UhHuhHer
Well-Known Member
To start off, Gumdrop has not had the easiest time lately. She's the senior rat of my home, although not the oldest. She lost her cagemate and best friend last March, after a couple weeks of uncertainty and illness, and it drastically changed her personality. She was so anxious and angry that I worried I would never get my sweet, playful little girl back. In some ways, I didn't.
I got Gumdrop some new friends, the day before her cagemate's death. They had a rocky start, but they started cohabitating just fine. Gumdrop immediately established her position of dominance in the cage. She was still kind of a jerk to the others sometimes, but nothing awful. In the past couple of months, it's gotten awful. She doesn't really hurt them, but they're often annoyed with her and they don't seem to want to play with her as much now.
Gumdrop was the most negatively affected by my recent long period of depression that cut their playtime down to nothing, and I've been trying to make it up to her ever since. She gained some weight and became even more irritable, because she depends way more on floor playtime than the other girls do. We came back from that though, for the most part. One of the first things I did when I was feeling better was insure as much Gumdrop time as possible. My friend, who has recently started living with us, loves Gumdrop and plays with her while I'm at work, so she gets even more playtime. It hasn't seemed to change much.
Gumdrop is still very moody. She sulks in the cage and picks fights with her cagemates. Not like little squabbles from time to time. I have to take her out sometimes, because she'll just run around knocking them over and hitting them and tackling them down the ramps in their cage. The others are obviously not amused, because they've been avoiding her more and more. I get angry with her about it, because the most frequent target of her anger is the very small, skittish, blind Lucille, but I feel bad for her too. I feel responsible for her change in personality.
Has anyone else had similar behavioral issues with a female? Does it get any better? I feel terrible. I've really let her down and I want to know if there's anything I can do to fix it.
I got Gumdrop some new friends, the day before her cagemate's death. They had a rocky start, but they started cohabitating just fine. Gumdrop immediately established her position of dominance in the cage. She was still kind of a jerk to the others sometimes, but nothing awful. In the past couple of months, it's gotten awful. She doesn't really hurt them, but they're often annoyed with her and they don't seem to want to play with her as much now.
Gumdrop was the most negatively affected by my recent long period of depression that cut their playtime down to nothing, and I've been trying to make it up to her ever since. She gained some weight and became even more irritable, because she depends way more on floor playtime than the other girls do. We came back from that though, for the most part. One of the first things I did when I was feeling better was insure as much Gumdrop time as possible. My friend, who has recently started living with us, loves Gumdrop and plays with her while I'm at work, so she gets even more playtime. It hasn't seemed to change much.
Gumdrop is still very moody. She sulks in the cage and picks fights with her cagemates. Not like little squabbles from time to time. I have to take her out sometimes, because she'll just run around knocking them over and hitting them and tackling them down the ramps in their cage. The others are obviously not amused, because they've been avoiding her more and more. I get angry with her about it, because the most frequent target of her anger is the very small, skittish, blind Lucille, but I feel bad for her too. I feel responsible for her change in personality.
Has anyone else had similar behavioral issues with a female? Does it get any better? I feel terrible. I've really let her down and I want to know if there's anything I can do to fix it.
