As requested…rats!

A loyal reader of mine (and you know who you are!) has requested rats pictures.

So here they are!

Atreyu’s the darker one (brave boy), and Bastian’s hiding under him. Bastian’s pretty shy but he’s at least got to the point where he knows I’m safe.

Atreyu going “lemme out! lemme out!” Both he and Basitan have escaped the cage a couple of times, but they never go far.

And Remy. Digging.

We were evil to Remy…actually I guess it was more evil to Thomas, since Remy didn’t care:

Rat? What rat?

Thomas is truly exceptional at ignoring things he doesn’t want to deal with.

Before freakage occurs, Thomas is old, slow, and had basically no prey drive, and I was right there ready to grab anyway.

My little boys!

And that’s all for now!

Updateyness!

…okay, so I’ve been busy.

Short takes:

I put the rats in the same cage. They got along for a day and a night and then, when I was away at work, tried to kill each other. They’re in separate cages right now and I despair of ever integrating them.

I’ve begun the process of taking Om Shanti Handcrafts into the realm of the Official — as of yesterday I have an EIN and my trade name is registered with the Colorado Secretary of State. Soon shall follow a plethora of tax numbers.

I’ve introduced a new milk bath and a new lip balm. About which more later.

I seem to be building a niche in the wedding industry — making custom chai lip balms for brides to give to their bridesmaids.

It’s the first of May, and snowing. Welcome to Colorado in the spring.

And now, I’m going to take a nap.

In other news

Isn’t that just the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen?

Because I don’t seem to know any better…

Tomorrow Remy (for so I have renamed him, ‘Ratatouille’ being far too many syllables) will gain a brother — a rather large rat by the name of Elliot, another hard luck case. Apparently I have ’sucker’ written on my forehead, clear for the eyes of the Humane Society to see; I got a call Thursday saying ’so, uh, I just thought I’d call and ask…’.

Elliot was purchased from a pet store, apparently as a (rather large) adult, and taken home to be snake food. I will leave it for those who know more about snakes than I to tell you why this is unwise right there, but the upshot is that said snake looked at Elliot, decided that that was too much rat for dinner, and promptly ignored him. Whereupon Elliot continued to live in the cage with said snake for an undetermined amount of time before being surrendered to the Humane Society.

I was asked, earlier, if perhaps Elliot became accustomed to his surroundings after a while. To which I reply, spend a month in the lion’s den. Even if he doesn’t eat you right away, your instincts will tell you that eventually, he will. How much stronger are a rat’s instincts than ours?

So, yeah, he’s all covered in mites and has what is probably an abcess under one ear, likely caused by a mite crawling into his ear and there taking up residence. He’ll need some treatment and it’ll be about a month before I can even introduce the two of them.

For all of his adventures this is one calm, friendly rat. I met him before work on Friday and he immediately took to me, settling down within a couple of minutes to bruxing (and now I know what that tooth-grinding noise is called, and what it means) and eventually a long bout of washing. After perhaps ten minutes he took a wander through my hair and then settled down for a nap.

He’s adorable and I love him already. He and Remy ought to get along fine — introducing rats usually does go well. I can’t wait to bring him home.

Cos…yeah, I’m a sucker. Written right there on my forehead.

Yeah, I’m a fool.

I only went in to pet the cats.

But he was adorable!

Someone found him a month ago in a parking lot. Yes, in a parking lot, in Colorado, in February. This is one lucky rat.

His name is Ratatouille though I might change it. He’s been sitting on my shoulder for the past hour and some. His whiskers are tickly.

Rat butt!