Mighty Rattlers - 2 weeks! - and a SURPRISE...

We've hit the 2 week mark with the Mighty Rattlers!  All are continuing to thrive.  Today will mark their second toenail trim (that's a LOT of toenails - 180, to be exact), and they also started litterbox training this morning...

...They were not impressed.  :)  

But generally by the end of the third week, all pups are getting the hang of it and 'doing their business' in the box more often than not.

They also have graduated to the 'big pool' - a kiddie pool that's MUCH bigger, allowing more room for exploring.  Usually this happens a bit later (like around week 3), but this crew is precocious, for sure, and have been escaping out of their little pool way too often!

They took to the new pool with no problem, and seem to enjoy their new space!

Mama Scarlet and the gang...last pic in the 'baby' pool.
They're starting to have some cute expressions with eyes open - if you look close, you can see how sweet Canebrake's face is (left - resting on mama's booty).

"Ahhhh.  Space to stretch out!"  Of course - the best place to be is still as close as possible to mom and the milkbar.

Color coding - 4 reds, and 2 blacks.  No - I didn't arrange them this way, they did it themselves!

And more color fun - alternating red & black - Canebrake, Rocky, Diamondback, Baja.

And now for our surprise -we're excited to introduce:  The Deadly Viper Assassin Squad (in keeping with our snake theme, since Mama Brie was outside with Scarlet the night she was hit by the rattlesnake, but Brie managed to avoid a bite herself!)

Sire is Baxter (Whisperun CC Baxter at Horsetooth, CGC, TKN), who is also papa to the Mighty Rattlers.  Mom is Brie (Horsetooth Brie de Meaux, RN, CGC, TKN).

Brie's got a big litter like her cousin, Scarlet - 9 total, with 8 girls and 1 boy.  These big litters produce small pups (otherwise they wouldn't all fit in those tiny whippet bellies!), which is new to us.  Before the current pups, Brie had held the record for smallest pup (at 213 grams at birth...which seems huge, compared to our small guys now).  We have all of the pups we've bred through the years in a big xcel spreadsheet - so it's both useful and fun to be able to compare sizes and gains, etc. from litter to litter.

Naming ceremony soon, but here's an early pic of tired mama and her new little ones just after they all arrived, and more details:

Pup 1:  4:19am - Female - Dilute & White Irish marked, tiny white snip on back of neck, white chest, feet & tip of tail.  173 grams

Pup 2:  7:38am - Male - Solid Black, white triangle on chest, white chin snip, tiny bit of white on tips of toes.  240 grams

Pup 3:  8:00am - Female - Solid Fawn or Red, white on chest & toes, black mask.  203 grams

Pup 4:  8:17am - Female - Solid Black with a white chest, white chin snip, very little to no white on toes.  262 grams

Pup 5:  9:44am - Female - Solid Fawn or Red, white 'shield' shape on chest, tiny white snip on nose.  167 grams (littlest pup!)

Pup 6:  10:05am - Female - Brindle Irish marked, white blaze, big white chest, white mittens and tail tip.  204 grams

Pup 7:  10:48am - Female - Black Irish marked, BIG white, hour-glass or leaf-shaped white blaze, mittens, and tail tip.  267 grams (biggest pup!)

Pup 8:  11;08am - Female - Dilute & White Irish marked, lots of white on chest, mittens, and tail tip - no white on neck.  191 grams

Pup 9:  11:16am - Female - Red or Fawn Irish marked, big white mittens/stockings, blaze, and tail tip, big white triangle on chest.  228 grams

Another litter full of Irish-marked & Solids!