Showtime

Posted on February 17, 2012 by toyah

This week has been mainly geared up with organising myself for the Scottish Rat Club show in Livingston on Saturday, which I am show seccing. All the entries are now in, the paperwork is being printed, and I’ll spend this evening filling in critique forms in preparation for tomorrow. At least it’s only an hour’s drive to the show from here so I even have a chance at being on time!

I won’t be showing as I don’t like to show when I have new babies in the house, and as of this morning we have eleven new additions courtesy of Precious. All eleven seem perfect, healthy, and full of milk, and Precious herself is in fine form. It’ll be a little while until I can tell exactly what we have so there won’t be any news on reservations until they’re three or four weeks old at least, and I can decide what I want to keep myself. More photos to follow once they’re a bit more silver and a bit less pink.

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New additions

Posted on January 17, 2012 by toyah

Saturday saw me at my first show of the year, judging the Yorkshire Rat Club‘s January show. There were about seventy entries, and some lovely rats there but the final decisions were easy – a quality rat always shines through. There were lots of marked compared to what I’m used to seeing up in the North and in Scotland, and some really nice examples. I also got to judge my first downunder – a very cute black downunder hooded dumbo boy.

And of course I didn’t come back empty handed. The wonderful Lisa of Blairwitch Stud dropped off my two new arrivals from Rivendell – a very sweet ivory doe, and something a little bit more unusual …

Please meet Rivendell All That Glitters, who is probably best described as a golden silver agouti. I’m still trying to decide who will be best to mate her to when she’s of age, but I’m sure whoever it is we will have some beautiful kittens from her.

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New year plans

Posted on January 1, 2012 by toyah

2012 has started with a website move and redesign for Hawthorn rats – to a blog format that should be easier and quicker to update. It’s January, and it’s time to start making plans for the coming year.

The first plans we have for this year are to move along with our silver agoutis – this is my absolute favourite variety, a bright and striking combination of near black on a white and grey background, completed with cranberry red eyes. Hawthorn Precious Metal and Hawthorn Erasmus will hopefully give me a litter in February of this year. Precious is the best coloured silver I have bred so far, and she knows she’s special – she’s an outgoing and social girl, who is a real favourite round here with visitors. Erasmus was originally reserved to go to Ratoon rattery when he was a baby, but I just couldn’t let him go, and thankfully Lizzi agreed on him staying here. He’s a big, solid boy with the gentle intelligence of his mother, Origami. Hopefully there’ll be news on kittens from this pair to post soon.

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