smmmiley
Well-Known Member
Miss Skrat is one of the 3 first rat girls we got last Oct. She was 6 weeks old when we got her. One of her sisters died so we got two more girls, then a single girl. We did intros. (mid-end of Nov.) All progressed nicely. So, that's 5 girls.
When doing intros., Miss Skrat was good. She was never one of the girls to fight. She stood her ground, but it seemed to be like she just wanted everyone to get along. lol
I always saw Miss Skrat at the gentler of her sisters. She seemed to be more "snuggly". Didn't run quite as much, liked to stop and enjoy more skritches than her sisters.
She is 4 1/2 months old now.
We brought in 4 older, not as healthy rats a few weeks ago. Two of these girls have respiratory illness, which has gotten better. I didn't know this could be so contagious... thinking it was like asthma in humans. I let the "young girls" and "old girls" sniff each other that first day. When I read about the contagious part, the "old girls" went upstairs, and we kept the "young girls" downstairs for a couple weeks. Both cages are upstairs now, but in different rooms.
On Thursday last week, our son said Miss Skrat's breathing sounded funny. She was clicking a bit. I noticed some wheezing/clicking later in the afternoon too, and tried giving her some of my inhaler. She was NOT happy about that.
Friday, she made some chirping noises, but it didn't last long.
Saturday, I thought we could try doing intros. The respiratory problems didn't seem to be passed on to the other older girls so I figured they weren't contagious and so maybe introing everyone would be okay. We put them in a large cardbaord box together. Sniffs galore. The older girls were more "shy". Didn't have any scraps. Did this for about 30 mins.
All the girls were pooped. Snacked and settled in for naps.
Our son had two friends come over. One of his friends spent a lot of time with the young rats. I let them roam free, and this friend was being gentle with them; however, Miss Skrat didn't want to come out of the cage... very strange. She seemed scared. She didn't even want to come out with me so I let her be. This was around noon.
At 3pm, the older sister of the two friends visiting came to pick them up. She wanted to meet all the rats. Visited the old girls first, then into the room with the young girls. She has 2 pet rats of her own, and has owned rats for a few years. She asked me if they bit... no. never. I step out of the room for a second, she reaches in to let the rats sniff her hand... Miss Skrat nipped her finger! Enough to draw a little blood.
Of all these rats, and all the intros., I've never had a problem. Even the second pair of rats we got who were given treats through the bars constantly by a 2 year-old, lived in a tiny cage and had very little out time... they were definitely shy at first, but have never nipped, even though the owner warned us to be careful about them (because one bit her kitten!).
I thought... maybe Miss Skrat got overwhelmed by the intros., new people, etc...
Later that night, opened up the cage for free time... Miss Skrat was not interested. She has burrowed herself in a box by herself. Sun. morning Miss Skrat still seemed a little out of sorts. She was still in this box by herself and didn't seem interested in coming out of the cage. We brought her down to be by herself for the afternoon to see how she did... she basically napped.
Took her back to her cage. Checked back an hour later. She nipped my finger through the bars, didn't draw blood... never, never, never had a problem with anyone doing this. I skritch their noses through the bars and such. They've all been okay with this.
This evening, she nipped my son's finger, and drew a little blood. He reached in just to get "kisses/licks" from her.
I don't understand what could be happening for this sudden change in bahaviour.
None of the girls are spayed.
When doing intros., Miss Skrat was good. She was never one of the girls to fight. She stood her ground, but it seemed to be like she just wanted everyone to get along. lol
I always saw Miss Skrat at the gentler of her sisters. She seemed to be more "snuggly". Didn't run quite as much, liked to stop and enjoy more skritches than her sisters.
She is 4 1/2 months old now.
We brought in 4 older, not as healthy rats a few weeks ago. Two of these girls have respiratory illness, which has gotten better. I didn't know this could be so contagious... thinking it was like asthma in humans. I let the "young girls" and "old girls" sniff each other that first day. When I read about the contagious part, the "old girls" went upstairs, and we kept the "young girls" downstairs for a couple weeks. Both cages are upstairs now, but in different rooms.
On Thursday last week, our son said Miss Skrat's breathing sounded funny. She was clicking a bit. I noticed some wheezing/clicking later in the afternoon too, and tried giving her some of my inhaler. She was NOT happy about that.
Friday, she made some chirping noises, but it didn't last long.
Saturday, I thought we could try doing intros. The respiratory problems didn't seem to be passed on to the other older girls so I figured they weren't contagious and so maybe introing everyone would be okay. We put them in a large cardbaord box together. Sniffs galore. The older girls were more "shy". Didn't have any scraps. Did this for about 30 mins.
All the girls were pooped. Snacked and settled in for naps.
Our son had two friends come over. One of his friends spent a lot of time with the young rats. I let them roam free, and this friend was being gentle with them; however, Miss Skrat didn't want to come out of the cage... very strange. She seemed scared. She didn't even want to come out with me so I let her be. This was around noon.
At 3pm, the older sister of the two friends visiting came to pick them up. She wanted to meet all the rats. Visited the old girls first, then into the room with the young girls. She has 2 pet rats of her own, and has owned rats for a few years. She asked me if they bit... no. never. I step out of the room for a second, she reaches in to let the rats sniff her hand... Miss Skrat nipped her finger! Enough to draw a little blood.
Of all these rats, and all the intros., I've never had a problem. Even the second pair of rats we got who were given treats through the bars constantly by a 2 year-old, lived in a tiny cage and had very little out time... they were definitely shy at first, but have never nipped, even though the owner warned us to be careful about them (because one bit her kitten!).
I thought... maybe Miss Skrat got overwhelmed by the intros., new people, etc...
Later that night, opened up the cage for free time... Miss Skrat was not interested. She has burrowed herself in a box by herself. Sun. morning Miss Skrat still seemed a little out of sorts. She was still in this box by herself and didn't seem interested in coming out of the cage. We brought her down to be by herself for the afternoon to see how she did... she basically napped.
Took her back to her cage. Checked back an hour later. She nipped my finger through the bars, didn't draw blood... never, never, never had a problem with anyone doing this. I skritch their noses through the bars and such. They've all been okay with this.
This evening, she nipped my son's finger, and drew a little blood. He reached in just to get "kisses/licks" from her.
I don't understand what could be happening for this sudden change in bahaviour.
None of the girls are spayed.
