Rats!!

It's official. We have our first pets. We spent much of December renovating this old bird cage found at an antique shop to be the multi-level home for a trio of rats. The sisters were born just before Thanksgiving, but spent their first few weeks with mom. We picked them up just after new years on our drive home from Omaha. This first pic is from day 2, when they were finally brave enough to explore the top of the cage. Much of day one was spent log hiding. 

Here's Squeeks (left) and Mooshika (right) hanging out in the log. Squeeks is definitely the skittish scaredy rat of the trio of sisters, so she spent most of the first three days in here. 

Mooshi is clearly the alpha daredevil of the three. She has been the first rat to explore new toys, and the most exited to come out and be held. She also has a habit of stealing treats from her sisters to assert dominance. 

Brock sewed this awesome hammock for the rats all by himself. It took three days before they had the courage to test it out, but it's now clearly their favorite spot in the cage. Here's Squeeks laying with the previously unpictured Dr. Speculoos Crumb. (She goes by "Speckie" for short, and she has an adorable speck of white on her head.) Speckie is nearly as brave and curious as Mooshi, but doesn't feel the constant need to steal her sisters' food.  

Mooshi can't avoid a good snuggle session. Make room!

A day later, they chewed through one of the hammock support lines. 

No big deal. Still a great hammock. Thanks Brock!

Here's Squeeks enjoying perhaps their favorite treat to date: chicken bones! They clean off the meat, and then grind the entire bones into dust that they eat. Each bone took less than 20 minutes. Pretty impressive to watch. (and yeah, this was the biggest bone, so Mooshi stole it shortly after this picture was taken) 

Dr. Speculoos crushing bones in bed. 

Everyone loves pecans!

Expect more pictures with Brock and Alice and rats in the future. As this is our first week with them, their time outside the cage still is pretty limited, and I haven't felt comfortable taking pictures while also making sure they don't escape into the nether regions of our home. But the time we have spent so far has been delightful, and it's a joy to see their excited faces ready to interact whenever we walk by.