Mean Ratties

[adreabri]

We received our new cage today and it was all set up. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for our two boys pinky & brain to become cagemates with our newest blue dumbo gizmo. Their intros went fantastic on nuetral ground and in their play area. There were never any issues so I thought this would be easy. I moved things from both of their cages into the same cage and all hammocks were washed and their toys and playthings were washed. I put gizmo in the new cage first and then pinky & brain and they inhabited peacefully for about 3 1/2 hours. The laundry finished and I put brains favorite hanging tube up in the cage. Gizmo found this first and was in it when brain found it. Brain went in and found gizmo and proceeded to push him out of the tube and gizmo retaliated. They found bad and gizmo ran and brain followed. I immediately pulled gizmo out of the cage to find that he had been bitten in his foot and was bleeding and he was also bit on his little nose. Ive read that letting them "duke it out but I'm not risking the life of my rat. What on earth can I do from this point?

 

[adreabri]

Bitting my nails waiting for some time of help & response.

Currently have gizmo back in his old cage. He's acting normal and dying to get out & play

 

[MomRat]

bleeding means go back a step. old cages, swap cages daily so they get used to each other's smells - you mentioned neutral ground intros, did you also do a couple of days of non-neutral territory? Back up, and then when they get better outside the cage, try the new cage again.

 

[hopefloats]

We had this with loki, he would beat his brother up over his plastic shoe box, Templeton finally got the hint and stayed out of it. When I moved the babies out, I took his favorite box out, and made sure there was plenty of other boxes for all to have. but none that i knew they loved. even now, he still dont have his box, and they have been living with them for a few days now.

I agree with going back a step, i have done that with the girls before because they were not ready. It took me weeks to allow my babies to live with my big boys. Right now it is taking a long time introducing two new rats to the group of 4... It is a task. it is a whole other ball of wax once it is actually in the cage. I was nervous with my big boys fighting with my little boys, it was hard knowing it is something they have to do.

 

[jorats]

How long where your intros?
You got some good advice... take a step back with intros and take the favorite play thing out, modify it, make it unrecognizable if you can.

 

[adreabri]

We've done about two weeks work of intros. A week of neutral ground and then a week of their play area. There was no aggression in their intro's everything went fine.

His favorite place is a hanging tube hammock... there's really no way that I could make it unrecognizable. I ordered new hammocks from Rats in pants. I'll take the old hammock out and put in the new ones when I try Gizmo again.

How will I know when they are ready again?

 

[jorats]

They are probably ready now but its good to be more cautious and do another week of familiar ground. Each time you put them in the cage together, it needs to be totally scrubbed down, leaving no scent behind. You'll be able to tell by their body language at the time, just like how you did this time.
A lot of people would have left them to work it out, but it's good you followed your instincts and try another week.

 

[adreabri]

My rat Gizmo spent the night in his own cage next to the big boys new larger cage. This morning I got them out for some playtime and everyone acted fine. Gizmo was a little nervous but he got over it.

I've been doing some research online about introducing rats and I read mutiple times to put vanilla extract on their noise and butts to "mask their odor" this will also promote grooming because they like the flavor of it. Has anyone tried this? I have removed on of my big boys favorite hammocks and am getting ready to empty the new cage and scrub it down really well. Their towels and cuddly things are already in the washing machine again.

I think a big part of gizmos problem is he's much smaller than my other two and he gets anxious and nervous. I've also witnessed him trying to get on my other two boys backs.

 

[hopefloats]

Most of that could be normal. My girl isis, is nervous, she became the alpha of the girl cage, shocked me. They just moved in right? he may end up being your alpha or he is trying to be.

I used the vanilla with my girls. I honestly cannot say that it worked. We did it but they still ended up fighting it out. our took a couple weeks even now we have a flare up on occasion. We even bathed all the girls before one intro, still had spats. I think the main thing is the cage being fresh of scent so one cannot try to own it, then they all fight a bit to find their spot in the cage. We have had bit toes, scrapes but nothing major. I honestly never seen them groom it off, I did read one article where she put pudding on her rats, that seemed to work. I wanted to try that, and i still may but I dont have any pudding LOL

 

[jorats]

Some people like the vanilla extract and some don't... I've never used it and I have found it a waste of time because it masks the rats when in fact you need the rats to get to know their real scent and not the vanilla.

 

[Joanne]

Have you tried the cage without the favourite hanging tube? It sounds as if things were going OK until then...
It sounds like Brain was claiming "HIS" tube.