Just thought it would be fun to get out Casanova and HoneyChild for some pics today. I checked back in my records and on threads here and found that HC delivered her first litter of feeders for us (fathered by good old Nova) back on December 4, 2005 and her last litter for us almost exactly one year later. So it turns out much to my delight that my two favorite rats aren't 2 years old quite yet. I'm figuring they are both going to be 2 around June 07 so it's nice to know we've a bit longer with them as they are both in great shape for older rats.

Here's a pic of HoneyChild with that first litter that started it all for us rodent breeding-wise (15 big healthy pinks!)....



Becky, you probably remember us laughing on the phone about HC being so "blonde" she couldn't figure out how to use a rat wheel. The other rats would happily run on it. Poor HC would stand beside it, upright, madly paddling away with her front paws spinning it, very confused about what the whole big deal was. Occasionally in her excitement she'd try to add in a back foot to the effort and of course fall over (I think the other rats were laughing at her by this point LOL). Sometimes she'd figure out to actually get in the wheel, but then just sit there, totally clueless about how the other rats actually went round and round on it. Oh well, she's a lovely rat...maybe not the smartest one around, but a nice female and she made us a lot of lovely feeders over her full year of breeding activity.

HoneyChild today at about 20 months of age, retired and happy hanging out with the weanling females where she plays the role of den mom to the whole crew.....





Casanova back in the day, at the height of his prowess as the rat colony king. He fathered hundreds of feeders with not one genetic issue in his offspring no matter what female he was put with. Qute a lot of his offspring carry the odd "hook" at the top of his stripe....



Casanova today, still doing very well even after surviving an almost fatal attack by an adult blue rat we had for a short time. He no longer rotates in with the females but seems to be enjoying his laze about life in the male only tubs. His current status is "Stud Emeritus" lol. His son, SuperNova (from the last breeding of HoneyChild and Nova) has taken his place and thankfully carries his sire's almost perfect personality....





Casanova and Supernova (from a few months back)....



I know it's terribly silly to get this attached to rats in a colony but these two are favorites and will be terribly missed when they pass on.