was very happy running from one end of the sofa to the other, digging in the folds of the blankets and under the pillows. And when there was a strange noise, she came running back to me and touching me and then turned around to go off and play. It was alsmost as if to check and make sure I was still there. She was happy to play like this for almost an hour and then she scampered up to my shoulders as if to say, ok, I am tired now and want to go back.

These two girls are so dainty. And so are their little counter parts - Willow's girls that look just like them. The two hooded girls will be big girls and solid. But the Rex girls just look and feel dainty. And I love the Rex fur - it is so soft. And their whiskers are just oh so curly.

August 18, 2008 -

Can you believe it - the babies are 4 months old. And yes, I have my favorites. I am still hoping to find some good homes for these guys and gals - but not all of them. There are two boys I would like to keep and I definitely want to keep Dawn and Willow. So I am hoping to find homes for the 4 baby girls, two of whom have the names of Crescent and BB (short for belly button since there is a black dot on her white stomach exactly where her belly button would be). Two of the girls are technically hooded and two are Rex greys. I would also like homes for 3 of the boys, the hooded and the two smooth haired grey boys.

But for now, they are fun to watch and play with. They all love to sit on shoulders and so far, only Dawn needs to hide somewhere sometimes. The others love to explore and yes, get into trouble when they find something on my desk that absolutely needs to go into their cage. It has now become a game for them. And I have come to understand that if I am missing something off my desk, the first place to look is in the girls' cage. Usually it is in there. The next place may be the floor where it may have fallen off the desk on its journey to their cage. I can usually tell as there is at least one little head hanging over the desk looking down at the lost item. Sometimes, depending on what that item is, I will give it back to them for them to complete their journey. But most often, the item goes back to it original place only to find it later in the cage after a successful move on the sly.

There is one boy that seems to get picked on more than the others. It is one of the two Rex boys I want to keep. I have noticed the two smooth greys and the hooded are doing the picking on of the two Rex boys. But for some reason, this one boy gets it more than the other one. He is the one with the pink half inch tip on his tail. He loves to come out and sit on my shoulder and doesn't seem to be afraid when I bring him out of the office on my shoulder into the world of the cats and dogs. I would bet he would be fine with Luke, our largest dog. He is a loverboy and did fine with Chester. My other two dogs have breeds in them that were bred to be chasers of small creatures. So I would never let them get close to them. Our cats are another story. None of them care about the rats. Oh, Kira loves to watch them, but they have tried to get close to her and as soon as they touch her somehow - she is off and running in the opposite direction. I hear Lucy's voice (from Peanuts) crying out something like, "Rat germs. I am going to die of rat germs. Where is the antiseptic?"

I purchased a new tall cage - with 6 baby boys who are now, at 4 months old, almost as big as the Monkey Boys, need for more space. I may just separate them too leaving the Rex boys in the large cage they are in now and putting the other three in the tall larger cage. Or I may move the Monkey Boys into the taller cage and put the three baby boys in the large cage the Monkey Boys are in. I will have to see after I rearrange my office. But for sure, the boys need a bigger cage. I may just put them all in the tall large cage and separate the baby girls. mmm, so many decisions.

Dawn and Willow are both doing just fine. Dawn still takes as much food as she can and attempts to hide it somewhere and comes back for more. She loves to come out for love as well as Willow. Although Willow is still a very curious girl and doesn't like to cuddle much as she had too much on her mind about what she needs to explore next. Oh, Dawn likes to explore too. She is just more cautious than Willow. Dawn explores with her eyes and nose first and when she feels it is safe, then her feet follow. And Willow loves to jump to places that are close by. Sometimes doing the jump before thinking about what she will be landing on. Gee, don't they sound like people?