ZumbadorPeanut enjoying being petted.
Dark, so video quality is not great, but still really cute.
YouTube
Am currently sitting in the (dry) bath doing free roam with Peanut and Raisin. Peanut is actively seeking out cuddles my pushing under my hand.
Raisin has been much wilder, but she's graduated from "I will place my teeth gently upon you to remind you I can bite" to "ok so being stroked is kind of nice I agree to sit still for this"
The are both high energy girls.
I am working at getting Raisin used to my hands. I need to be able to pick her up quickly without scaring her.
Right now she has discovered my ear and is investigating with her whiskers. Tickles!
The new foster girls arrived last night. Peanut (the creamy Siamese ) and Raisin (the black hooded).
As you can see they are still a bit tense and suspicious of me. Peanut is the tamest. Raisin tolerates being picked up, but only briefly. She's nearly impossible to photograph as she's constantly moving.
This is a big change for them, they came from a cage with five other rats. So they're probably feeling a bit bewildered right now.
New foster rats alert! Peanut and Raisin have been confirmed. I'm fetching them tomorrow evening. Must give their cage a proper clean first to remove all trace of the most recent occupants, the Blaze Boys.
I know almost nothing about Peanut and Raisin except that they are quite young and female.
The Blaze Boys are un-neutered males, and my other fosters, Twyla and Zen, are un-neutered females, which made me just a bit stressed. They were kept on opposite sides of my (tiny) house, and absolutely totally separate, but they could still sense one another. Especially when I picked them up, they could smell one another on me and my clothes. So not ideal.
Sensing two new girl-rats on the other side of the house might make Twyla and Zen feel a bit territorial, but it shouldn't stir them up like the presence of the Blaze Boys did.
I've just heard that there might after all be someone adopting Twyla and Zen! I'm supposed to take some cute photos of them to increase their chances...
The Blaze Boys have gone back to their owner. I'm going to miss them!
Last night they free-roamed in the bathroom while I was in the bath. I had the light off, and draped a towel over the edge of the bath so they could climb up to me.
It was a bit magical, waiting in the dark for their small white faces to appear, completely silently, peering at me like little pixies or fairies. They dipped their hands into the water, then crawled onto me, then flitted away again.
*Someone* placed this silk cloth near the rat cage. *Someone else* dragged the entire cloth through the bars into the cage. This is a great mystery.
(Luckily the cloth is mostly undamaged, just one or two small holes.)
This is Smokey and Stormy. I'm looking after them for a few days, for one of the other foster people. She's just literally a few minutes ago decided to adopt them herself! I watched the conversation happening on the Rat Foster WhatsApp chat.
Smokey is the one with the lighter markings. He's the more confident of the two. Stormy has a darker back. He's much shyer and more reserved. It took them about half a day to go from thinking I'm a dangerous monster to climbing all over me without a care in the world.
I'm exhausted so no photos (long complicated family day), but I'm looking after another rat foster's rats for the next few days.
They are ✨gorgeous✨ they look like little badgers, with dark patches and white blazes on their faces.
Bathroom at night works well for free roam time. I spread a blanket over the side of the bath so they have something to climb.
