Mungo is a British Blue Dumbo Rex and he is 7 weeks old. We got him last week, and he is Digby’s half brother. That picture doesn’t show that he’s actually veeeery teeny but packing on weight fast and has the best scruffilated whiskers ever!
His fur has lovely curls and waves and I’m looking forward to seeing how rexy he will be (he’s sorta going through a moult right now!)
He’s our good news rat as I have now found out that my health is fine (aside from Fibromyalgia and future fertility problems) - but I don’t have a brain tumour!
I do have a spam problem at the moment so I can only apologise if I have accidentally deleted any comments - it’s getting a bit hard to control
Puddle can be a very austere rat at times. He’s the oldest, and he is grumpy, and he is big! He’s respected amongst the cage, albeit feared, and being the alpha he occasionally flies into a wild rage (usually at Berg). But sometimes he can act like a little baby!
We threw the yellow capsule from a kinder egg into the cage and Puddle went nuts for it. He grabbed it with both paws and somehow managed to pick it up in his mouth and has been carrying it around for the last 15 minutes, squeaking at anyone who attempts to come near him while he’s playing with it. Even I tried to take it off him - he shrieked at me turned his back on me and huffed up his fur.
I’ve been making some more ratmoods, as you might have realised from the above, but they still need a bit of work yet. For some reason, they’re ever-so pale!
I’ve wanted to post the youtube video below for a while too. Now, I’m not normally one for naming my boys after characters (except for Baldrick. And Hobbes. And Riffraff, Columbia, Magenta, Cosmo and Berg.) But Digby is named after a very funny character who appears in a sketch show by two famous British comedians, David Mitchell and Robert Webb (I’ve met them both). I hope you enjoy the sketch below, showing the real Sir Digby Chicken Ceasar. It’s a little bit rude and gross, but very funny.
Hope you’ll also enjoy this Comixed, which I have recently submitted :) I took all the photos!
According to Evie, my nearly two-year old niece, he’s not a rat. She has always loved Digby but hasn’t seen him since the rats moved back into our flat. I saw her yesterday and had the following conversation:
Me: Do you miss Digby?
Evie: Yes.
Me: Do you love Digby?
Evie: (big smile) Yes.
Me: Is Digby your favourite?
Evie: Yes.
Me: What sort of animal is Digby?
Evie: (a moment of thought) Crab!
Of course, we were all in stitches at this point. We don’t even know where she’d ever heard the word “crab” before!
Good lordy, it has been hot lately, and all of the rats have been draping themselves on their ladders, trying to cool their lumpy bits.
Digby hasn’t been well. Si took him to the vets on Monday and he does have myco, albeit mildly. But he sounds awful, like he’s full of snot, and he bubbles and snorts awfully. The strange thing is that it seems to be worse when he’s in the cage - once you get him out he’s fine, to an extent. It’s been hard trying to get him to take his medicine - so far we can only just about get it into him if we mix it with chocolate sauce.
Hence he’s covered in chocolate.
Puddle was cute the other day - he fell asleep sucking his toes!
Qixl just won’t grow. It’s insane. He’s about 5 1/2 months now and he’s the same size as a 3 month old (that might not sound like much, but rats really do grow fast in their first few months. We got another rat, Tesla, at the beginning of June and already he’s bigger than Qixl, despite being about 2 months younger than him:
Qixl is on the left, and Tesla is on the right. Tesla is a pure siamese dumbo (whereas Qixl is a siamese hooded dumbo) and I think that Tesla might be a sort of blue point. It doesn’t show very clearly on the pictures but his points are quite pale and have a blueish tinge.
Tesla also has adorable folded dumbo ears. He won’t win any prizes - unless its the cuteness prize:
I’ve been to the doctor a lot recently. I’ve been having some scary hormonal issues that I wanted to resolve, so I went in to get the results of my blood test on Wednesday, expecting to be told either “we don’t know” or that I had polycystic ovaries. Turns out that I probably have a brain tumour.
Kinda overwhelmed at the moment. I’m trying to stay upbeat, hoping to have a scan soon to confirm it (or, even better, say there’s nothing there!) The good thing is that if it is a tumour it’s benign, but I’m producing too much lady-hormone and the likeliest reason is that a tumour has grown on that bit of the brain. So I’m in limbo at the moment, trying not to think about it. I am scared, to be truthful, although everyone thinks I’m being very brave. It’s not bravery, it’s bewilderment. I keep looking at myself in the mirror thinking “Brain tumour? Really? That can’t be right!”
Currently Mr Chicken-Caesar is in his teenage period. We think. We’re having to go on age and size rather than attitude at the moment because, in reality, Digby is the laziest, most placid rat we’ve ever had - even beating Pocket. Pocket was a lazy lard-bum, but even he would get up and move around every two minutes, before slumping down for another rest. Last night I had Digby out for an hour and a half and in that time he barely moved at all. It’s so sweet, to have a ratty curled up asleep on you. He doesn’t brux or boggle much, but he does love having his fur brushed backwards into a mohican! To be honest, he hasn’t got much of a personality yet, but he absolutely adores sleepy-cuddle time!
