Born: 12/05/04

"Squidge" was a word my parents used when I was a kid when they grabbed at baby fat or gave big hugs, and Sguidgy fits the description. He's an easy going boy who is perfectly satisfied to cuddle and snooze the day away.  He does enjoy coming out to explore, but will usually only look for a place to snuggle!  His favorite spots are under the bed covers and under the computer monitor.

Squidge passes his wonderful, loving attitude and his super soft coat on to all of his children!

He is also a prize winner; Squidge was awarded "Best of Variety" and "Reserve Best of Show" at the RatsPacNW Winter Show, in Dec. 2005.  He's also won several Pet Class titles in his old age  : )

Born: 06/03/06

Fritz has an absolutely vunderful coat; thick and curly without bare spots, and an excellent physical build.  He wiped out the competition at the September RatsPacNW show, taking home Best of Section, Best of Variety, and Best of Show; this is especially impressive when you consider that this show had a really tough competition - there were some gorgeous rats!

Along with his looks, Fritz has an awesome personality; He's a big bean-bag of a boy who just loves his loving!  He gets along wonderfully with any other rat you introduce him to, and never gets in any skirmishes with his cagemates. He's the calmest male in my colony!  Just a sweet, easy going guy all around.

Born: 02/07

Freddy is a black roan buck, born to CAVE Heidelberg and CAVE Johanna in February, 2007 as part of the Great Scare Litter.

Freddy is the best example of the roan standard currently in the North West, though he has several relatives who come close. He won Best of Show (kittens) at Rat-a-Rama in Boise in May 2007 with a total score of 98 out of 100 (the highest of any I've ever shown!).  He also has a really great thick and plushy rex coat.

Freddy is a wonderful rat too - VERY social, sweet and outgoing! He lives with Squidge and Squish and they love to snooze and groom together.

Born: 05/28/06

If rat colonies had frats, Alexander would be the president!  This boy is a party on the hoof; he always wants attention and is usually the first at the door of the cage (or hanging on the bars if the door isn't open).  He's very much like his momma - very smart, outgoing and social, and he has the same orangey-red agouti color.

Though I'm not supposed to have 'favorites', it's hard not to adore Alex!  I look forward to seeing this boy every time I walk into the rat room.  If he were a human, he'd be Ferris Bueller.

I haven't shown Alex, as his markings aren't really classifiable for it, and because he has a bit of head tilt, but his personality is hard to beat!

Born: 06/03/06

 Wilhelm used to be Alex's wild frat brother, but he's calmed down into the kind of dude that sits there and says "Hey, it's alllll good."  He's just a great, easy-going boy, who loves his cuddling!

Born: 08/09/06

Heidelberg Van Deutch (usually just 'Hidel' for short) is a blue roan buck with rub eyes, who was born to Squeek and CAVE Grey Girl on August 9th, 2006 as part of the German Tour Litter.

Heidelberg was born a beautiful blue with excellent white berkshire markings and a blaze; he has roaned out (faded to white) too quickly, and looks much like an albino 'lab rat' now..

Hidel is a very calm, easy going boy (though a little shy), who is happy just hanging out on the couch and getting tummy kisses. He's a very sweet guy who passes on his sweetness to his babies   : )

Heidelberg is named after the city in Germany where I adopted his Daddy.  He is a half-brother to Fritz and Wilhelm, and has several full and half sisters here too.

Born: 10/22/06

"Jenny" is a sweet little boy, who loves coming out for attention.  He's a fairly little guy, but is just a lovely glossy black;  he's the first male I've owned who everyone mistakes for a girl (don't tell him that!) because he's so petite and fine featured.

Jen loves coming out and is sooo well behaved (unlike most of my monsters) that I never have to worry about chewing or marking. He will also lay on his back and let me kiss and tickle his belly as much as I want without wiggling to get away  ; )  He's just a lovely little fuzz butt to enjoy when I'm working on homework!

Born: 05/28/06

Lance is my biggest boy by quite a leap.  He's gone from being very quiet and a little shy, to being very confident.  He's a big cuddler who's usually trying to muscle past Alex for love!  Though he's the biggest, he gets along with everybody -- he was a wonderfully gentle roommate to Squeek when he was ill, and has roomed with almost everybody else at some point too.  He really loves his cuddling, and enjoys being squished, squeezed and rubbed by anyone who's willing -- a real bean bag boy! 

Born: 08/07/06

Milo has a harelip and some nasty scarring from a previous injury, and became frightened of most other rats as a baby (who picked on him horribly, for some unknown reason). Because of this, he won't tolerate any other rats anywhere near him and lives alone (quite happily though).  He's a sweet, very outgoing boy who's just about impossible to contain; he just wants to be out cooling his heels where ever I am.   :)

Born: 11/06

 Squish is a huge schmooze who's always asking for cuddles and he's wonderfully squishy (thus his name!), making it a job to give him what he wants.  He's a wonderful little clone of his daddy - I have to look twice to tell them apart!

Born: 08/18/05

Squiggle is VERY much like his daddy; he loves to snuggle and can never get enough attention - as long as he's being fussed over by someone (anyone) he's in 7th heaven! He's a nice mix of activity and cuddle; and has been well fawned-over at all the shows he has attended (he enjoys going, but hasn't actually been shown himself - his markings are not classified).  A very sweet, easy-going guy.

Squiggle also inherited his daddy's soft fur;  many male rats have a courser hair than female rats - Squidge, his babies, and his grandbabies are all as soft as the ladies!

An older woman adopted two 'female' rats from her local pet store to be companions, and was surprised when one had babies not long after.  It turned out that the pet store had given her a male and a female!  The problem only got worse when the babies had babies before they looked anywhere near old enough - ratties can get pregnant at 5 to 6 weeks old, when they're still tiny babies themselves!  Luckily, RatsPacNW stepped in to help, and Critter Cave adopted 2 ratties - Kenmore and a little girl named Forest, to help  : )

Kenmore earned his name too - he lived under the lady's dryer for a month because he had scooted away and she couldn't catch him.  He came to us with some behavioral problems; his owner had so many rats, that he didn't get the one-on-one he should have and wasn't well socialized.  He also got very aggressive as he aged, but a quick 'fix' made him a happy man once again.  He now lives happily in one of my ladies cages.