Introduction process jitters.

[Crow-talk]

Hey! So I made a thread a while back about introducing my new babies and my old adult rat. One of the babies died unfortunately. Now the other baby (Sanjuro( isn't really a baby anymore and I've started introducing him to my bigger rat Xanadu.

Xanadu is still quite a bit bigger and I'm really nervous when they're together. There hasn't been any serious attacking or anything as of yet. Xanadu tries to groom Sanjuro a bit aggressively, which freaks him out. Whenever the littler one squeaks from either pain or fear, I always separate them for a couple minutes. I'm wondering if I'm being a little overprotective? Xanadu was the alpha rat with his other cage mate, so I know he'll be a little aggressive with Sanjuro as they sort of duke out who's in charge, but I'm just so worried about it when it happens.

There hasn't been any sign of injury or anything, I've just been stopping before it could potentially escalate to that. I guess my question is, should I stop intervening when harsh groom or nipping happens, and only separate them when they seem to actually start fighting, or one viciously attacks the other?

 

[jorats]

Hi, yes, only intervene if you see real aggression. The squeaking you hear is from protesting, nothing more. It sounds like Xanadu is a really nice daddy like rat to the baby. How old is the young one now?

 

[Crow-talk]

He's just about two months now, maybe a little over. It's gonna be really hard letting them have their squabbles, I'm such a nervous nelly. u_u

 

[jorats]

Are they living together or just having play time together?

 

[Crow-talk]

They're in separate cages right now, but I'm hoping to have them be cage mates eventually

 

[jorats]

Ok so you are still in intros, that's good. Let them work it out while keeping a watchful eye on them. You'll know when to intervene.

 

[momofmany]

Hey! that sounds like where I am at too! I don't know why other intros I've done to my crew were so flippin easy?! I gotta quit intervening because now the young boy (neutered) runs to me when he feels slighted or scared...*sigh* :roll:

 

[Crow-talk]

Yeah, Sanjuro is pretty attached to me already and runs to be when he's scared. Whenever I let them free roam, Xanadu has free range of my room while Sanjuro takes between my bed and my nightstand. I feel bad because Xanadu wants to come him and sniff around, but I don't wanna risk him being territorial about the area.