Lurelin Rats

15/08/2024

These girlies are based in Tamworth but could potentially organise a rat train to the south east

14/08/2024

14/08/2024

Impa's standard evening:
-checks I'm not looking-
-tries to grab the water bottle holder to destroy it- (kill streak of 2.5 btw)
-tries to dislodge the bottle to get to the bottle holder-
-has a wash with the water that comes out so she can quite literally rinse and repeat-

Those with Impa descendants... I'm sorry 🤣

12/08/2024

Adventurous Hana beans!

12/08/2024

Poor Mavis was having her peas stolen 😆

10/08/2024

Mavey beans having some blackberries that I picked and washed! We have loads growing just outside our front door and I also make blackberry and lemon cakes for us 🤤

10/08/2024

Rescues looking for their new home in Croydon. I've also heard that Tag Rescue in Margate may have some rats available!

09/08/2024

Cana, the most ridiculous rat ever, eating her nummie while lying upside down 🫠

If you're an NFRS member, remember that the Annual General Meeting is next weekend on the 17th! You can attend online via zoom (check your emails for an invite link) or in person. The AGM is a chance to get involved in decision-making by discussing and voting on proposals, and vote for the candidate(s) you think will do a good job on the committee.

08/08/2024

Photo dump of my main doe group and my bucks

07/08/2024

A Mavey bean in a coconut and a Hana bean snoozing in my hand 🤍❤️

Just so people know in advance and don't potentially get their hopes up, all of the bucks are currently spoken for. There were only 6 bucks out of the 17 born!

05/08/2024

Sidon with his son Groose during intros. They both love a nice comfy hammock and their synchronised tail curls then releases as they get comfy are SO precious 🥹

This "hammock" is actually the top of an old cube hammock that was destroyed years ago 😆 reduce, reuse, recycle!

02/08/2024

Me: no jobs this time
Also me: scribes for Pets, does a shift at the PR table and odd jobs 🙈

Tendring was cooler this year and I have pain relief that works, so it was much more enjoyable! Lurelin The Legend of Groose came 4th in Marked and the boys had some great comments. Tingle has "promising stud buck type" so definitely suits his name 😉 Groose just needs to come into his colour.

Lurelin Arrietty, who lived with Katie, was Best Shaded and 3rd Supreme. Lurelin Mei, who lives with Olivia, was 2nd in AOV adult 💖 Mei also won Best in Show at LSC's July show! 🏆 I'm so thankful to the judges for thinking so much of Arri and Mei, it means a lot.

Arri didn't take with Porco and then didn't come back into heat so I don't think she's a fan of him. I've just repaired her to Legolas. The fluctuating high temperatures really aren't helping, but we'll see how things go and I'm doing my best to keep the rat room at a good temperature.

01/08/2024

Hana p*epers 🥰 I can't wait for setup upgrade time! I've also acquired a little pop up play pen that I think will be perfect for some play time next week!

31/07/2024

Mavey pudding p*epers 🥰 they're chunky little beans and are just so scrumptious I could eat them up!

The Bananas (Hana's) have been wandering around with their eyes still closed so bracing for impact 🙈

29/07/2024

Does anyone else channel their inner Steve Irwin if they have arguments during intros?

In other news, Lurelin Lyra Song of the Skies (Faron's son who lives with Louise/Relish Rattery) won Reserve Best Pet at the Summer Cup and won a Special for B**b Man Rat!

26/07/2024

To continue the theme of celebrating life, Lurelin Mavis and Lurelin Legolas welcomed 8 kittens on the 14th July, and Lurelin Hanako and Lurelin Acorn welcomed 9 kittens on the 17th July 💖 Mummas and babies are doing well! Mavis is perpetually hungry though 😆 Here are some photos.

I'm picking up Arrietty, Berry and Alder from Katie's at the weekend where they spent 2 weeks being paired to Porco. So hopefully more beans will be due in the coming weeks!

Priority is going to other breeders who have expressed interest, but there may be some black and agouti kittens available for pet homes. I'll be taking interest for them once they are 6 weeks old. I'm also catching up on my ratmin again. Thank you for being patient 🙂

24/07/2024

🌈 Ch Hyjal Kiki's Delivery Service 🌈
11.10.2021 - 15.07.2024

Where can anyone even begin when it comes to a rat like Kiki?

