OUR RATS - Males
Welcome to our boys page. Get comfy & prepare yourself to meet some of our gorgeous Bucks.
We currently have four mischiefs' of bucks. Our Main group of Buck's number 6.
Our teenagers all live together in another group, numbering 10.
There's our "Blazers" group, who are all blaze & blaze line by marking, & blazers by temperament too, 7 in total.
& finally our temporary babies mischief, of which there's 4.
The first rattie on here is our recently departed old man, I've left his detials up in memorial to him.
"Carawatha C'ezanne"UPDATE: - (pic 1.1)
C'EZANNE
DIED OF OLD AGE IN HIS SLEEP ON 19th FEBRUARY... MY BEAUTIFUL OLD MAN, YOU'RE MISSED SO MUCH.
He was from the line I call my "sad-sack line". and displayed all the wonderful traits of this line right from the start. His father, "Carawatha Banjo" was one of the biggest,sackiest ratties of all time(who weighed in at his heaviest at 820gms).
C'ezanne was always super cuddly and apt to slide off your hand much like an under-filled bag of water would.(hard to describe).
C'ezanne's colour was always a bit of a mystery. While he looked very much like a fawn Cardigan, as a baby (4weeks and under) he looked for all he was worth, to be a silverfawn-complete with pink eyes. At around 4 weeks old his eyes darkened to ruby. His colour is too pale to be either cinnamon or Lynx, and yet it's really a bit too dull to be fawn.
We're not sure why this eye-colour change occurred, and in fact, we had three litters (of which two were unrelated) around the same time do the same thing.
This darkening of the eyes is a trait often witnessed overseas, as I've discussed it with fellow fanciers in both Europe and the US. In Australia though this doesn't happen as often.
SHOW RESULTS:
C'ezanne was shown as a baby in October 2000. As babies don't compete against adults in the breed classes, even though he placed first, he was the only baby in it.
BREEDING HISTORY:
C'ezanne courted three ladies in his life, but did not succeed in siring any babies with any of them. So we had to accept that he was infertile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our main group of Bucks.
"Carawatha Horus" - (pic 1.2)
Horus is a big robust fawn hooded Buck, from the discontinued DownUnder line we had a while ago. He is not DU himself though. He was originally adopted out to Indigorats, however we gladly took him back again, when they closed their rattery. Horus is now the Alpha rat in his mischief.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE: AMEN WAS RECENTLY RE-HOMED. WE STILL SEE HIM FROM TIME TO TIME & HE'S DOING WELL, ALL SETTLED INTO HIS NEW HOME.
"Lacock Amenhotep" - (pic 1.3)
Amen is now our largest Buck since C'ezanne has hit old age. Weighing in at 645grams, he is also the Alpha rat in his clan. He is another of the rats we adopted from Indigo rattery. A black hooded, one of the first carrier rats bred, for the blue colour lines. He is the father of three of our rats, "Flot & Harmony", whom you'll meet in our girls section, & "Bass", who you'll meet a little further down.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Amen has fathered one litter(He lived at Indigo rattery at that time), to Lacock Nefertiri, an Agouti DUhooded Doe. Half the litter were dilute babies (blue gene.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Avatar" - (pic 1.4)
Avatar is from the first litter we bred from blue carriers. He is an Opal hooded (blue agouti)... At present there is only a baby photo of him, I will update that as time allows. He is now 13months old. He likes to keep to himself, not engaging much in the games the other bucks seem to enjoy so much. He'll be the one quietly waiting for his boisterous cagemates to clear, before then stepping up to get his treat.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Avatar has fathered two litters in 2002. To "Indigo Flot" & "Mystar Flower". We have kept two of his daughters & one of his sons' from these litters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Indigo Bass" - (pic 1.5)
Bass is our DUspottedmushroom buck. He was a most unusual colour as a baby. He was very very blue on his extremities-nose,ears & feet. However his colour was different than that of his blue siblings. Doing the math with his parentage & the lines, we believe that he is a blue-mink. He is a kind of mushroom grey colour. Not right to be mink & not right to be blue either.
Bass is a rather small rat for a buck. He is gentle & playful, even now as he's an adult.
