Intro with Nervous, Scared Rat

[her.corner]

So here is my situation: I have two groups of rats, one group of 3 comprising 2 females and 1 male (all altered), and another group comprising 2 females. Of my group of 2 females, one is ill and will likely pass soon--I am not doing intros with her.
So I am trying to introduce my one girl, Delia, to my group of 3.

Here's the problem: Delia has always been a very scared, nervous rat. She's always been very nervous outside of her cage, except when she is with me on my bed. The 3 I'm trying to intro her to are outgoing and fearless.

When I did neutral territory intros she was absolutely terrified. The others were a bit scared, but nothing compared to what she was. I did neutral territory a few times and the group of 3 eventually spent the entire time trying to get out of the tub or searching for a way off the table. They all ignored her, and she continued to be terrified.

Then a week ago I decided to have them on a table, not far from their cage. Delia is okay with this, but nothing happens. Dee Dee, the girl who is more of a problem than the others, spends all her time frantically looking for ways to get off the table and largely ignoring Delia. I still do these intros each day, but nothing changes.

Since there was such little progress, I decided to let Delia hang out on her bed at the same time that the others were playing in the room. The first time Delia and Dee Dee came in contact on the bed there was a bit of a scuffle, after which Delia ran to her box and hid. Now, if Dee Dee comes near Delia, Delia runs and hides. She seems very scared of Dee Dee and pretty much never leaves her box on the bed. When Dee Dee is near Delia's box, she either rubs her side along the box entrance or ignores her.

I really wanted to have Delia introed to my group of 3 prior to her cagemate's passing--I don't want her to have to be alone--but I have no idea what I can do to make further progress.

 

[jorats]

It sounds like it's going pretty good right now. What I would suggest now perhaps try a cat carrier and putting Dee Dee and Delia in it and carry them around the house/apartment. This usually forces rats to bond. If anything, you'll see what Dee Dee is like in closed quarters with Delia. She might just leave her completely alone. Let me know how it goes.

 

[her.corner]

Thanks, I'll try that.

 

[her.corner]

So I've decided to stop doing the table intros that I was doing. After all this time Dee Dee still continued to ignore Delia. I did do the carrier thing a few times, but Dee Dee spent the entire time ignoring Delia and trying to stick her nose through the door bars. So currently I only have them doing playtime together, though Delia remains solely on the bed and Dee Dee only goes on the bed a few times during out time.

As long as Delia remains in her box during out time, Dee Dee isn't too bad. She'll either ignore her or harass her a little bit. The problem comes when she finds Delia outside of her box--she'll attack Delia causing her to run back into her box. Delia now seems so scared when she sees Dee Dee that she runs straight for her box.

One time I was holding Delia when Dee Dee came near and I wanted to see what would happen if Delia were forced, under my protection, to interact with Dee Dee outside the box--since Delia never remains outside her box when Dee Dee is near. Of course Dee Dee started harassing her. What bothers me, though, is that it seemed like what she was doing was more than just trying to establish her position. She was actually nipping at Delia's ears.

This is all very upsetting, especially since I think my sick girl may need to be pts within the next week or so. I really want Delia to have some buddies so that the loss isn't so hard on her. But at this point I'm worried that if Delia and Dee Dee were to share a cage, Dee Dee would force Delia to remain in one part of the cage.That would be worse than Delia living alone. What can I do?

I thought about pairing Delia up with the boy of the group, but I really hate to
separate him from the other two girls, since they're all pretty close.

 

[GrayLightNewDay]

My Navi was like that when I first got Calista to be with her... it took me a good month and a half to get Navi to be around Calista without being mean and biting her. I was confused, too, because it seemed less like trying to dominate and more like just biting and attacking for the heck of it. Navi even did the thing were she claimed most of the cage and would only allow Calista to be on the top shelf.

I don't think that them ignoring each other is a bad thing. I added two more rats into my group, because Navi was so mean to Calista... all Calista wanted to do was snuggle and groom, but Navi was having none of it! Calista was scared of the babies at first, but after a week she was in love with them. Navi ignored them for the first few weeks, and would bite them if they came near her. After a little while, Calista took over as the dominant female of the cage, and now they ALL love each other and snuggle constantly. It is so nice to see Navi grooming the other girls and watching them all try to fit on a hammock together.

Sometimes it takes a while for them to bond, but it is worth it in the end. I think some rats are just more stubborn than others and they need time to warm up. Can you make it so that the scared ratty can't hide from the others? And can you put treats down to distract them?

 

[jorats]

How about introducing all your rats together? I wonder if Dee Dee might be better if there is more than just Delia to deal with.

 

[hopefloats]

When I did intros with trey who was very nervous and failed a dozen times before I ended up spending most of the intro with him and the others on a chair. I would pet trey and comfort him, it finally worked with that and he moved in with boys.