Alright my favorite rat experts :) only when difficult :) ha

[hopefloats]

I wonder I do lol he is still such a jerk, but i cannot tell if he is the same jerk or a different jerk LOL I know he did that to the other rats and quit. I think that is the key, is if he stops it, with dopey he never did. Now it is a waiting game to see if he tolerates these guys.

 

[hopefloats]

Well the 9 babies and 8 boys are done. Happy as clams now. romeo is still a bit of a whiner, but not like he was.

I decided since the other group is not much into playing, the two boys are going with the big boys. all 17

Intros have been ok, not wonderful but ok. None of the other boys are out right attacking but horatio the hairless is terrified. I have been keeping a few hidey houses out, and a rabbit cage but that is it.

Big group boys were a bit nippy, but now they dont really do much when they come around. The two boys are still worried, cant imagine why I mean it is only 17 other rats.

I am thinking about blocking off the very top section, the single part on the top of the rat mahal, putting the two boys in there. Giving them all the out time together from here on out. But no cage. I seem to not move them in at the right time ever. Then fights break out.

 

[jorats]

Your quite the pro at this now Peggy.
Sounds like you've got a good plan. Go with your gut.

 

[hopefloats]

Your quite the pro at this now Peggy.
Sounds like you've got a good plan. Go with your gut.

I dont think so LOL none of my males intros have worked! Granted they are all with templeton the rat with the manberries that dont go away. I have done a lot of babies to adult females, adult females to adult females, babies to adult males, and females to males but I cannot get a male to male to work. I dont know if I am terrified from the drama with Templeton or what. I really need a successful male intro! Bad! I am so second guessing myself which is why this is the 3rd time for intros for them. It took this long to figure out which group they belonged in.

I just want it to work, I see these two guys on the table and they are sooo interested in the other rats and I want them in a big group, I seriously question if i can though. If you know what I mean. I am sure you do since you were there through sir jerk bottom. LOL

 

[Moon]

 

[jorats]

What I mean is that you know to change things up and move them around to where they belong.
A pro knows when to go on or when to stop, when to take a break or when it just won't work.
I can tell from your description and observations you know how to handle them. :thumbup:

 

[hopefloats]

Thanks Moon! LOL

LOL I still say with others yes, males NO. lol I am cleaning the cage up and going to test the water on letting them run in an out of it tonight. I think my little guy flynn might be the next neuter candidate. It is still to early to say for sure he is a bit of a bully to the rats but I think he might be alpha in that cage which is strange.

 

[hopefloats]

Cleaned the cage up, Block off the very top section for the two boys. I scrubbed the cage really well and let them all run loose. It has been about 2 hours since I finished. I planted peanuts around the cage :laugh4: I also put two treat bags in there to preoccupy them. Had a plate of cucumbers and carrots to keep them busy on the table. So they had a night full of treats.

Horatio is scared but he moves around the cage. Flynn is a jerk and keeps chasing them he is on his 3rd time out right now :cop: I think the next offense from him I will hold him down a bit.

Horatio did take a nap with a baby.

Happens to be dead baby that he napped with

Flynn and horatio need a neuter. Not sure when I will do it. I will see how it goes and if it keeps up bad the I will be hopefully 4 less testicles here.

 

[jorats]

What an aorable dead rat. Lol

 

[hopefloats]

I have figured out it is a lot more boys so a lot more of the pecking order to be figured out. Finely got it tonight, he was so determined to beat the new guy up, well the new guy is bigger and not scared lol so I split them up for the night i will go back at it tomorrow. The best part is, both of these are my only two neutered males in there

 

[Joanne]

The best part is, both of these are my only two neutered males in there

Figures, eh?

 

[hopefloats]

I like keep a tally of male intros, I wish i would of put the girls on here too. So this is the main reason why my thread is a 1000 pages long

We are still at Horatio freaking out in the cage and Tart is a bit as well. I put them in the opposite part of the cage that they were in last night after some out time. I know romeo calmed down he still has his moments he is just a screamer, but it took a while. I could trust my bigger boys since I seen they were not hurting them. I havent learned to trust the two new guys yet so I dont want my boys hurt. Tart has been a bit of a biter but he is neutered so not much more I can do there. They have been together most of the day, but split up for a few hours while they were unattended when I went to work.

I am trying to pinpoint which rats Horatio has the biggest problem with. it doesn't appear to be all the rats when he is alone with the babies he is fine. I will start adding some big boys in with him tomorrow and see when we hit the freak out point. Last night I had dopey with him and he seemed ok with him as well.

Lenny was cocky but now he is trying to hard to be pinned by tart. he will literally crawl under him go belly up like he is being pinned and wait for Tart to groom him. It is beyond funny to watch but I cannot figure out what in the hell he does that for.

... new day tomorrow

 

[hopefloats]

These boys are the new trouble kids

I guess they did not like being limited to only 2 parts of their 5 part cage, one of them opened up my block job and when I got up this morning, one rat was a good boy and stayed where I told them to.

