Muffin
Member
I posted on Sunday about my rat named Yesterday, who suddenly seemed dazed and confused-- and then ended up passing away later that night.
Yesterday was always the dominant rat. Ever since she was born, she was just a bigger lady and loved to be in charge. She even ruled over her own mother for the six months they were together after birth.
Now that Yesterday is gone, I have four rats. Let me set the scene.
Penny Lane -- the oldest of the girls at just about a year and seven months. She's very laid back and never had a problem not being in charge. She was perfectly content being her sister, Yesterday's, right hand woman.
Maggie Mae -- the next oldest at around 10/11 months. This girl I swear is on crack. She popcorns around like it's going out of style. She would constantly instigate play fighting with Yesterday, and she'd always lose. A very high energy rat girl.
Noriko -- the third oldest at around 9/10 months. She is the "runt" of the pack. Tiny enough that she fits comfortably in the palm of my hand. Very calm, has no problem being at the bottom of the totem pole as long as she can cuddle up against everyone and anyone.
And... Caramel Butterscotch a.k.a. CammyB. This girl I "rescued". I took one of my dancers (I'm a dance teacher) to the mall, and she begged to go into the pet store. This poor girl, who is a PEW... was just in horrible shape. If she had ended up snake food.... the snake probably would have died. She was yellowish, as though she hadn't cleaned herself in days. She was alone in a small aquarium. Pine bedding, no visible food, no hidey spot, and an empty water bottle. I KNOW about supply and demand at the pet stores and that I shouldn't have essentially helped them out... but she saw me and put her paws on the dingy glass and looked so sad. I couldn't leave her there. If I had, she surely would have died soon.
I took her home and she sat on my lap the whole car ride there, snuggling against my leg and constantly looking for my hand for scritches. She is SUCH a sweetheart. I cleaned her up, got her in the quarantine cage and had many problems with her. She has problems being picked up from not being socialized at all. She was rail thin from barely being fed, and wouldn't eat. After a few days of TLC and yogurt, she seemed to perk up a lot. She stayed quarantined for a few weeks while I consulted with a few vet friends and the lab techs at the hospital my mom works at.
She assimilated in with the rest of the girls immediately. During play times she constantly wanted to be around them, and got visibly excited when they would play with her/groom her. Watching her mannerisms, I *do* believe she is either blind in one/both eyes or possibly is going blind.
I took my poor baby, Yesterday out of the cage about an hour after TOD and for the rest of the night and a good majority of Monday... you could tell that all the girls were just upset at losing a cage mate. They looked sad, lazed around, and just weren't themselves.
I returned home from work last night... and oh man, is there a huge fight for dominance. And it's ALL CammyB. The other girls don't seem to mind her sort of "taking over" for Yesterday.
She starts by sniffing around the cage to find someone, because she can't seem to tell where everyone is. (Which is why I feel that she may be blind.) Once she finds someone, she starts off nice enough... and then it's like a flip switches and she's blood thirsty. Her main target here seems to be Maggie. Penny Lane avoids her in the cage, and Noriko tries to... but she keeps getting caught in the middle of the scuffles.
Cammy went after Maggie about 15 times in less than 20 minutes. Poor Maggie has been walking around with her fur on end and her back hunched up like she's waiting for a fight. And it's rather funny, because it seems like Cammy is trying to get Maggie to go after her first. She'll approach her and start pushing her, to which Maggie responds with a foot in the face. When that doesn't work, Cammy goes on the offensive. And now, when Cammy gets even on the same cage floor as Maggie... Maggie starts squeaking like she's being strangled!
Noriko even got caught in the middle of a fight while she was minding her own business at the water bottle and both Maggie and Cammy came away with tufts of Noriko's fur in their mouths.
I understand establishing dominance is necessary. But this seems to escalate to true aggression quickly. Usually I stop it by clapping or snapping my fingers and they immediately turn their attention to me. But I do work full time and can't keep my attention on them at all hours of the day. Should I seperate them at all when this happens? Are they okay to keep together when I am at work, or could this end up in serious injury for one of my babies? My work is very lenient, and when I first got Cammy... I brought her in with me daily in a cat carrier to be sure she was eating and grooming herself. Should I take Cammy with me during the days where I work especially long shifts until dominance is established?
I swear, Cammy is a really sweet rat! She's never been aggressive towards me. The only issue I've had is when I have food in my hands for them, the other girls go for the food and not my fingers. Cammy has the need to test my fingers to be sure they aren't food, which is another reason why I believe she may be blind. Just little nibbles, nothing to even make my skin red.
