Mabel is the animal that Jodie might as well have given birth to. She came to Fripps alone as her mum rejected her and Jodie hand-reared her from only a few weeks old. Meerkats are VERY sociable and can’t be alone so for 8 weeks she was glued to Jodie. She sat in Jodie’s pocket while Jodie did all the other farm chores and then she slept in Jodie’s bed every night. She didn’t leave Jodie’s side. Because of that, Jodie and Mabel have a bond like nothing else. Jodie spent those 8 weeks trying to find other meerkat babies to give Mabel the best life possible. You can’t put adult meerkats in with babies as they would probably kill them so it took all that time finding other babies. Eventually babies were found at another rescue centre and Maud, Macy and Spartacus came to join Mabel in their amazing new meerkat home. Mabel took to the new babies instantly and they are one big happy family now although Mabel does still sleep in Jodie’s bed once a week. Even though she’s got her own family, she remains as close to Jodie as ever. Mabel would happily sit on Jodie’s shoulder all day! To Jodie, Mabel is EVERYTHING. She shouldn’t have favourites but this little girl is just something else.

Maud came to join Mabel along with Macy from another rescue centre. They instantly hit it off with Mabel and formed their own little family (a group of meerkats is called a mob). Maud and Macy hadn’t been handled like Mabel had, yet Maud is still very confident and cuddly. Jodie regularly picks her up for cuddles and kisses. Maud loves her food and can even tell the others off if they get too close to her when she’s eating. Although they’re all still young, Jodie thinks Maud is going to be the boss/matriarch as she’s already very bossy! Also Jodie is going to have to watch Maud’s weight as she loves her food so much she’s looking a little chubby!!

Macy came to join Mabel with Maud from another rescue centre. Macy is the only meerkat in the mob who doesn’t like being handled. She will bite anyone who tries to pick her up and meerkats have VERY sharp teeth!! Although she doesn’t seem to like humans at all, she adores all the other meerkats and snuggles with them constantly. She is so good with all the others and they all love each other so much. Jodie isn’t going to give up and keeps trying to pick her up, resulting in lots of cuts and blood on her fingers!!

After Jodie found Macy and Maud to go with Mabel, she popped over to the rescue centre again with a friend who was also picking up some new meerkats to go with his lone one. Because Jodie now had a group of 3 girls, she decided to take one more, a boy, so that they can eventually have their own family. The 5 freedoms of animal welfare states that animals should be able to live as they would naturally and meerkats naturally have families and raise them together in the mob so it is Jodie’s wish that they have babies in the future. Spartacus is a real little character, being the only boy he gets mothered by the girls. He wasn’t handled much before he came to Fripps but he loves cuddles from Jodie. He’s a real cutie.