Cecily and Julie

I have two new rats — babies. I've never had babies before (all the rats I've adopted have always been fully-grown, one way or another); like puppies, their feet and ears are more or less full size, but the rest is only half-sized, producing an effect of gawky but boundless enthusiasm.

'Boundless' is possibly not the right term to use of rats, as they do indeed bound all over the place!

I was told that they are either sisters or foster-sisters, since the two litters were born at the refuge only about five days apart and nursed by both mothers indiscriminately. I suspect that these two are foster-sisters, as Julie is perceptibly larger and seems more 'mature' in her eating habits; she is interested in some of the same treats as Annabel, whereas Cecily doesn't show any sign of enjoying 'grown-up food'.

Julie is white, with an agouti hood and a broken stripe down her back (her tail is half dark, half pale). Cecily is black with a white belly and feet, and a silly white tip to her tail: this colouring is apparently called Black Berkshire. They have worked out how to climb the bathroom radiator from behind, mountaineering-fashion, by wedging their backs against the metal and walking all four feet up the wall one at a time while jammed firmly in the crack — this annoys Annabel considerably as she is too big to imitate the feat. However, she was the first one to get to the top of the radiator, by very resourcefully climbing me instead...