 Pearl, before the birth-- acting innocent! |
 3 new born ratlets! If I'd known they were coming, they would have been in a 20 gallon aquarium their first night, rather than the cage shown here. |
 Our Second Day, one is going to have black eyes and a hood. There is a white area on the tummy of each baby, showing that they've been feeding well. |
 Day 3, someone's ears have popped up! They attempt to paddle around with their little arms and legs now. |
 Day 4, everyone has perky ears. I think one at the lower left is a PEW boy, but then, I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at.... |  Day 5, little whiskers are visible around their noses. They also don't stay put for the photo shoot. |
 Day 6, definitely making an attempt to explore, and they feel velvety. The markings on our hooded baby get much darker by the hour. |
 Day 7, we have fur! There is quite definitely a peach fuzz on the ratlets, and I'm having more trouble lining them up for a picture-- they try to explore. |
 Day 8, little nails are visible, and the ratlets are in constant motion. I'm not sure if Pearl buries them in their nest to keep them warm, or keep them in one general area! |
 Day 9, we have features! The little ones are growing those wonderful "arrays" of whiskers that sprout all around their face (sort of like eyebrows) and the bottoms of their hands and feet have those lovely little grippy bits. |
 Day 10, the babies are learning to climb (though their feet seem to go every which way on a flat surface), and actually use their little tails for balance. They still crawl with their bellies to the surface they are on. See how dark the hooded baby's marking are? |
 Day 11, getting better coordinated and moving a lot faster. They seem to have mastered how to use all four limbs, and I suspect they will be zooming around by the time their eyes open. My husband discovered they can also pee without Pearl's assistance now. |
 Day 12, we discover our faces. I saw the hooded baby clean her own face with her hands (after what may have been a sneeze, but let's hope not!) and the little boy definitely gave my palm a kiss. |  Day 13, gender identifying features. Until today, I was 99% sure I had one PEW boy and two girls. Now I'm 100% sure. Today the girls have quite visible mammary chains in neat little rows down each side, just in case we needed verification. |
 Day 14, the babies are walking better with their feet under them rather than splaying to the sides, stopping to sniff at things, and I swear their eyelids look like they are ready to open. Perhaps tomorrow! |  Day 15, opening a few eyes. The little hooded rat has both eyes open today (of course, she's the ratlet whose features are hardest to see in this shot), and the boy has one open. It looks like the remaining eyes will open in the next few hours! |
 Day 16, all eyes open and on the camera. They are making rather good attempts to groom their mom and each other, though they are a bit leaky. We've named them Pixie (hooded girl), Nixie (PEW girl) and Stu! (PEW boy). |  Continued on next page.... |