Yesterday was always the dominant rat. Ever since she was born, she was just a bigger lady and loved to be in charge. She even ruled over her own mother for the six months they were together after birth.
Now that Yesterday is gone, I have four rats. Let me set the scene.
Penny Lane -- the oldest of the girls at just about a year and seven months. She's very laid back and never had a problem not being in charge. She was perfectly content being her sister, Yesterday's, right hand woman.
Maggie Mae -- the next oldest at around 10/11 months. This girl I swear is on crack. She popcorns around like it's going out of style. She would constantly instigate play fighting with Yesterday, and she'd always lose. A very high energy rat girl.
Noriko -- the third oldest at around 9/10 months. She is the "runt" of the pack. Tiny enough that she fits comfortably in the palm of my hand. Very calm, has no problem being at the bottom of the totem pole as long as she can cuddle up against everyone and anyone.
And... Caramel Butterscotch a.k.a. CammyB. This girl I "rescued". I took one of my dancers (I'm a dance teacher) to the mall, and she begged to go into the pet store. This poor girl, who is a PEW... was just in horrible shape. If she had ended up snake food.... the snake probably would have died. She was yellowish, as though she hadn't cleaned herself in days. She was alone in a small aquarium. Pine bedding, no visible food, no hidey spot, and an empty water bottle. I KNOW about supply and demand at the pet stores and that I shouldn't have essentially helped them out... but she saw me and put her paws on the dingy glass and looked so sad. I couldn't leave her there. If I had, she surely would have died soon.
I took her home and she sat on my lap the whole car ride there, snuggling against my leg and constantly looking for my hand for scritches. She is SUCH a sweetheart. I cleaned her up, got her in the quarantine cage and had many problems with her. She has problems being picked up from not being socialized at all. She was rail thin from barely being fed, and wouldn't eat. After a few days of TLC and yogurt, she seemed to perk up a lot. She stayed quarantined for a few weeks while I consulted with a few vet friends and the lab techs at the hospital my mom works at.
She assimilated in with the rest of the girls immediately. During play times she constantly wanted to be around them, and got visibly excited when they would play with her/groom her. Watching her mannerisms, I *do* believe she is either blind in one/both eyes or possibly is going blind.
I took my poor baby, Yesterday out of the cage about an hour after TOD and for the rest of the night and a good majority of Monday... you could tell that all the girls were just upset at losing a cage mate. They looked sad, lazed around, and just weren't themselves.
I returned home from work last night... and oh man, is there a huge fight for dominance. And it's ALL CammyB. The other girls don't seem to mind her sort of "taking over" for Yesterday.
She starts by sniffing around the cage to find someone, because she can't seem to tell where everyone is. (Which is why I feel that she may be blind.) Once she finds someone, she starts off nice enough... and then it's like a flip switches and she's blood thirsty. Her main target here seems to be Maggie. Penny Lane avoids her in the cage, and Noriko tries to... but she keeps getting caught in the middle of the scuffles.
Cammy went after Maggie about 15 times in less than 20 minutes. Poor Maggie has been walking around with her fur on end and her back hunched up like she's waiting for a fight. And it's rather funny, because it seems like Cammy is trying to get Maggie to go after her first. She'll approach her and start pushing her, to which Maggie responds with a foot in the face. When that doesn't work, Cammy goes on the offensive. And now, when Cammy gets even on the same cage floor as Maggie... Maggie starts squeaking like she's being strangled!
Noriko even got caught in the middle of a fight while she was minding her own business at the water bottle and both Maggie and Cammy came away with tufts of Noriko's fur in their mouths.
I understand establishing dominance is necessary. But this seems to escalate to true aggression quickly. Usually I stop it by clapping or snapping my fingers and they immediately turn their attention to me. But I do work full time and can't keep my attention on them at all hours of the day. Should I seperate them at all when this happens? Are they okay to keep together when I am at work, or could this end up in serious injury for one of my babies? My work is very lenient, and when I first got Cammy... I brought her in with me daily in a cat carrier to be sure she was eating and grooming herself. Should I take Cammy with me during the days where I work especially long shifts until dominance is established?
I swear, Cammy is a really sweet rat! She's never been aggressive towards me. The only issue I've had is when I have food in my hands for them, the other girls go for the food and not my fingers. Cammy has the need to test my fingers to be sure they aren't food, which is another reason why I believe she may be blind. Just little nibbles, nothing to even make my skin red.
