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

[jorats]

Once I see that great divide is gone, I will try moving them in.

That's a great idea.

 

[hopefloats]

The boys have been laying together in one group. THe whole time i cleaned the cages they all huddled up. I was bleaching the cage really well due to the girls having worms, so i figured since I have nothing in the cage, I would put them in there and see how it goes. Templeton bit dopeys nose, then went around his back side and bit his back end. It left a little scratch there but nothing major.

When I do actually put them together, what can i expect to see in the cage? They are going to do some squabbling right?

 

[hopefloats]

these boys will be the death of me I think. I took dopey away, he was starting way to much stuff with them all. So i put him by me for a bit. Templeton is sleeping on the other side of the table. Loki, ludo, AL and Toby are curled up in a little bunch on the other side. If Templeton sees one of the hairless, he moves to the other side. Dopey and Templeton spent half the time out doing stare downs and dopey was looking like he wanted to bite him. He didnt bite them, but he sure showed his teeth.

he refuses to get to close to them, and dopey refuses to give in.

It was easier at first, i seen progress LOL now i am at a dead still and it is hard to see the light.

I even put frozen fruit that i smashed up on all of them, yes the white one still has a pretty pink tint to him, to tempt them to get close, it worked kinda, but kept them busy cleaning themselves.

how cute!

How sad!

I put dopey back, he went over tried to bully Templeton, then went and did this.

Dopey did groom loki a bit so I guess that is a plus.

 

[jorats]

Don't worry, we'll get there.
So what it looks like is that you are at a stalemate. In the cage, there will be squabbling for sure and that can go on for their whole life time and that's normal. Families have disagreements. It looks like they are going to need to "hash it out" and this will only happen in the cage.
When you put them in the cage, how long did you put them in for?
You can at this point continue to do the table intros eventually they will all relax but that can take months. Or you can put them in the cage once it's been the weekly scrub down and see how it goes. If it goes bad, you close up the middle, but leave it open for as long as you can. Boxing, sidling, huffing, puffing, nips, flipping, freezing are all normal and not a reason to separate. But if you see an out right attack, one rat lunges at the other and they become a ball of fur flying, then you separate and go back to table intros.
Oh, here's another idea. Once you scrub down the cage next, can you wheel the cage to the table so the rats can go in and out as they please?

 

[Moon]

I've gotten all caught up on this thread now, LOL. Quite the soap opera!

Just keep working at it! One or two bad days can be followed by lots of success. And it's not unusual for intros to plateau for a while.. YOU CAN DO IT!

 

[hopefloats]

Day 11

LOL @moon yes it is, It is like watching elections trying to figure out if Templeton or dopey will be the next president.

For some reason dopey is more active at night. For some reason that is when he wants to hump them I have them in there for a few minutes. Till dopey and templeton started going at it. Everyone else was checking every thing out. it is them two that wont relax.

I can wheel it up to the table, I even have a board I can put out so i can open the door and they can come out on their own. Today, since I have a lot of homework to do LOL I will scrub it back down in a bit, take every thing out, and I will open the ramp and see how it goes. i will only interfere when it gets ugly LOL.
I will even put it back up to the table.


I wasn't really sure what to expect yesterday so I didn't want to put myself back a step because I was doing it all wrong. I have to have this done before the little boys hormones come into play which is probably due in a few weeks, I can already tell they are getting cocky, last night ludo push Templeton of all rats, out of the cozy igloo. I was shocked, he kept pushing till he kinda fell on the floor of the cage LOL

 

[hopefloats]

They are in there. Templeton did something to Toby, He squeaked really loud but I didn't see a mark on him at all. Templeton is in the bottom half of the cage, sleeping under the ramp the others are up top. Still separated LOL

 

[hopefloats]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyJX17a5LrQ

Dopey runs up to Templeton, stands there with a glare, then runs off lol the others are curled up in a box sleeping. I have the cage right next to me, and right next to the table with a ramp and a two doors opens so they can crawl on the table. Dopey is still holding his attitude LOL. but he is at least eating now.

The other 4 are doing fine, these two are in a battle for whatever.

 

[hopefloats]

Haired boys took over the bottom of the cage. Toby came down, templeton puffed up, stood guard, and poor toby is walking so slow through the cage. The haired boys are in a group on one side, and toby is on the other side LOL.

 

[hopefloats]

maybe I should make it half a cage instead of a whole so they cannot pick a half? right now the haired are on the bottom, the hairless are on top.

 

[jorats]

I wouldn't do just half a cage, we don't want them feeling restricted at all. You can go ahead and add their toys and hammocks in the cage, we'll see if they settle in better with that.

 

[hopefloats]

Ok, i am following your lead! LOL

 

[hopefloats]

We have loki, ludo, al, toby, dopey in one cozy igloo, and templetons cocky self in another LOL

 

[jorats]

lol... it's still very good!

 

[hopefloats]

now they are all separated in pairs, the babies, the oldest haired boys, and the hairless, all in different beds. They are wore out i guess because they have been sleeping for a while.

 

[hopefloats]

now Toby and Templeton went at it, there wasn't any blood but Templeton is not liking them in his cage

 

[jorats]

That's good. They need to go at it a few times to settle who's who and who will be where.

 

[hopefloats]

templeton seems to get on them when they get to close to him, not so much going after them.


He sat there for a bit then hissed and puffed up at dopey.

but a whole lot of mad dogging going on from both sets LOL

 

[hopefloats]

it is really difficult to sit there and watch templeton man handle these boys lol the hairless pretty much stay to the corners away from him, Templeton, gets by Toby, they stare at each other for a minute, then he nips his nose, toby squeaks, Templeton runs on like he was proud of himself LOL. I feel bad for the hairless, and I am not sure if i am suppose to leave them in there for the night and hope for the best or if i separate them till i can watch them again.

 

[hopefloats]

so Templeton just man handled dopey LOL I didn't break it up yay me. He flipped him, but him on his back, dopey was squeaking to my shock he didnt bite him an all, he just used brute force to get him to run. I just with they would let him win, so he can stop already, I am really over this LOL