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Sleep peacefully my boy

4K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  Andrew 
#1 ·
My elder statesman, my Blake, died Monday. He was my introduction to breeding, he started off my mouse family. He was around eight weeks old when I took him in on 20 January 2012. A couple of months down the line I decided to breed from Blake and the pick of my two girls at the time. Sadly I got off to a rocky start when Krystle died suddenly during her pregnancy. I thought it wise to spare her poor sister the same fate and a short while later in May I got two new girls, and Blake and Dominique welcomed a litter of six on 15 July 2012. A couple of mishaps happened later which resulted in three more litters before the end of the year giving Blake a total of 30 grandchildren, of which I still own eight of them. Some died young, most were rehomed. In his long life, Blake has outlived Dominique, her sister, and sadly his daughter Caress and her daughter Sybil. Recently I've seen him rapidly decline from the very lively little boy he once was, and he fought a good fight to hold on while his body slowly shut down over the course of about a week. On the morning of 27 January, before heading off to work, I said a very fond goodbye to my little one knowing his time had come. I placed him down gently, and as expected I came home to find he'd gone. I've buried him in the garden, just across from his family.

He wasn't a prize-winning beauty, the little hair he did have he lost a few months ago and he was a thin, wart-ridden old boy all his life, but he was the sweetest, gentlest, smartest, most lively, friendly and sociable mouse I've ever known. I'll miss him terribly. He was nightmare to photograph, but here's a sneaky one I took last summer.

Blake, November 2011 to 27 January 2014

 
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#4 ·
Well since Blake it's all been downhill, and it's been sort of a regeneration, a new beginning. My mouse family I built up from a couple of years ago has almost all gone.
My losses this year -

Lady Mary
18 November 2012 - 12 February 2014

Annie
30 September 2012 - 4 March 2014

Bliss and Colby
15 July 2012 - 11 March 2014

Cosmo
18 November 2012 - 1 April 2014

Elsie
30 September 2012 - 20 April 2014

Valerie
30 September 2012 - 26 April 2014

Vera
30 September 2012 - 11 June 2014

Kirby
15 July 2012 - 17 June 2014

Dexter
15 July 2012 - 1 July 2014

Carrington
15 July 2012 - 14 August 2014

Carrington was very special to me, so I was extremely sad when he died recently, and Dexter was a mischievous little thing I'll miss him lots. I'm left with only Branson and Theo from my 2012 family (both from the November litter), and they've cooked up some newbies for me and lots have gone to happy new homes. Don't think I'll ever have as many again, but I'm glad I kept each and every one of them :)
 
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