So i give up on separating them. Today it has been free roam cage all day. It has been pretty quiet too. Horatio and Tart sleep on one hammock in one section alone while the boys stay up in the very top part of the cage. One thing I love about this cage with 19 males, they still have room to be alone.

Horatio seems to be easing up a bit. He was out walking around without major T-rex stances. I also spotted him in the basket with some of the babies. He was even brave enough to sniff Edgar, but Edgar did not approve. I am hopeful LOL I really would like to get a successful adult male intro under my belt

I am happy because I packed all the extra cages away in the garage, so I am officially down to only two cages. Large cages but two cages none the less. I would rather clean the big cage that mess with those stupid little cages ever again.

 

[jorats]

lol... if there's a will, there's a way.
That's awesome that by accident, it's working out. Woot!!

 

[hopefloats]

They survived the night. I found Tart with the other boys sleeping in the favorite sleeping part of the cage leaving Horatio to sleep alone in which he did on his lone hammock. One new male in the group one to go.

The 8 original males from the group seem to only test them for a few days then they try to comfort them or let them in the group.

It makes me see that I had damn near impossible intros with Dopey and Templeton. Considering they were my first attempt at male intros it is ironic I just happened to have the two worst males to intro. I don't even think it was Dopey so much but Templeton was just a huge jerk :laugh4:

I am excited since these boys have been with me for a while now. I have watched them watch the rats wanting to see them and now they can have tons of buddies to play with. these two really are hyper, they would spend a lot of time popcorning around and wrestling each other which is why I decided they needed to live with the group that plays more than the other group. That and Templeton just wins at me never trying intro with him :whip:

Now I sit back and wait for the rat pile with the new guys!

 

[hopefloats]

The two boys were sleeping in the spot with the rest of the boys again. During out time they actually ran around more than anything. Horatio has been hiding in the corner then entire time the cage is open. Now i find him all over the table playing with the babies. He is still a bit freaked out but I guess my other boys are really ideal boys for intros we havent had one rat ball with them.

I think Flynn might be alpha, yay he is a jerk. I can never tell with this group but Flynn is the only one who is actually biting the others. He dont bite hard so i guess he isn't a jerk, but he is always messing with Romeo and Horatio.

I officially take back saying male introductions are the worse. It is just the introductions with Dopey and Templeton.

 

[jorats]

There is always a couple of bad apples in the barrel. lol
Well, not so bad but just harder to convince.
How's the screamer?

 

[hopefloats]

Well Romeo was my screamer, but now he has a few buddies. They have begun to pin and power groom like big boys now not playing :whip: so there is one beige/fawn boy who squeaks as much as romeo screams. Romeo only screams a few times a day versus all day.

Horatio the new added hairless that came with Tart (mr lefty and the Shakespeare babies in July when i took them in) *wasnt sure if i explained who they were * LOL well since he was added he now have a lovely scream to add to the quartet I have. But he is calming down I can see his confindence building he is able to play and run around during out time. He spent days sittting in the corner shaking. I am mean and let him do it. Since nothing i did helped dopey LOL



What I cant figure out is which black rat they hate, or if they hate all 4. Bart, Eli, Edgar, or flynn. It is kinda hard to tell who is when they are doing a mad dash around the cage trying to catch the screaming baby. Then they catch him, and they walk away LOL it is literally just torture with no pain.

I have been holding down the black rats who are near the scream, Flynn has this awesome little wagging tail, So I know he is one of them. I think the other is Eli (he didnt take after his namesake of shelagh's rat). I am also learning that the screamer himself will cause the others to get them.

So i am trying to figure out who will hear "Off with his nuts!"

Other than that they have been together since they decided it was cool to break and enter into the other part of the cage. I have left them totally alone and we have no injuries other than Finley that first night. It is just a working out process now i guess. Hell with 19 rats I think that might take longer than normal LOL

 

[jorats]

Keep in mind that sometimes the rats doing the bullying are needed to settle down the maturing bucks. In a colony of all males, they are going to need one hell of a good alpha to keep the peace.

 

[hopefloats]

I kinda figured LOL Eli and flynn seem to be the ones. Even then they are still not like Templeton was. They do chase them but sometime flynn does it just to do it you can tell, he has a bit of pika in him i think.

I try not to interfere except when i see a baby minding his own business and Flynn find thatas enough reason to chase. those boys are all set in their ways. Edgar was not happy that someone was in his hammock, he is usually my mild boy.

I know we are still early yet, I look for this to happen for a while. The babies were not 100% established with them before I started a new intro with the two boys I am excited it is on it way to being done, I have two groups, and only two cages!

After having everyone split up since skittles gave birth, I have moving rats around since July 6th! I am ready for a break. I was up to 5 cages that is way to much for me even if the numbers havent changed LOL doesnt make sense at all but it is harder that way.