The Girls now live in their new 3 storey palace. Penny (above) is still the boisterous little madam she’s always been and doesn’t think twice about raiding Amy’s quarters for food or just for the hell of it. Amy (left and the darker fur) is learning to stick up for herself a little but is still far too polite to complain when her food goes rushing down two storeys in the mouth of her sister to be hidden for later.
Amy is quite happy to sleep alone and commandeered the little red roofed house for herself. Penny on the other hand thinks Amy makes a great mattress and is inclined to sleep on her any chance she gets. This usually results in the roof going for a burton and both snuggle up after Amy’s resistance is broken. Yesterday we bought a place for Penny to nest in the hopes Amy might get a restful night but Amy removed the bedding and moved herself in. Of course Penny followed suit for a while, still ignoring the extra space and using her sister as a mattress. This morning however I got up to find Amy still in the nest and Penny now sleeping in her expandable tunnel.
The girls need exercise, treats and also food which challenges their teeth and ingenuity. For exercise you can see we’ve installed tunnels, climbing ropes and ramps. To give them something to chew on I bought some nuts though they’re currently very hard to find with shells on. The supermarkets seem to keep them as part of the home baking section so eyebrows are raised when I’m asked ” Making a cake are we?” to which I respond “No, just feeding the rats.”
Getting the girls used to our hands isn’t easy as they seem to associate hands with food and that means the hands could quite easily be the food at that time. Knowing the girls have very sharp teeth, that doesn’t really appeal so being the Gentleman I am I always let Julia have first go while I stand by with antiseptic cream and dressings. They are pure entertainment though and I’m hoping to persuade Yvonne to try and imagine them without tails so she smiles at them instead of shuddering at the thought of them.
barsetshirediaries 