May

The last few times that Ambaa and Babu have come out to play in their room have been quite difficult. Initially they are reluctant to come out. When they are out they have charge about the room exploring everything. The longer they are out, the more excited they get. After an hour or so they are galloping at full speed, jumping onto the furniture and climbing up a high as they can go.

It is great fun to see them so energetic but they don’t want to go back into their house. When I try to catch them they hide under the sofas. The only way I can get them back home is to move all the furniture and herd them back towards their house. I have to barricade their escape routes and pen them in to a smaller and smaller area. I eventually get them back home but they get quite distressed.

The more I have to chase them the less trusting they are getting. Babu is still quite relaxed but Ambaa tries to avoid me whenever possible.

I have been letting Ambaa and Babu come out to play in the room some evenings. They have been out a few time and they had been getting quite bold and confident. It wasn’t always easy to get them out of their house but once they were out they seemed to have a very good time exploring everything. Babu is the bolder of the pair and he managed to get into all sorts of places. The climbed up the television (it was off and unplugged) and was quite happy to sit on top taking food from me. Later he managed to climb up the fireguard and haul himself up onto the mantelpiece. He then got stuck and couldn’t get down. I didn’t want him to jump off because of the slate harth below so I had to try and get him down. He got a bit panicky and he did jump but I was holding onto him at the time so he didn’t come to any harm. He hated being held and wriggled free very quickly. He ran off and hid behind the television. It took me ages to get him back into his house.

Ambaa was also difficult to get back home. She is even more nervous than Babu. She wanted to stay out and initially she wouldn’t let herself be herded back into her house. I didn’t want to chase her too much but I had to before she would go home.

I have contacted Simon’s Rodents, the people I got Ambaa and Babu from about Babu’s coat. I was quite concerned because his coat was growing very unevenly and there were only patches where his adult coat had grown. Ambaa’s coat had grown quite evenly and she has her full adult coat now.

They assured me that this was quite normal. Some of their rats had a full coat but some were still furring up. They told me that it could be another couple of weeks before Babu’s coat was fully grown.

I also asked them if they knew the exact dates of birth for Ambaa and Babu but they only knew which week they were born in. I’ll just have to pick a day for their birthdays