So Christmas has come and gone, and the special request for rats, as sent via pictogram post card to Father Christmas was received.
Richard worked long and hard (and almost fanatically) to finish the rat palace in time for Christmas - resulting in him being up till after 4am on Christmas eve/morning - and being tired and grumpy on Christmas day (but that's another story). It was finally completed and is rather impressive and very neatly and expertly finshed. Who knew he could produce something like that!?
After being seen working on said cage for weeks - although the boys thought it was just a cupboard being created, we couldn't pretend it had arrived from Father Christmas, and so we decided that Father Christmas asked him to make the cage for the rats which he would be bringing.
On the Friday on my way home from my last day at work before starting my leave I had to return via the Durbanville Pet's Paradise, armed with a shoe box. I was tasked with selecting 2 suitable critters of the correct age, size and gender. It was a bit of a challenge as the little guys were 6-8 weeks old and frankly their genitals all looked the same! I eventually chose two hooded white rats which I am hoping are female (or the same sex at any rate), one with a black hood and the other with a light grey hood. They were whisked away into the outside room when I returned where they were fed and watered until Christmas morning, when they appeared in a ventilated gift-wrapped box.
The boys were pretty thrilled at the discovery that their Christmas wish had been granted, and Griffin in particular has been enthralled with his, and keeps saying, ' I like my rat, she is so CUTE'. :)
They are pretty tame and relaxed, and we are hoping to keep them that way. so hopefully other visiting children will not terrorise them unduly.
We let the boys name them themselves and they have ended up as Harry (the black one) and Grommit (the grey one).
We have had them for 2,5 weeks now and so far so good. Except for one of them peeing on me this past Saturday night - thanks!
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