Wren Phoebe Scuttlebutt, Fin Loris Honeytum, and Blue Wren Honeytum

This post is a bit (or very) late. But I didn't feel like writing it so I didn't. Anyway, a month or so ago I had to put Wren down. She had developed a mammary tumor and her respiratory infection was much worse so at times she had great difficulty breathing. She also stopped eating solid food and I had to make mush for her. She still lost a lot of weight and I could easily feel her ribs when I made up my mind that she was suffering more than was worth it. I loved her so much but it was for the best because I didn't want her to suffer anymore.

Lark did okay without Wren but I still wanted her to have another cage-mate or two. So I looked around at breeders (because breeder rats are supposed to be healthier than rescue rats) and Mainely Rat Rescue. I found these two girls Finn and Mosie. I picked them up a few days ago on Thursday and brought them home. They are really cute and sweet. I'll add some photos soon and I already have videos of them on youtube so I'll add links at the bottom of the post.

I changed their names because I have this theme of naming my rats after animals. I actually have a kind of systematic way of naming them. The first name is an animal. The second is an animal or the last rat that passed away (which is why I gave Mosie/Blue the middle name Wren). The last name is a physical characteristic. Scuttlebutt because Wren and Phoebe were always scuttling around. Tinypaw because Lark's paws were so TINY and cute, and pink, and little, and sweet, and tiny, and awwwww! So I changed Finn to Fin Loris Honeytum. Fin after a fin whale, Loris after a slow loris, and Honeytum because they are both very chubby and their tummies look like they ate a lot of honey. Mosie's name changed to Blue Wren Honeytum. Blue after a blue whale, Wren named after Wren, and Honeytum because of her honey filled tummy. I really loved the names Finn and Mosie, but I have to stick to tradition!

Lark, Fin, and Blue seem to be getting along well. Lark and Fin have had a few squabbles but I think they have sorted out dominance. The funny thing is that though Lark is so much smaller than Fin and Blue, she is top-rat! I think that she must weight half as much as Blue. Blue and Fin are overweight and I am working on getting them skinnier, but even if they were not fat ratties they would dwarf Lark. Yesterday I had Lark, Blue, and Fin in a carrier together (which is one of the ways of introducing them to each other) and Lark flipped Fin to show who was boss. Lark then stood on Fin's ample belly for five minutes straight. If Fin objected in any way Lark would start power-grooming her.

One other problem with these new sweeties is that I think they might have respiratory infections. MRR said that Blue had one in April and it might have shown back up. That's all I have for now, but I will add more later. I realized recently that I don't have any new posts about Theo! Or Tinker! These things must be fixed! I will also write more about Blue and Fin. 

Here are the videos I was talking about.

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 And a new video of Lark pea-fishing