BREEDING HISTORY:
I had not at first planned on breeding with Bass, but being as all the other DU males we have are carrying genes from the blaze line, we cannot breed with them. So Bass is now on our breeding list. He has recently been sent on honeymoon with "Leo".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Tommy Brock" - (pic 1.6)
Tommy is black DownUnder Spotted, with the most variegation we've ever produced. He comes from our first blaze to DU line mating(we did three). His markings are very impressive & we'd had high hopes for him back then. But now we will just be admiring his handsome rattliness only.
Tommy is a very playful boy. During free-range time he could be mistaken for a girl, he's very active & inquisitive, never sits still.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Regretfully he will never be bred with either, because of the line he comes from.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Billy Reuben" - (pic 1.7)
Billy is a gorgeous fawn boy. He's the second youngest in this clan. He is from our second DU to Blaze line mating. He's also not a big boy, but is a lovely gentle soul & can be timid - he startles easily when out free-ranging.
BREEDING HISTORY:
We won't be breeding from him either.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Bossa Nova" - (pic 1.8)
Nova is a gorgeous silky black hooded boy. A big squishy fuzz. His coat is baby soft even though he's an adult boy of almost 18months old. He just doesn't have those course guard hairs that most bucks do.
I found Nova in a petstore when he was 5weeks old. The thing that attracted me to him was his colour. Back then he was a rich warm chocolatey brown colour & as we don't have the colour chocolate in our rats here as yet, I was very interested. I also got his sister that day too, for the same reason.
Nova has grown to be one of my favourite boys. I know one shouldnt' have favourites, so I make sure I don't tell him or the others. lol.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Nova fathered his first litter in August of 2001. He was proud dad of 11 bundles of Joy. Of which most are still here with us.
Nova sends his love out to his babies that have been adopted out - "'Bill"' in Ormiston, "Tucky" in Camira & his little black hooded daughter who went to Jimboomba(we don't know her name yet)- long-distance bruxes to you.
His daughters here are:- " Georgia, Atlanta & Virginia", & his son's, "Tacoma, Dakota, Washington, Vermont & Vegas". Dakota & Virginia have normal fur, all the others have the SILK fur type.
Now for our second mischief of Bucks - our Teenage boys...:>
"Carawatha Dakota" - (pic 1.9)
He's the son of Nova that we first decided to keep. He was the first one my son picked to play with, or should I say Dakota picked my son. He's so laid back, nothing phases him, but he's also the quickest rat to play tag with.
Dakota's colour is not certain, as when he, & two of his siblings, were young, they had ruby eyes. But when they hit around 8 weeks old, their eyes looked black. I've looked & looked & for the life of me, they have black eyes, got the little doggy brown irises and everything. So I figure they must be pale minks. Dakota has normal fur & is hooded.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Because of his amazing temperament, we will more than likely breed from him in the future.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Tacoma" - (pic 1.10)
Tacoma is a black hooded boy with the unusual SILK coat, like his mother. His personality is more reserved than Dakota's, & also rather determined when he has his heart set on something... Like the underneath of the lounge. He tends to take some things more seriously, especially eating. I don't think I've ever seen a rat who could eat as fast as he does. We're going to have to be a bit careful what we give him I think, I'd hate for something to get stuck.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Tacoma is a possible for breeding. We will be breeding from one of our silk boys later on this year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Lacock Shadowfax" - (pic 1.11)
We adopted Shadow from Diana at Lacock Mousery. He is a self blue. He's very outgoing & a real prankster with the other rats. It's not unusual to see him trying to drag another rat out of the tubeloft by their tail. That photo of him was taken just before christmas, he is now almost tripled in size & has his lovely frosty adult coat. With the males that means a shimering silvery undercoat & guardhairs. I've observed, that females blues usually show less of the paler undercoat than the males. (1.11)
BREEDING HISTORY:
We're unsure of his possible breeding future at present.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Lacock Samwise Gamgee" - (pic 1.12)
Samwise is a beautiful silverfawn hooded boy, originating from our sad-sack line. He & his brother(Merry, below) are the result of a litter bred by Diana at Lacock, when she adopted "Carawatha Gnala", to breed with one of her boys.
"Gnala"' is from our Sad-sack line & previously we'd tried to breed her with "C'ezanne" with no luck. As he's the last male we had from that line, we started to panic, worried that we might loose the line. Thankfully though, that didn't happen.
From the moment we got Samwise & his brother, it was so easy to see where they'd come from. Big healthy luggs, looking in size, a lot older than they were at 5weeks. Now, even though they're the second yongest boys in their clan, they are the biggest. Weighing in now at over 500grams each. I've no doubt they'll grow up to be very true to this line.
