First time rat owner, new chewing issues

[SQ]

You have been busy ...… good that the area is two panels high because I have seen videos of rats shimming up the sides of that type of panel and climbing out.
Is this setup working for you and for her?
…… now you just need to add lots of toys and gradually intro a new friend

You might want to do a few things to prevent damage to the walls (such as line them with more of the panels or overlapping, connected cloroplast panels) and to the carpet - at least it looks like carpet (cover it with a large piece of thick linoleum and then put the fleece blanket over it)

 

[Emy]

Well she hasn't done anything to walls yet but I do have panels left over if they are needed. It's sort of working but there's a few places she can get to to chew (hence the duct tape lol) I heard there's like a bitter apple spray you can use to keep them from chewing the panels (at least that's what some of the rat owners in the Amazon reviews for this pen used) so i may look into that. She cant get out and shes mad about it lol. I've gone in there to play with her and she just tries to jump off me over the one short panel door. And when I pick her up off me she squeaks in annoyance lol. (I thought she was hurting or something but apparently they get mad at you and tell you haha)

I guess she's just going to have to get used to not having the run of the room anymore. I'm hoping when I finally get to find her a sibling she will be better about it. I'm on 2 waiting lists for female rats within the next 2 weeks so I hope it won't be much longer.

 

[SQ]

And when I pick her up off me she squeaks in annoyance lol. (I thought she was hurting or something but apparently they get mad at you and tell you haha)

LOL ! a very determined little girl letting you know exactly how she feels

if your room is safe for rats, then she could still run around the room when supervised
but if you do this, it would be good to give her access to her cage/play area so she can go back and forth​

 

[Emy]

Yea for the most part it is. We have moved everything to the closet we don't want her in except cords and stuff, we still let her out from time to time in the whole room. I just wish shed at least try out the toys and stuff in her play pen but she just wants out to find something in the room to get into LOL she always seems to find a snack or something my husband left out, or a piece of paper work that was forgotten. She's very adventurous for sure.

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

Here is a cute video that shows why you need at least 2 rats

Having watched this video I now hate all of mankind. lol

 

[Emy]

So I finally got another female rat and introductions have been done, there was a small fight and now they are separated. But my husband is convinced that they aren't going to get along and our original rat is a mean bully lol. I tried to explain that it's normal (cause I looked up a bunch of info and watch YouTube videos) but he in no way buys it and thinks the new rat is traumatized or will be.

Can y'all confirm it's normal for there to be a dominance fight among new rats?

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

Yep we all can for SURE. It's NOT that there should be a fight, but that if they were introed in a way that caused a fight, the INTRO method is to blame, never either of the rats, nor even their well meaning humans.
What he needs to watch isn't the footage of scuffles establishing dominance that are going as well as could ever be expected, but rather seeing what violence & bullying actually looks like, so that he can therefore be so glad about what a good girl she is.
The new rat is still alive?! That's a very kind rat you have there, allowing a trespasser to go on breathing instead of being ripped to shreds!
There's absolutely no cause to think the original rat isn't even more traumatized than the new. You can be grateful to the original for trying to protect you from the invader as you asked her to.
Why would she not think you want to keep only whichever of them proves to make the best guard rat? Or if that's not what your actions seem to her to mean, then you can just be glad she's doing what seems best as all rats/people do.
Our human ears can't even hear what they say to each other, their language is sub-sonic (or super-sonic). For all you know she attacked because the victim of your rat-napping threatened you, which was because you accidentally told her she's only being held hostage till fattened up enough to cook.
Point being, we can't read their minds, but intros are not an easy thing which quickly works out on its own. That's why tons exists on the Internet about it, with disagreeing opinions to choose between, & the article on this site makes sense to start with, since so many here go by those methods.
But different things have been what ended up working, because every rat is unique & every person is unique. Especially don't forget your goal is for them to fight as in play-fight, so you both can find & watch as much footage as you can of both, so as to recognize the difference between fighting versus play, so as to know which actions to discourage & which behavior to reward.

 

[SQ]

Are all rats under 12 weeks old?
If so, please describe the fight in detail …..

If either are over 12 weeks old then it is very normal, which is why gradual intros are important.
Please read joinrats.com and https://www.ratshackforum.com/threa...ps-used-when-putting-new-rats-together.32368/

 

[Emy]

I don't know the exact age of them but I'm assuming around the same age, when I got my first rat the lady said she could be between 2-3 months (over a month ago) and the second must have come around the same time or a but after cause she had babies not long after she got there. So I'm just going to go out on a limb and say probably about 4 months? Maybe 5?

 

[Emy]

Well at first they were just checking everything out, and the new rat kept putting herself under the original rat (maybe this is a sort of submissive thing?), and NiNi (original) would sometimes do some head kicking at first which I read can be dominating behavior, some licking, and then flipping and biting and squeaking and the new rat actually pooped. We then separated them and there was no blood or anything and both seem fine now while in separate cages.

 

[Emy]

Are all rats under 12 weeks old?
If so, please describe the fight in detail …..

If either are over 12 weeks old then it is very normal, which is why gradual intros are important.
Please read joinrats.com and https://www.ratshackforum.com/threa...ps-used-when-putting-new-rats-together.32368/

That's a super helpful link. Thank you! I'll be sure to follow those suggestions and instructions.

 

[SQ]

you are welcome.
Both links should be helpful
joinrats.com gives info on what is aggression and what isn't

all the best with your intros

 

[Emy]

Just wanted to update everyone. They are friends now lol. And just fyi, they have a big hammock up top but they wanted to squish in the little pineapple for some reason.

 

[SQ]

Wonderful !!! Glad that they are friends

btw, you are aware that the cage is way too small for even baby rats - rats need a lot of horizontal space etc - or do they always have access to the other cage and the play area?

 

[Emy]

That's why I got the play pen. They have access to the big cage on the bottom, they just like sleeping up top

 

[SQ]

Great news silly ratties LOL

 

[creative animal lover]

Here's what I've got going on. Idk if it's going to last because NiNi (the problem child lol) is already trying to destroy it. I've distracted her with a rat cookie for now lol.

I haven't been able to get her a friend yet because the store only has males. I'm suppose to call Wednesday though to checked on females.

Be careful with that purple and white cage since it has mesh I would recommend covering it up.
Also what is that stuff you used for the play pen called? I may just use cardboard if I ever do get rats, but I like the way your play pen looks!

 

[Emy]

I got the playpen on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XTG94TH/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[SQ]

Also what is that stuff you used for the play pen called? I may just use cardboard if I ever do get rats, but I like the way your play pen looks!

Rats can climb out or jump out of that playpen - I have seen videos of rats doing that

 

[Emy]

Mine has not been able to jump it while I have it double stacked and they haven't been able to climb it so far. I don't believe there's enough space for them to get a grip between the connections. NiNi is always trying to get out and after taping the sides (because the trim in the wall made it not flush) she hasn't been able to. But that has just been my experience with it. And most of the reviews by rat owners were positive and said as long as nothing tall was near the edges they didn't have any jump outs.

So guess it's a gamble on how it will go for you lol