I have been really rubbish at posting updates on my website, but I thought it was time that I let you know where things are at with the rats and I. Kenco's babies all grew up to be absolutely gorgeous and the mating really secured both Mum and Dad's temperaments which was my main aim. They are now four months old and a delight to be around. I have tentative plans to use Kenco for one last litter, to secure her temperament and ultimately make more chocolate coloured rats all carrying English mink to work towards coffee.

I sadly lost two litters over Christmas. Both Trinket and Cupcake Dizzy were both put with Halcyon Buddy. They were both a day overdue, and both struggled with labour. Both Trinket and Dizzy required emergency out of hours C-sections, and after a lot of TLC both does are recovering well.

In happier news, I had a litter born on 15th January for Merriment Rattery. These kittens will be Russian blue and black in both top ear and dumbo. Tilly is a wonderful mother and takes her job seriously :)

I have updated my litter pages with tentative plans, and I have also added a litter page for Tilly's litter.

On Friday 27th September Kenco and Sooty produced 6 babies. It looks as though we have 4 boys and 2 girls :)

September has been a rather busy month, I have attended two shows, and I hopefully have a litter due next week!

At SWRC Taunton Adelphe Rufus got Best in Show, Cupcake Rose got Best Opposite Age and Sooty came 4th in Adult Owned Pet out of 29! I also went to NFRS Romsey* where my rats also did rather well - full results can be seen on the Show results page. Photo credit above goes to Gemma Wood.

Unfortunately Daisy didn't take despite her initially showing signs of pregnancy, I will not be mating up Daisy again however the plans remain the same, but I will be using another Topaz doe. Kenco is starting to become more round and is due babies on Saturday.

I have also taken in some rescue rats (between 12 and 24 months old, both bucks and does). If you are interested in any older rats please fill in the application form on the 'Homing rats' page and state you are interested in the rescue rats.

On Saturday I travelled all the way to Hertfordshire to go to the NFRS Baldock show. Adelphe Rufus came away with Best Opposite Age (1st Kitten challenge) out of 24 kittens!! Full results can be found on my  'Show Results' page :)

I am currently fostering a litter for Sarah of Milo Stud in Bristol (DOB 6.5. Three bucks are still looking for their forever home. There are two agouti hooded and one agouti self. If you are interested in offering these a home please contact Sarah at sarah@milostud.co.uk or alternatively use the contact form on this website and I will put you in touch with Sarah :)

I have now decided that in order to keep news and updates organised it is easier to keep a blog on this website!

On the 10th May 2013 Halcyon Oppsy Daisy and Halcyon Buddy Minchin produced 18 kittens. Sadly due to being subject to an outbreak of bordetella (a strain of kennel cough) we sadly lost the whole litter. It was a very sad and stressful time and Daisy required 3/4 trips to the vets in that time, including one very expensive trip at 10pm one night! Daisy is fine, and has coped remarkably well throughout the ordeal.

I have had a bit of an ethical debate with myself on where to go from here. I went into breeding knowing that not everything would run smoothly but I never imagined I would be burying my first litter before they reached two weeks old.

The lovely Sarah of Milo Stud has lent me Halcyon Autumn (Agouti self) who is Daisy's direct sister. This means that she definitely carries the red gene needed for topaz. I will be mating up Halcyon Autumn with Halcyon Mr. Black Guy (Freddie) which should give me topaz kittens to work with.

I also have a few new additions to my mischief. I picked up Adelphe Penelope Pitstop at the Royal Bath and West show where she won Best Opposite Age, a chocolate kitten who still has no name! and two pet kittens, Lilliput Tommy and Milo Sylvester.