BREEDING HISTORY:
We plan to breed either Samwise or his brother this year, not sure yet who, that will depend on the outcome desired.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Lacock Meriadoc Brandybuck" - (pic 1.13)
Merry is the Fawn hooded brother to Samwise. He is a little different in ratinality, in that he's not as nosey as Sam is. He's a fraction smaller in stature too. Well not really smaller, as they weigh the same, but he's longer & thinner, so Sam looks bigger because he's squishier.
I'm so happy to have both Merry & his brother, they remind me so much of a pair of brothers I kept way back in 1989, Milo & Otis. Who are in fact from the same line. Even their faces are the same.
BREEDING HISTORY:
We plan to breed either Merry or his brother this year, not sure yet who, that will depend on the outcome desired.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Bouf" - (pic 1.14)
We call this lovable character Bouf. He's a sweet, complicated little fellow. He gets his nicname from the fact that he holds his ears down all the time, so he looks real boofy. Almost dumbo-like. He is from a litter we bred back in October 2001. Actually that litter was the first one to cross our DU lines with the blaze lines, & Boof was the only baby from it, not adopted.
He was living with some of our rescue boys for a while there, but some of them were picking on him a bit & he would constantly jump out to me, in what looked like a panic, whenever I opened the lid. So I felt sorry for him, & tried him in with our baby boys. He loves them & they love him. He is a loving, gentle little guy, who always has a vague look on his face - he's our adorable autistic little fuzz & we love him. I'm so very attached to him now, he will stay with us forever.
BREEDING HISTORY:
He won't be bred with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Clary Sage" - (pic 1.15)
Our youngest boy in this group, he's a black hooded bundle of energy. He does this cute thing where if I pick him up under the arms he just flops, just like a kitten does when it's mother picks it up, or you scruff it properly. One of his brothers "Rumpus", lives with Robyn here in Brisbane, & his other brother "Sidney" lives with Beth in Ormiston. His only sister lives here with us.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Sage is the proud father of 9 little ratlets, that are all staying with us. We plan on breeding from Sage again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Vermont"- (pic 1.16)
Vermont is the Silk boy most like the silk girls in temperament. He is a big Wally. It's funny, but all the silk girls seem to be really ditsy & silly by nature & all the boys seem to be like their dad Nova, & are really laid back & quiet.....except for Vermont.
"Vermont"is a real stickybeak. Having said that though, once he's out, he'll sit for hours & have his neck scritched. Just needs to burn off some energy first. He has a thin hood marking that stops just short of reaching his tail. His name was chosen by my Dad. I asked him where he thought the most friendly place in the States was, & his answer... Vermont :)
"Carawatha Washington"- (pic 1.17)
Washington is the quieter of the silk line boys. He's been seen getting in a bit of a tizz, if you rough him up too much during play time - gives u that dirty look, while he re-washes his coat - for the 6th time lol. He has a bat shaped marking over his shoulderblade area, but other than that a fairly thin hood line. His coat is the most whispy of all the boys.
"Carawatha Vegas"- (pic 1.18)
Vegas is a riot. He's boisterous & loud & always on the move. He's great to play wrestle with. His markings are a little heavier than Vermonts' & his stripe is but a hairs breath from his tail. He has a completely white chin & most of his neck too. He's a real good-time rat. I've noticed though, that he runs out of energy quicker than the others & is usually the first to curl up on your lap asleep.
BREEDING HISTORY:
The temperament of these boys is wonderful. & being as they are this new fur type too, It's likely that they'll all end up being bred from at some time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our third mischief is our " Blazers ", This mischief has gradually grown, as blaze & blaze line boys have started fighting. It's interesting to note, that while there are regular scuffles in this group, that they appear to keep each others ego's in check & no bad fights have ensued. - One boy in here ended up here as a companion for T'Boy, when we moved him in, as he was being picked on, so we put his blaze friend Reya, in with him. Reya however, has not been observed fighting & we may yet, end up integrating him into our main boys group.
"Mystar T's Envy" - (pic 1.19)
T-boy, as we've nicknamed him, is a lovely blaze marked black hooded buck. We adopted him from Mystar rattery in 2002. Below is the information I received about T-Boy's background, from his prior owner:
T-Boy's father was noted on his paperwork, as "bRatpack Lance". This rat was purchased by T-Boy's breeder, from Pet City in Wishart, when he was approximately 10weeks old.