She came to me in late November 2021 at a time when I was genuinely considering not keeping rats anymore as I'd suffered consecutive hard losses. Kiki and her friends were my “deciding trio”. I think it's safe to say that I'm definitely not giving up rats now 😂 Kiki was reserved at first, but her love of adventuring and affectionate nature shone through. We called her “shark rat” when she was an adolescent as she could sniff out treats from miles away! She eventually developed into a calm, sweet, bombproof rat. But blink and she'd be off exploring!

I was advised to show her and consider breeding her in June 2022 by a judge/nearby breeder, and Tilly, Kiki's breeder, agreed that she was the best of her line and that having a litter from her would be helpful.

Finding a buck for Kiki was a massive exercise in making connections. I eventually took Kiki on a trip to Manchester where she stayed with Debbie (Arecales) to go to her black buck Arecales Bohemian Rhapsody. However, she reabsorbed after 2 weeks. Manchester wasn't doable again, so I then borrowed an agouti buck called Rivendell Federer from Ann. Again, she reabsorbed.

We figured it wasn't meant to be and went on with life. But then Tilly decided to stop breeding, making Kiki the last breeding rat of her particular line. She also continued to do well at shows, so over Christmas I borrowed Federer again as a bit of a hail Mary final attempt.

Kiki birthed on the 7th January 2023. 4 kittens stayed with me, then the others went to Halcyon Stud, Mesozoic Rattery, and Ebonie (Boggles and Boops Photography). Flare, Cana, Hell's Bells, Juniper, Jasmine, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn and Boromir. All perfect in their own ways.

After her litter, Kiki returned to the show bench. She often won the Shaded section and failing that came 2nd. She qualified as a silver champion and retired from showing after the 2023 Spring Cup aged almost 1yr7mos. She was known as “Queen Kiki” among my friends and grew quite the little fan club!

Since then, Kiki welcomed grandchildren (Mavis, Minerva and Blackberry) and great-grandchildren (Hanako, Arrietty, Boba and Alder) into her group along with kittens from my badger line. She was always so easy in every way and just went with the flow while not taking any nonsense. She was happy as long as she had barley rings, cuddles and things to explore. She always had plenty of kisses to give too.

As she aged her muscle tone let her down and her mobility declined. Despite this, she was determined to keep fit and could often be heard gently pottering on the wheel. There was no stopping her! Kiki was always a very determined little rat.

We always joked that Kiki was eternal, but we said goodbye on Monday 15th July after she developed a head tilt. Given her age and declining condition and mobility anyway, it was time. We had gentle cuddles and kisses while we reminisced on our time together, with little bits of boggling in between from her and lots of tears from me despite trying to hold it together for her.

She's been laid to rest in my wildflower garden, and was buried with a barley ring between her hands (her favourite).

Thank you, Kiki. Thank you for being my steadfast companion for over 2.5 years, for being my introduction to showing and breeding, and for giving me my marten line. They have your sense of adventure and soppy personality, and I've been so so blessed by you. Thank you for being such a strong matriarch and for staying for so long. You were absolutely incredible, and will be sorely missed by so many people. Go stash all the barleys over the rainbow bridge, and I'll see you again someday ❤️

15/07/2024

Hi all, I'm taking a break from online rattery stuff for a little while to process the loss of my beloved Kiki. If you need advice, please have a look at my website, the NFRS website/forum, or Rat Care UK on facebook.
Hold your tatties close and give them many kisses ❤️

12/07/2024

Queen Kiki turned 2yrs9mos yesterday! She's still able to get around her active layout and is now being supplemented with Weight Up Baby every morning 🥰 I'm not sure how much longer she has left with a good quality of life, but I'm so grateful that she's still here!

She's with her agouti daughters Flare and Cana, then her granddaughter Blackberry and great-granddaughter Alder. They're always at the door wanting cuddles and snacks, and Kiki loves climbing onto my shoulder for a boggle

And a bit of sad news... Rivendell Federer, the founding father of my marten line who lived with Ann, has passed away aged 2yrs2mos.

