intro with my squeeking girl

eriin · Oct 1, 2012

i posted a thread about how my girl was squeeking alot. apparently my camera is broken so i couldnt post a video like promised, but i brought her to the vet and she seems to be in good health and nothing was wrong with her. so i really started to beleive she was just lonely being so young so i started intro because i know my older wouldnt hurt her. so i put them in a new play pen which neither of them have been in DIDNT SQUEEK ONCE. she came out of hiding right away and followed my older girl around the whole time.
so my question is, how to get my older girl to be more accepting more quickly. i know she's really young for intros but i feel bad because the other girl is so scarred and lonely without her. but she's just really annoying and keeps crawling under my original girl WHEREEVER she walks and she hates it. she ignores her when she's around and ever runs away from her. no signs of agression no spiky fur or arched back. i've been letting them play together for a couple hours each day and when i have either one of them out independantly i put the other in the opposite cage. the young girl just wants the play and the older one just hates it. ever though she isnt that much older.

does anyone have a tips to get this going faster? i know i can't force it but you know what i mean.
and yes i know she's young at only about 7 or 8 weeks but i felt i had no other option

Nekopan · Oct 2, 2012

Some rats are just noisy. I remember when I intro'd a young pair (5 weeks) to my 1 year old male, they squeaked up a storm. They would just start squealing whenever he came over for a sniff. He never hurt them and they weren't aggressive... just noisy. Eventually they stopped making such a big deal about it and they lived together just fine.

lilspaz68 · Oct 2, 2012

How old is your older girl?

Climbing over, under, following the older rat around is just what baby rats do. They do it with any adult rat they meet. How is your girl reacting? Is she getting upset, or is she ignoring the baby for the most part? This too is pretty normal LOL

jorats · Oct 2, 2012

I agree, if the older rat is not reacting badly to the baby, then that's fine. The older rat will be teaching the baby soon enough. Ignoring the baby is perfectly normal too and probably all part of getting to know each other.

eriin · Oct 2, 2012

SUCCESS i forced them into a cage together all day. needless to say there wasnt aquiet moment. they finaly settled down and the young one stopped chasing. and i just walked over and they're both laying on the shelf together not cuddling, but side by side. and then the older one started grooming her. i was so happy. she's only about 3 months so not that much older, but bigger for sure.

and ps. if you're wondering, it's kinda obvious im not using names because i dont have any yet lol :S