Lissy
Member
Hello again guys,
We have two male rats, Oogie and Finkel, both around 5 months old, brothers and neutered after a hormonal attack from Finkel very early on. We've had them around 2 1/2 months now. They are both still very skittish, would let me pick them up from the cage with a treat, but dont like being held, so I'm finding bonding a bit hard.
Recently, I think there is a bit of a issue with the hierarchy. Finkel used to be bigger, and would force groom Oogie and everything seemed to work that way. Recently though, Oogie has shot up in size and turned into hulk rat! He's now giving just as much to Finkel as Finkel does to him, more even, I'd say, and the fighting is sounding much worse. No blood yet, so I'm hoping it's normal.
I'm assuming it's normal for the dynamics to change? Oogie bit me the other day through the cage (never fed through the bars, only stroked), but I think it was redirected aggression after a skuffle with Finkel. He's normally the sweet one, so that through me a bit!
And both have suddenly become very, very skittish again! Finkel ran headfirst into the cage the other day as he tried to escape me picking him up!
We've just bought the boys a much bigger cage, and I was wondering if this would help ease the fighting a bit? They both seem to argue a lot when they're in the same space, and we thought giving them a bigger cage would help ease the tension.
I'm also worried about bonding, as it's easy to pick the boys up from their current cage as the whole top opens up to allow access. They won't let me pick them up from the floor, even luring with soft food to eat. I've tried popping them in a dressing gown to get used to me, but both of them are lemmings and escape and hurl themselves to the floor! This new cage won't allow me to pick them up easily without reaching inside, and I really don't think they'll go for that!
Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm struggling a bit and feeling sad, it's felt like a difficult journey from the start and I just want to love them, especially as my good friend has rats the same age, from the same breeder and her's are lovable, floppy, cuddly rats
We have two male rats, Oogie and Finkel, both around 5 months old, brothers and neutered after a hormonal attack from Finkel very early on. We've had them around 2 1/2 months now. They are both still very skittish, would let me pick them up from the cage with a treat, but dont like being held, so I'm finding bonding a bit hard.
Recently, I think there is a bit of a issue with the hierarchy. Finkel used to be bigger, and would force groom Oogie and everything seemed to work that way. Recently though, Oogie has shot up in size and turned into hulk rat! He's now giving just as much to Finkel as Finkel does to him, more even, I'd say, and the fighting is sounding much worse. No blood yet, so I'm hoping it's normal.
I'm assuming it's normal for the dynamics to change? Oogie bit me the other day through the cage (never fed through the bars, only stroked), but I think it was redirected aggression after a skuffle with Finkel. He's normally the sweet one, so that through me a bit!
And both have suddenly become very, very skittish again! Finkel ran headfirst into the cage the other day as he tried to escape me picking him up!We've just bought the boys a much bigger cage, and I was wondering if this would help ease the fighting a bit? They both seem to argue a lot when they're in the same space, and we thought giving them a bigger cage would help ease the tension.
I'm also worried about bonding, as it's easy to pick the boys up from their current cage as the whole top opens up to allow access. They won't let me pick them up from the floor, even luring with soft food to eat. I've tried popping them in a dressing gown to get used to me, but both of them are lemmings and escape and hurl themselves to the floor! This new cage won't allow me to pick them up easily without reaching inside, and I really don't think they'll go for that!
Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm struggling a bit and feeling sad, it's felt like a difficult journey from the start and I just want to love them, especially as my good friend has rats the same age, from the same breeder and her's are lovable, floppy, cuddly rats
