The Rat Room

I finally have all the Noobs living together and things couldn’t be better for them. Max has become a very happy rat. He enjoys having his girl cuddle up next to him. Rory feels like the king of the castle, he’s claimed his spot on the top of the cube and loves to share it with Molly his queen. This was such an easy intro for me. I’ve had to deal with way more in the past but circumstances allowed this intro to go so well. First both males were neutered, second all 6 rats underwent such a big move they didn’t have time to settle and become territorial in a home with rat residents. I’ve ordered a Critter Nation for them… they deserve the very best and will be getting it next Saturday. I am so pleased I have these little loves.

Chu sleeping over her big manrat Max.

New rat owners always tend to go for the cute little baby rats but they shouldn’t disregard the older ones.
There are many rescues out there who specialize in rats. They have ready made colonies and can match the rats to the owners. Little Mischief Rescue in British Colombia, Canada have done so much in rehoming rats, getting them out of shelters and into forever home. They currently have this sweet little group of 4 males, a year old still waiting for their forever mommy and daddy. These boys are amazing. They are healthy, strong, active, show no aggression towards humans or themselves, they get along quite well which is always a plus with new owners. Those cute babies you buy at the pet store or even a breeder can at some point become bullies or be aggressive. This starts at about 5 to 12 months of age. So if you are ready to be a rat mom or dad please consider an already established colony of older rats. It’s always a perfect fit.

You can contact LMR at http://www.littlemischiefrescue.org/

For the last couple of days, I’ve been putting Rory and Max into the girls cage as part of their intro process. Things have been quiet and good but mainly because Max stays hidden in the downstairs igloo. Whenever his two girls come and hang with him you see him perk up and do the happy head shake. The girls are quite smitten with him too, who wouldn’t be, a strong young black buck like him, with that sexy berkshire tummy.
I’ve been waiting for the sign that it’s time to move them in together permanently. I got it today. Max felt comfortable enough to wander around the cage. He took a walkabout, greeting the girls as he passed and finally reached the upstairs cube where Rory has claimed as his. Max never huffed up, he climbed into the hammock with Rory, the two greeted but nothing more. They exchanged hellos, how are you doing, do yo think she’ll put us on the couch again today? Small talk really… and then Max went back to his den with his girls. I just now looked back at the cage, he’s actually popcorning up and down the stairs. Silly boy… happy boy. Happy mom.
Now I need to wait for the weekend to attach both cage together as well as find a supplier for another Critter Nation.
All is well in Noobland.

I now have 3 colonies of rats. One cage, my young adult males have been living together quite nicely until recently. Some of the young bucks have decided it was time to act up. They are being bullies and just plain mean to some of the others. Then it dawned on me. The Noobs! The noobs have 2 intact females. They are getting spayed on June 4th. The girls must be in overtime sending off their cycle signals which must be driving my boys a little crazy. Even thought their cages aren’t even close together, rats have a keen sense of smell, especially when it’s a “come and get it boys” announcement.
Keeping intact males and intact females in the same household is asking for trouble. The males are living in hormonal hell with the girls begging to be had. Rats are very determined to meet and procreate which is why I always recommend keeping only one sex in the home or altering them. It’s simply not fair to the rats to force them to live with such stress.
I know this will pass with my boys, I need to be a little more firm with the young males, settling them down. June 4th can’t come soon enough. There’s no denying the scent of a woman.