10/07/2024

I like being productive and helpful, and I used to do animal education workshops, so you can imagine how happy I was to have had some time to write 😂 I've topped up my stockpile of articles for Pro-Rat-A (not doing any more after this), brainstormed ideas, and added an article on mammary tumours to the website: https://lurelinrats.wixsite.com/lurelin/mammary-tumours

As always, any feedback is appreciated. If the feedback is that I need to continue working on the genetics section... I know, I get semi-regular messages 🤣 I'm planning on revisiting it when I start sitting in.

Mipha snuggling into her aunt Faron during intros 🥰

08/07/2024

I'll be coming out of my showing break soon! It'll be good to see people again and find out what judges think about some of the rats.

If you would like to meet some of the rats and I, have a look at our show schedule: https://lurelinrats.wixsite.com/lurelin/show-results

Impa and Midna for rat tax 💚🖤 the rats are all doing well. Minnie managed to get a little cut on the underside of her urethra of all places, so she's having some metacam to reduce the swelling and make it more comfortable to p*e while it heals. ✨ Rats ✨

05/07/2024

Prewarning that this is sappy even by my standards but I feel like it's really important to say...

To the Lurelin homes,

Every single one of you has given a loving home to my rats’ babies. You give me updates on how much they're loving life which just makes me so happy, and feed into my selection process with any comments and health updates.

Please never feel like you can't come to me with something. I can't promise that my rats will be 100% perfect all of the time, that I'll be around 24/7, or I'll always know the answer, but I promise that I care whole-heartedly and will respond to you when I can (I aim for within 36hrs) and try to help in any way, shape or form. If you need to re-home your Lurelin rats, you can come to me. If you want a second opinion, you can ask.

A lot of love, thought, time and effort goes into my rats on my end, but they are still very much so a team effort. I want to do my best by them, the other breeders who help me, and their homes. You will never be judged, ignored or blocked by me.

Huck the Boggly Buck for tax 💙

03/07/2024

Did somebody say "treats"?! 👀

Alder ❤️

01/07/2024

Sidon waiting ever so patiently to meet his kittens' new home at the weekend!

01/07/2024

Please contact Sam directly if these girlies are of interest! 🐀

28/06/2024

It's warming up! Remember that preventing the room from heating up in the first place is the most important thing that you can do to keep your rats comfortable.

26/06/2024

My mix back in 2020 vs 2024!

I started making my own mix to make things more affordable when COVID hit and since then I've slowly played around with new ingredients and proportions of them. My mix has gone through so many iterations and I still have things I'd like to try with it.

It's another example of "we all start somewhere". A homemade shunamite-style mix takes a bit of time to get into the groove of, and you learn what tweaks to make based on the condition of your rats.

Diet info and a mini guide for how to make your own mix: https://lurelinrats.wixsite.com/lurelin/diet

24/06/2024

These little ladies (Nettle, Fern and Blossom) are heading off to their new home at the weekend! Just them and 2 more does and they've all flown the nest 🥹

The kittens are 9 and 9.5 weeks old now, so it'll be intro time in another week for the does and 2 weeks for the bucks. I really enjoy intros - it's nice watching new bonds forming! I have intro advice here if anyone needs it: https://lurelinrats.wixsite.com/lurelin/introducing-new-rats

21/06/2024

Groose, Tingle, Ruto and Perda at 9 weeks old and almost 9 weeks old 🧡💚💙💛

The marten pairings haven't worked out (not a surprise as it's summer and a pants time to breed). I'll give it another go but failing that I'll have to try again in autumn. I'm actually quite appreciative of the break! I've been rebuilding Lurelin Village in Tears of the Kingdom 😉 I had dealt with all of the pirates apart from one then dropped a bomb on myself, so had to redo the whole fight 🫠

19/06/2024

❤️ A Little Bit About Hanako ❤️

If you know Hana, you'll know that I don't have many nice photos of her as she likes to scowl and reaaaaally squeeze poops out whenever I try to take photos of her. So this photo is a miracle!

Hana is a gremlin 😆 She grabs the nummie pot and almost sends it flying every single night! She may seem quiet, but she's a naughty bean! But she redeems herself by being very kissy and sweet in between the gremlinness 😉

I only have Hana from Minnie's litter now. Her sister Boba went to live with a friend to prevent a lone rat situation. I miss her so much, but I'm glad I could help a friend out and she's getting a lot of love and attention!