SHIELD: Rat Division welcomes new agents

We were looking at recruiting a pair of agents from Michigan, but there were interdepartmental scheduling conflicts preventing the transfer. Consequently, we looked closer to home.

Please welcome our newest agents, Raven (black Berkshire standard-ear female), Cleopatra (Siamese standard-ear female), Rook (black Berkshire standard-ear male, already settled in his bunker), and Chess (Siamese dumbo male, attempting to stuff himself into the ladder cover).

Agents will remain separated by sex until such time as the chief medical examiner has checked the boys' luggage and neutralized all possible boarding parties.







Here are Cleo and Raven, hard at work practising their synchronized napping. Raven sleeps with her eyes open. It's a little disconcerting.

LOL ... congrats to you and the ratties

Hahaha aw, lucky ratters. Congrats on the new furfam they're gorgeous!

lol too cute and congRATS!!!

Thanks!

I was able to pet Cleo today and give her a neck rub. Raven is curious and will climb up my sleeve in search of nestcloth, but isn't quite ready to be petted more than a tiny bit while nibbling a treat. The boys are still not too sure about hands, though they're both becoming more curious. I can pet Rook a little bit before he takes off into his UFO. Chess isn't quite there yet, but will happily put his upper half in my hand and groom my palm.

As good as their foster mom was, I don't think she handled them as much as would have been beneficial, probably due to the sheer number (it was a litter of eleven). She had/has her hands full with those and other critters, though, and she might not have wanted them to get attached to her if they wouldn't be staying. It'll take some time to bring these fuzzies out of their metaphorical shells, but we're working on it.

Cleopatra is living up to her name. After we discovered that she (and probably Raven) had managed to snag the nearest curtain and chew a couple of holes in it, we made a point of ensuring that the curtain was well out of reach.

In protest, Cleo went over to the curtain corner, tried in vain to reach it, and then started chewing on the bars. It's not like there's a lack of things to do in their half of the CN-- the little princess was throwing a tantrum. :lol:

None of the others do it, and she hasn't done it before tonight. It's only in that one corner, too. I gave her a new wood gnaw and tried to distract her, and it seems to have worked for the minute. Hopefully she'll forget about the curtain soon.

I always feel bad when they chew the bars, like I'm not entertaining them enough. From previous experience, it seems to be a thing they do when excited or wanting an item as well as when bored. One of our boys used to do it in the morning when breakfast was being served. He couldn't get his banana fast enough! Never did it otherwise, but as soon as he smelled banana, all bets were off.

Everyone is coming around. Rook and Chess still aren't terribly keen about being petted, but they'll stand in my hands and have started climbing up my arms. I can pet Cleo easily now; Raven is still not sure she likes it, but is extremely curious about people. She was also the first one to figure out the wheel, and appears to enjoy running in it. I hope she teaches Cleo how to use it.