Intros should always be on neutral ground, a place where no rat have been and not yet claimed as theirs. But… when all goes well on neutral ground, it’s time to move to familiar ground hence my dilemma. My Noobs do not have familiar ground. They’ve only called this place home for a week now. However, I realized that the cage could be considered familiar ground yet cages are territory and restrictive so this could turn ugly. But if any aggression will happen, it will be in the cage. I would never ever do this with my residential rats. I have too much respect for them to just throw them in the cage and watch to see if they will battle it out. But with these guys, I had no choice. I chose the girls cage because the girls are quite gentle and welcoming. They already showed me how much they love the boys. If anything would happen, it would be between them. One thing to my advantage is that the cage was not territory to Rory nor Max but could be quickly claimed… as Rory did.
Max kept to the bottom of the cage, accompanied by Chu and Scout while Rory moved into the upper cube cuddling with Bianca and Molly. They stayed like this for the better part of the morning until Rory ventured downstairs. He took offence to seeing Max and immediately flexed his muscle. Max confused allowed to be flipped but wouldn’t allow Rory the customary grooming of the belly and side. He was chattering quite loudly letting Rory know that he was about to lose it. So before anyone got hurt, I plucked Rory off of Max and slipped him back upstairs where Rory immediately decided to go back into the cube and eat the stashed blocks.
Everything has been quiet all day and in the evening as well. I will be separating them tonight, back into their own cages. I won’t risk anything happenning while I’m not here to observe and intervene if necessary. But tomorrow… we will start anew. Getting closer to the day they all live together has one big happy colony.

For intros to be successful, they must be consistent. Skip a day and it could mean starting all over again. The more intros in the day the better. The goal of doing these intros is to allow the rats to get to know each other and to remember that other buddies exists and have the potential to become a bonded buddy. Today, I did two intros. The first one in the morning was going good but with Max still pretty tense. Finally Rory stepped up to the plate and did what Max needed. Rory flipped him. Max was getting out of control again, all worried and stressed out, the girls could sense this and this sent them in a whirl, finally Rory came up to him and flipped him. There was a lot of screaming going on, all from Rory. Silly boy wasn’t sure if what he was doing was the right thing but Max stayed on his back until he was allowed back up. After that, Max went to a corner and collected his thoughts. He allowed Chu to stay with him. The next intro was later in the evening. I’m so glad I put them together on my bed… Max was a changed rat. That flip was all he needed. Max is no longer tense or worried. He allows the girls to mount him, play with him, even grab his face. He and Rory had a good nap in the cube. My heart melted… we will soon be moving the 6 in together. But we can’t rush things, that’s when accidents happen and that can cause quite a set back. A few more intros are still needed.

Today is actually day 2 of intros between the noobs. Both Rory and Max have lived alone, both were neutered so it was time to help them realize they need buddies in their life. After the 4.5 hour travel from Toronto to Sudbury, changing homes is usually the best time for intros. All rats are probably stressed due to the change and will bond faster to each other. Rory was ready for buddies. In fact, he already thinks he’s one of the girls. Max on the other hand is not so sure. He doesn’t know rat body language and is learning it the hard way. Poor bugger doesn’t realize that Chu formerly known as Smoosh and Bianca are harassing him because they are still intact. Molly’s girls are very forward and don’t know the term of taking things slow. They are out and about and ready for a good round. Max… not so much. He becomes stressed and a bully when the girls are too forceful. The first intro yesterday went well, Max did tell Scout formerly known as Scoochee to back off which she did. Today it was little Chu. Chu was busily trying to make a man out of Max and he just didn’t understand the term: mount me. So he pretty much put her in her place in a not so nice way and she came running straight to me. Each time Max flexes his muscle, I dominate him by putting my hand over his head and pressing down firmly. Sometimes I gently pinch between the shoulder blades. It appears that Max needs the dominance. He becomes much more relax when I show him that I am the alpha and he needs to calm down. Meanwhile… Bianca was very busy teaching Rory the fine art of copulating. He wasn’t sure what she wanted but thought the game was great fun.
All in all, it’s going good with Intro the Noobs.

On Sunday, Scott and I travelled 2 hours south of us to meet up with a wonderful friend who was transporting precious cargo to us. I am adopting 4 sweet girls: Molly, mom to Sawyer, Benji and Desmond, Bianca, the older sister to the three boys and their sisters Scoochee and Smooch. As well as adopting 2 lone males, both neutered. They are the problem children. Their current rescue human was working with them to rehabilitate them and eventually give them buddies. I decided to take on the challenge.
I’ll be adding them to the gallery so go have a peek and say hello to my new babies.