UhHuhHer
Well-Known Member
To start, Lucille is the rat that I adopted from a questionable home. She's four months old now. She had an anxiety issue a while ago, and had cut herself with her back claws from grooming too hard and licked a bunch of fur off. I made some changes and have been trying to make her feel more comfortable again. Her hair has almost totally grown back and her neck is almost healed. Her temperament has seriously improved. She no longer bites, and can now be trusted to lick my fingers and sit on my shoulder. She's a whole new rat. She's just as sweet as I knew she would be, even a few minutes after she had taken a huge bite out of my thumb.
The issue now, is getting her moved into the cage with my other four rats.
Right now, we are working hard to make the transition happen. They have played outside the cage and they have interacted with Lucille in her cage. But getting Lucille into the big cage is just such a mess. It's Gumdrop. And, when Gumdrop decides to be a bully, Eos does too. Gumdrop is the instigator, but Eos will join in if she sees Gumdrop bullying Lucille.
Dot is fine with Lucille. Mohini is so oblivious to everything but snuggles and food, I'm not convinced that she notices the addition to the cage. Lucille seems to like them both. When Eos isn't being Gumdrop's lackey, she likes Lucille just fine too. They box a little, as rats getting to know each other do sometimes, but there's no hostility and it seems to give Lucille a little confidence, even though she always loses. It's not a bad deal.
Gumdrop doesn't want to box though. She doesn't want to power groom. She wants to tackle Lucille and nip at her her chase her into corners. Lucille has had very little experience with other rats. She's been alone since she was adopted as a baby. She can handle the play fights and the power grooming, but Gumdrop really scares her. She gets very stressed by Gumdrop and needs a lot of snuggle time with mama to get her back, because she goes straight back to the jumpy, antisocial, terrified little thing she was when she first came home after Gumdrop decides to start in on her. When Gumdrop freaks her out, I take her out immediately and put Gumdrop in time-out.
A couple nights ago, there was an improvement. Gumdrop did chase her into a corner, but then she stopped and left her alone. When Eos saw what was happening though, she started grabbing at Lucille's hair with her teeth. I panicked the first time it happened, because I thought she had just bitten Lucille's side and was pulling, and I reached between them to stop it, but I realized she hadn't actually bitten her. She had just grabbed some hair and pulled it. So, that was the end of intros for the night.
When I just put Lucille in with the other three (Momo, Eos, and Dotty) everything is fine. They box a little, Dot rolls Lulu over to groom her belly, and then they go about their business. Lucille explores, and the other three go on like it's normal. Gumdrop joins in, and all hell breaks loose.
I feel bad, because, although she's not the oldest, Gumdrop is the rat I've had the longest. She came in to be a cagemate for my first rat, a year ago. She's been my problem child since she was a little rat (6 months old) and I got the other three girls to make a colony for her, after the General died. Gumdrop has suffered a loss and had to adapt to new things a few times now. We have a history together. I feel bad that it's such a problem for her that Lucille's come into the picture, but Lucille has suffered a lot in her life. She deserves a safe, stable home, and she's improved so much since I got her.
I'm kind of at the end of my rope here. I don't know how to fix this.
The issue now, is getting her moved into the cage with my other four rats.
Right now, we are working hard to make the transition happen. They have played outside the cage and they have interacted with Lucille in her cage. But getting Lucille into the big cage is just such a mess. It's Gumdrop. And, when Gumdrop decides to be a bully, Eos does too. Gumdrop is the instigator, but Eos will join in if she sees Gumdrop bullying Lucille.
Dot is fine with Lucille. Mohini is so oblivious to everything but snuggles and food, I'm not convinced that she notices the addition to the cage. Lucille seems to like them both. When Eos isn't being Gumdrop's lackey, she likes Lucille just fine too. They box a little, as rats getting to know each other do sometimes, but there's no hostility and it seems to give Lucille a little confidence, even though she always loses. It's not a bad deal.
Gumdrop doesn't want to box though. She doesn't want to power groom. She wants to tackle Lucille and nip at her her chase her into corners. Lucille has had very little experience with other rats. She's been alone since she was adopted as a baby. She can handle the play fights and the power grooming, but Gumdrop really scares her. She gets very stressed by Gumdrop and needs a lot of snuggle time with mama to get her back, because she goes straight back to the jumpy, antisocial, terrified little thing she was when she first came home after Gumdrop decides to start in on her. When Gumdrop freaks her out, I take her out immediately and put Gumdrop in time-out.
A couple nights ago, there was an improvement. Gumdrop did chase her into a corner, but then she stopped and left her alone. When Eos saw what was happening though, she started grabbing at Lucille's hair with her teeth. I panicked the first time it happened, because I thought she had just bitten Lucille's side and was pulling, and I reached between them to stop it, but I realized she hadn't actually bitten her. She had just grabbed some hair and pulled it. So, that was the end of intros for the night.
When I just put Lucille in with the other three (Momo, Eos, and Dotty) everything is fine. They box a little, Dot rolls Lulu over to groom her belly, and then they go about their business. Lucille explores, and the other three go on like it's normal. Gumdrop joins in, and all hell breaks loose.
I feel bad, because, although she's not the oldest, Gumdrop is the rat I've had the longest. She came in to be a cagemate for my first rat, a year ago. She's been my problem child since she was a little rat (6 months old) and I got the other three girls to make a colony for her, after the General died. Gumdrop has suffered a loss and had to adapt to new things a few times now. We have a history together. I feel bad that it's such a problem for her that Lucille's come into the picture, but Lucille has suffered a lot in her life. She deserves a safe, stable home, and she's improved so much since I got her.
I'm kind of at the end of my rope here. I don't know how to fix this.
