A new rat in the house

[kathrynsratties]

A week ago I got a new rat who I named Joey. I don't know how old he is but he's the same size as my other 2 rats who are approx. 5-6 months old. Anyway I had to keep Joey in the bottom half of their large cage because that's the only thing that would work. I expected a rat in a new home to be shy but not Joey from the first day on he's been very confident and he's already comfortable with me! The rats had already smelled each other, seen each other through bars and been in each others half of the cage so I thought I should introduce them yesterday. I brought all 3 of the rats to my bathtub ( a neutral area ) and sat down with them. At first everything was great! Nimbus (the dominant of my pair of other males) asserted his dominance by jumping off his back and then letting off which I knew was normal and Peanut (the other male) and Joey just ignored each other or sniffed each other and went on their way.Then Nimbus jumped on Joey's back again when Joey turned around fighted with him then pinned him on his back and bit him (it left a bloody scar on poor Nimbus) and so I removed Joey and put the rats back in their cage. Today while I was spending my time with Nimbus and Peanut, Peanut jumped from my leg into Joey's cage I couldn't catch him in time and Joey immediately started ti fight with Peanut which went on for about a minute until I could catch Peanut and remove him. It seems as if Joey isn't just trying to show dominance, to me it seems stronger then that. Where do I go from here? Joey can't live by himself forever. I don't have enough time to spend with my 2 rats and then joey. Any ideas? Sorry it was so long

 

[jorats]

It sounds all pretty normal with rats and I don't see any aggression there yet. Joey is defending himself and his home.
I would move the intro to a smaller table top with yummy food in the middle and nothing else. Each time Nimbus goes to jump on Joey, prevent him. Put your hand up like a wall and say no. When he turns the other way, give him a super yummy treat. Do this for the next few intros. Never end your intros on a bad note. If they scuffles, separate, wait a bit, give everyone a super yummy treat and then finish it.

 

[kathrynsratties]

I tried this and again like before everything was fine but Nimbus went under Joey and I couldn't stop him and again they were full on fighting just making horrible sounds and I couldn't break them off because they weren't backing off they were too close together and I would've gotten bit so eventually one of them fell/jumped off the table so I did what you said, put them back in their cage, gave them treats and all and put them back together for one munute and kept them from going at it until I called it a night. Also one problem with my rats is that they only eat treats when they feel 100% comfortable which obviously wasn't the case or when they're in their cage, otherwise they just push them out of their way

 

[jorats]

You will need to watch them closely and stop any interactions during intros. Don't allow Nimbus to ever touch Joey. Do this for the first few times.