He’s getting big, whereas we don’t think Qixl has grown at all yet. He’s about a month younger than Digby, so 3 and a half months old, and he is still absolutely tiny. He’s a cheeky little character, much more playful than Diggles, but he too loves to settle down for a nice cuddle - only he’ll be boggling the whole time:
I’m tidying up my website a little bit. To start with, I have updated the photo-links of my current rats down the right side-bar. They are clickable, so click on them to be taken to each of their albums.
I’ve also moved McClane, Mumble, Moose, Boswell and Gumby over to my ‘Past Rats’ page
I’ll be streamlining my site soon - updating the album pages etc. I’ll be getting rid of some sections too. I’m never going to do anything with them, particularly when it comes to Info pages. My main concern really is Rodent Rebels, which will hopefully launch in the summer (the site will be good but not all-singing-all-dancing - it’s changing the blinkin’ cartoons that’s taking the most time!) I probably won’t be bringing lolrats back either, but I haven’t firmly decided yet. Part of me thinks it would be a good idea, purely so I can advertise Rodent Rebels on the site…
I’m quite aware at the moment that I have not been posting on my blog much these days. Here I’ll attempt to shed a little light on this, but also on something else. I now have a group of boys that you all hardly know. I’ve written a lot over the years, in my more active blogging days, of Riff, Toga, Cobway and Mallow, Piggy, Mumble, Pocket and Gumby etc, yet I’ve hardly ever blogged about Puddle, Berg, Cosmo, Digby or Qixl. And that’s not right! These boys all have distinct personalities and it’s time I made them as well known and (hopefully) as well loved as all the others.
Well, since October Si and I have been living with my mum and dad whilst I looked for a job. The rats had to live in the shed - not ideal conditions but not terrible. They had fresh air, warmth and lots of visits from me, Si, my dad and my two nieces. Sadly, in that time we lost Moose, Boswell and Gumby, which saddened us a great deal. We were desperate to get our own place so that the rats could move back in.
Well, in March I started a new job at a big lawfirm as their copywriter! This has meant that Si and I were able to get our own place and, on the 3rd April, we move into a fabulous modern flat in the most exclusive part of town (bargain renting, we’re very lucky!) Unfortunately, as the paperwork was signed we discovered we wouldn’t be allowed to have any animals in the building. The landlord was fine with the boys; the property managers had a strict no pets policy. And it was too late to do anything about it.
For the next three weeks the boys stayed with my mum and dad while we decided what to do. We decided that we had to be upfront, not wanting to be dishonest, so we wrote a heartfelt email to the management company. If that failed, we would rehome the boys.
Thankfully, it didn’t fail. The no pets policy only referred to cats and dogs. The boys moved back in 10 days ago.
I will never stop being grateful for having the boys back. It’s changed my life. And, even better, I can start getting to know the babies properly. So, here is the rattie round-up:
Puddle - biiiig muscular old boy now (in his prime). Seems he’s a siamese, not a himi. He has a cute pale splodge on his back. He’s a bit grumpy these days although generally he’s very laid back. Of the 5, he is the only one without a best buddy, but will happily cuddle up with anyone who is free. He loves cuddles but if you scritch him you have to cover his face with your hand - otherwise he gets very anxious. The second you cover it hestarts bruxing. My rat.
Berg - An alpha in the making. Berg is a dirty white now. He’s quite slender and not as big as he should be. He’s a really friendly, cheeky little chap -my niece Milly’s (age 3) favourite because he’s naughty. He comandeers the hammockand gets angry if anyone else uses it. Never sits still. Si’s rat.
Cosmo - looks like a mini-McClane. Very small and petit but stout, unlike his brother (Berg). Keeps himself to himself, quite friendly and straightforward. Tries to hide treats in his mouth and pretends he wasn’t given any, despite the fact he can’t close his jaws. Mutual rat.
Digby - Extremely placid! I call him ‘Son of Pocket’ - as soon as you get him out of his cage he’ll fidget for about 2 minutes then settle down for a really big nap. He’ll fall asleep on you for up to 30 minutes (bearing in mind he’s still a baby). If you tickle him begind the ears he’ll stick his tongue out. He makes the most hilarious faces when he’s happy. My niece Evie’s (18 months) favourite - she calls him Beedbee and says “touch, touch!” - she really likes touching his ears. My rat.
Qixl - Mini rat! He’s hardly grown since we got him, he’s really little. He’s got the most amazingly snub little face and big eyes (he was the runt). There are elements of Gumby in him - he’s very cheeky and friendly and silly, but still really likes cuddles although hates being picked up from the cage. Si’s rat.
Qixl and Digby are also really best buddies - they are about the same age (Digby maybe a month older than Qixl) and they are nearly always together. I’ll have to get some more pics xxx
