Last weekend we rehomed four delicious babies to friends of ours, Paul and Ann. They have always rehomed difficult, adult rats from us, so were in for a bit of a shock when they got the tiny 6 weeks old babies home..they are so crazy and so small that anything can happen..

Ann wrote: The little girls are lovely, we have named two, just need to think of two more names. They are so cute & friendly we love them all already.

They are proper hard work though. Sunday night we lost one, they were playing in our bathroom and one got behind a tiny gap in the tiles, we ended up having to take the bath panel out and rip half of our tiles of the bathroom to get her back.

Proper stressful, but managed to get her back in the end...! Have learned our lesson though, we are a lot more careful now!

In November 2006 we rehomed Blossom - a lone rather aggressive rat of about 18 months old - to the lovely Lauren and Vince who had three girls of their own. They hoped to intergrate Blossom with their own girls - and considering that Blossom had always been a lone rat - we thought that they had a real challenge ahead of them!

However, Blossom settled in so well with the other girls that we recognsied Lauren and Vince's 'rat whispering' skills and so we sent down Lea and Mia (see pic above) to them for fostering - who were two rather 'difficult' rats.

Here is Lauren's note a week after she got the girls...
We've had some fun and games here as you can imagine! OMG, how gorgeous are Mia and Lea!! You can't have them back, Honey wants to keep them, LOL!
When lovely Sylvia dropped them off, we got them settled with everything they needed and left them the first night just to give them a chance to recover from their journey. My four went nuts all night desperate to meet them!

Next morning was like Christmas morning with the excitement! Popped them all on the bed together and they got on really well. Honey glued herself to Mia and cuddled her the entire day. Lea and Keiko get on great, they all mix really well! There was plenty of grooming and cuddling up, plus the usual 'let's raid the Mary cage'!

Actually, Pixie barged into Lea and Mia's Mary cage on that first morning and I was a bit worried, she trampled on Mia's head, rummaged in their food bowl, climbed on all their toys; thank goodness they were good natured about it!

Lea appears to be an alpha like Keiko, but luckily Keiko is soooo laid back that she has been extremely good about everything. I think she sees an advantage in having a fellow alpha - especially one who looks like her! It means she can sneak off the bed when mummy isn't looking and mummy won't notice because she will mistake Lea for her!

We have only had two minor scuffles, and guess who caused them?... Blossom!!... ... I had touched Blossom's side, which she hates, so she went all shirty and blamed Lea and lunged at her! They squared up like boxers then the fuss died down! The next incident was over a piece of sweetcorn! Blossom was eating a piece and Mia came up to investigate. Blossom screamed, threw herself on her back and wiggled her legs, Mia ran off and Blossom righted herself again and carried on eating! My god she is a drama queen! After that there were no further skirmishes!

Obviously they sleep in their separate cages at night and then spend all day together on the bed. I find it the best way of increasing their confidence when they have other ratties to follow.

Wow, I see what you mean about Mia being nervous! She hasn't left her igloo for more than 10 minutes a day yet!! She is the most frightened ratty I have ever seen, bless her. And boy does she wash a lot, everytime I glance in the igloo she is washing!!

I have kept to a fixed routine since they arrived though so I think they will start to come round! We managed to have several cuddles with Lea, she is so cute!

They've been having their Baytril twice a day, I think you were wise as they were quite stressed at first and the odd sneeze. I managed to take a few pics but the quality is rubbish! Will send them anyway! They seem to be eating/drinking OK and Lea enjoys bombing round the bed all day! I do hope Mia will come out a bit more!! I did pick her up once but she really was terrified so I'll give her a bit more time to get used to the routine.

Honey wanted to stay with Lea and Mia last night but at the last minute she changed her mind and asked to go back with Keiko and the others!

So sweet! I'm awaiting a Rat Warehouse order which I'm excited about! I've ordered a cuddle pouch to put Mia in!! Also some little treats plus a leap-n-ledge! BTW, thank you for the lovely things you sent! The little pink hammock is so sweet and the little cuddle cup! The choccy drops are going down well too and the fruity bits!

Oh yes, how could I forget. There was another incident with Blossom that I was cross about! Lea climbed out her cage one night when I opened the door to give her a kiss. The Mary cage is on top of the Freddy. Lea climbed down the side of both cages. Blossom saw her and went nuts, following her every move like a magnet inside the bars. Blossom kept nipping Lea's toes and Lea was squeaking. I was so worried and desperately tried to retrieve Lea.

When I finally did get her back I told Blossom off good and proper! I said "Look here Blossom Hayes, there's no need for that kind of behaviour!" and I waggled my finger at her! She didn't seem phased, naughty cow! It's lovely watching them all play together, just like having a creche! (only a lot nicer than a human one!!!) In fact, it's high time the creche opened now, Keiko is waiting by her door!