He had been purchased to breed with a blaze female they had there already. After bringing Lance home, he didn't settle into the group he was placed with & so was then put with the female for a day or two, for breeding purposes. After this he was placed in with the adult male group. He wasn't settling in, having fights & it was thought that they may be threatening him, so he was moved to a different group with younger boys, around 6 weeks old. It was at this time that Lance had a somewhat psychotic episode and killed 3 within 5 minutes & hurt two more. He was removed, & over the following weeks he repeatedly went for his owners & had to be euthanased.
After this episode, his owners decided not to breed any more rats, period. They offered T-boy to me, because I knew the history of his line & as they'd have to explain that to anyone that adopted him, they didnt' expect anyone would want to have him anyhow. T-Boy was a sweet baby & adolescent too, but then a lot have started off that way in this blaze line.
T-Boy lived in relative peace with my adult boys group for approximately 6months. Sadly though, a few months ago, we had to move him into the Blazers colony, as he started picking on some of his cagemates. We are watching him closely. It appears that he's now the Alpha rat of the Blazers group, & the fights he gets into are usually between himself & the old Alpha boy.
BREEDING HISTORY:
We will never breed from T-boy, & should we ever adopt him out to anyone, we will be having him neutered first, so there is no chance of his undesirable genes bieng passed on. The case of his father is the worst we've heard of yet, in these lines. T-Boy's mother was Indigo Tips, a dughter of BJR Cherokee, a rat now known for his less than ideal temperament.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Reya Bandido" - (pic 1.20)
Reya is the first Blazed marked boy we bred. His father "Carawatha Jambalaya", a DUspotted, was from our first Blaze outcross to the DU line. Reya's mother is BJR Gabrielle. Reya is so far a sweet un-assuming boy, easy to handle & generally easy going. For very obvious reasons we are keeping an eye on him.
BREEDING HISTORY:
There's no plans to breed from any of the blaze rats or any from those lines, including Reya.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Indigo Zorro" - (pic 1.21)
Zorro came to us as part of the large rescue group we took in over a year ago. He's a black almost capped marked. While he did begin to pick on some of the boys in my older boys group & was moved to the Blazers group, his ego is now kept in check it would seem, as so far, he's fairly quiet, loves a scritch & is easy-going. He's happy where he is though, & I've not noticed him once, being involved in the tussles that ensue in this group.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Again, he won't be bred from.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are four other males in the blazers group that don't as yet, have names" - (NO PIC's)
Two of these are Zorro's full brothers. Both mismarked hooded agouti's with headspots, the smaller of the two, being our previous Alpha & the most aggressive of the group.
The last two boys in this group are two from different blaze line litters we bred, that weren't adopted out. One is a Silverfawn Irish boy, who doesn't like being handled very much at all. The other an agouti hooded boy. This last little guy is so far fairly good temperament wise. He's the smallest of the group & appears to stay out of everyone's way. He doesn't mind being handled & is quite friendly.
BREEDING HISTORY:
NONE OF THIS GROUP WILL EVER BE BRED FROM.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now for our fourth & most recent mischief - our Baby boys.
"Carawatha Valerian" - (pic 1.22)
Val is the biggest of his litter of 9. He's an agouti hooded boy, very playful, as they all are at this age. He is almost sad-sack like in the way he melts through your fingers when you're holding him.. he's so relaxed that he puts full faith in you, that you won't drop him.
Val (& the three brothers he lives with) are from our Manx line. All his litter have been kept, in order to further this line.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Val is part of our manx line breeding programme.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Bazil" - (pic 1.23)
Bazil is a black hooded with a few white spots on his whisker pads & a white chin & neck. He's a lovely playful boy, very quick to grab treats 7 a good stasher.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Baz is part of our manx line breeding programme.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Sindhal Mysore" - (pic 1.24)
Sindahl is a mismarked agouti hooded boy. He is the male counterpart of his sister Peony. He's quite shy & always the last out. He does love to play hand wrestling with you though. They all do.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Sindahl is part of our manx line breeding programme.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carawatha Bergamot" - (pic 1.25)
Mottly is a black hooded boy with an irregular hood & some spots. He's very outgoing & a constant theif of the fish-tank net.. (little bugger)... Ratlets truly are, one of the great wonders of the world.
BREEDING HISTORY:
Mottly is part of our manx line breeding programme.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
