I can't wait to see what her babies will be like!
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Transcript
We've got three sisters here, babies that are about six months old, almost half a year. They're all girls, and the plan is to breed them. And oh my goodness, are they chunky. What fat little tummies. One of them especially is very calm, and she was the star of this visit. I asked whether, going by color and temperament, there's much difference between these girls and the blonde rats. Qiong figures some of the blondes could potentially be more calm, since we've been breeding the blondes exclusively for maybe four or five years now. But this girl really impressed me.
She was just standing there like a little statue, letting herself be petted. I've been making movies of these guys a few times now, and it still gets me just how calm they are. And look at how long those tails are. That's ridiculous. Qiong wants to keep this one as a pet, and I'm not surprised. She really is doing well. She's like a little fat Poofie, though Poofie wasn't quite that fat. Qiong joked that she's probably calmer than Qiong is, and honestly, what do you expect? The blonde ones are pretty calm too, but this one is very special. She is very, very cooperative.
Qiong doesn't really spend a lot of time socializing them, but they just naturally look out for each other and get along well. She hasn't had any babies yet. She's kind of a baby herself. You kind of wait until they're older before you breed them, so you can know if they're really calm. They're really curious little guys. At one point I had to step back and ask Qiong not to walk toward me, because it makes it hard to get them in the shot. The cat was very curious too. The cat often watches while we make these videos. Then came the face rubs. She loves it. She really loves it.
As soon as it started, one of the other girls came over trying to get in on it too. I asked how you pet them properly, and it's along the ears, with a little head scratch in there on the cheek. She was closing her eyes a bit, totally relaxed. Meanwhile the other one looked really jealous, just watching, like, why aren't you petting me? That's not fair. I bet Tommy was really jealous too. Tommy's the one that's bigger, and there he was, watching, still a little worried. I think Tommy wished he could get petted like that. Her name is Sweetie, and she is a good girl.
I love that girl, and I'm kind of glad she's going to be bred. You've got to find a really special boy for that one, though. Really special. I thanked Qiong for showing me these guys, because this is fantastic. Sweetie is Qiong's favorite rat so far. By the end she was sitting there cleaning herself. One of the other girls really likes to be next to Qiong's hat, for some reason. The one in the middle is just always watching the other two, curious what they're doing, and always curious about Qiong too.
And of course Tommy is very curious as well, just sitting there watching them while they kind of ignore him. Right as I was turning the camera off, Sweetie tried to go into Qiong's pocket. She's fallen in there before, but she might be a little too big for that now. She is definitely an adult rat.
Watch it on YouTube. If it helped, the channel has a new roof-rat video most weeks, and there is a written guide with photos on the videos page.