Kasi and Tammy are the remaining two females from Thelma's litter. Kasi was the most outgoing rat of all the rats from the litter. Tammy was the last one not picked, the leftover. So they both ended up staying with their mom.  As it turns out, Tammy is just as strong and outgoing as her sister. In fact, I've never had to little girls who thought they were grown up like these two.

Generally when I let the rats out, Kasi and Tammy, who are both hyper, run all over the place, bouncing from wall to wall like a pinball. They stop and get a couple peas or corn and then run again. They just love the room and they love playing around in it.  But since they're still new to the clan, the regular bullies, Mickey, Hillary and the Sugars still want to pick on them. Those four have been picking on their mom and aunt since they came and they end up getting put back in the cage because they won't stop.  But with the babies, there doesn't seem to be a problem. You see, Kasi and Tammy can fight with the best of them.  Sure, they're only seven weeks old. But they don't know that.  I often hear squealing coming from one side of the room. I'll look over and there's Hillary beating up on Tammy. Well, attempting to beat up on her. Rather than run and let Hillary do her dirty work, Tammy fights back. She stands on her hind legs and fights. Then I'll hear more squealing. Mickey's trying to beat up Kasi. But Kasi won't stand for it. She stands up and fights back. The babies don't always win, but they try.  And because the other rats are realizing that these two babies aren't going to be docile, shy rats who take a beating, they're starting to back off. I have no doubt that Tammy and Kasi will be alpha rats.

Often Tammy or Kasi will jump on one of the more docile rats to play, like Cinnamon or Suzy.  I'll hear squealing and look over and see the bigger rat trying to get away.  Don't they know the babies want to play!?!

At night, the two are playing and wrestling and climbing all night.  I don't see them sleep much. I think they know a rat only lives three years so they want to get as much playtime in as they can.  The Sugars are the two meanest rats I've ever had.  When new rats arrive, they generally avoid the Sugars. Not these two.

I've seen both babies run up to the Sugars to play.  The Sugars don't like to play. Do Tammy and Kasi care? No. They will either fight back or just run to someone else to play, including me.  When the Sugars tore holes in my remaining mattress, it was the two babies who followed them inside. It was funny. Never did Hannah or Cinnamon or Eppy go in the holes. Only the babies. They're pretty smart. They're learning bad habits from the older rats.

Kasi is the one who loves to wrestle my hand.  She comes over, wrestles it, runs around in circles, then jumps back on the hand. Tammy is more into climbing up on my shoulder and sitting, but she doesn't like to be held as much. Kasi doesn't care.  She likes to be pet.  When they do sleep, it's easy to tell. Number one, there's no little rats bouncing off the walls of the cage. Number two, you can see two tiny rat heads amongst the bigger ones, sticking out of the hammock or ferret cube. It's pretty funny.

  

Their brother Tatu joins the clan next week (after surgery). That's when I think we're going to have problems telling them apart. Tatu looks just like Tammy, except he has three dots, she only has one.  And Tatu loves to play too.

Neither of the babies likes bread, and only Kasi likes cheese. It's weird. I'll be handing out treats to everyone, and if it's bread or cheese, Tammy will just take it and toss it to the ground. They're even picky about crackers. Sometimes both of them will just take their cracker and drop it. And one thing I like about them so far is that they're not stashers.  About half of the rats in the clan will stash all their treats all over the room or in the cage (or in my bed). Tammy and Kasi generally eat them right there (at least so far).

I've had two different parties asking for one rat.  They both wanted Tammy or Kasi. I just can't split them up.  At the moment, both are available to go to a rat home, but only together and only to a place that already has rats.  And if they don't end up in new homes, they'll stay with me where they will be the alpha rats in no time.