Hi all,

As promised on the PT facebook page, here is the introduction page for the new and long-awaited additions!

I have been pet-less since I lost Mercy well over a year ago now, and was away from her during term time. I was previously living in a flat in central London with other vet students, and we had neither the permission nor the facilities and time to care for pets properly. With preclinical studies now over, I've moved out to a countryside house in Hertfordshire to continue with clinical education (very exciting!). Thanks to a lovely landlady, at last I have rats back in my life. And this time... there's four of them.

They're all sisters - two belong to myself and two to my flatmate - but all four are living together. Mine are called Avalon and Eden, and my housemate's are called Tango and Cash. We brought them home Saturday morning and all are settling in well. Personalities are already truly established, and we've already had the inevitable rat-lost-behind-the-sofa and overly-ambitious-climbing moments to deal with. They have had several adoring visitors from the veterinary student community already and more are lined up - they seem to have accrued an almost celebrity status! The downside of this is that they'll have to deal with lots of physical exam practice. We may enrol them as training animals in the college as handling practice for student veterinary nurses once they're grown.

We've tried not to shove a camera in their little faces too often as they've had a busy two days, but here are some pics! Hope you enjoy.

Here's all four of them together when we brought them home. First pic clockwise from top left - Cash, Tango, Eden and Avalon.





Individual shots - firstly Avalon. She's a champagne bareback and probably the quietest of the four.