she's scared

[her.corner]

I'm currently having trouble with intros. So I initially made the mistake of putting my new four girls in with my resident neutered male and resident girl together too soon. Because the fighting scared me, I gave them two weeks of out time together before merging them all into a single cage.

Right now they've been together for about three days, and my resident girl seems very scared of one of the new girls. There have been no injuries, and really not much fighting either since my resident girl Whisper just constantly runs and hides from the new girl Adelle. But she is very scared and it's really stressing me out. (They're in a double ferret nation, so there's lots of places for Whisper to hide from Adelle, but I worry that the avoidance doesn't help things.) She's almost always hiding in a tube or a box, and if Adelle sees her she harasses her with the siding thing at the tube or box entrance. If Whisper is out and she sees her, she harasses her and Whisper runs away and hides. Yesterday during dinner time Whisper was so scared that she would take her food and hide behind the wheel when eating. And during out time Adelle chased Whisper until she caught her and wrestled her down. Again no injuries or anything, but Whisper was very scared and ran back to the cage to hide. As you can imagine I'm really distraught over all of this. I can't stand to see Whisper so unhappy. Is this behavior normal, and is it something I can expect to pass soon? If so, how long before it will pass? Is there anything I can do in the meantime?

 

[jorats]

I suggest you set up a small time out cage. A small cage with nothing in it. Every time Adelle goes after Whisper, pick up Adelle, say "no" a place her in the cage for 10 to 15 min. Do this each time. Meanwhile when they are out, if you see them close to each other in a nice way, give them both a treat. Do this each and every time.

 

[her.corner]

Thanks, I'll try that. I hope it works, because right now if Whisper even sees Adelle she quickly runs and hides.

 

[her.corner]

Thanks so much for the advice! It looks like it has worked, and Whisper doesn't seem to be scared anymore.
I hope the fact that Adelle is crazy in heat tonight has nothing to do with it. Every time one of these new girls goes into heat (my resident girl is spayed) it drives my neutered male crazy, poor guy. Now I get to witness rat porn all night.

 

[jorats]

lol the rat porn is pretty healthy for them so at least there's that. haha
Ya, the fact that she's in heat could be why she's leaving Whisper alone but keep doing the time out cage when it's needed.

 

[her.corner]

things right now are much better, not perfect, but better. one of the problems i've noticed is that Whisper likes to antagonize, but she can't take anything in return. she's not so much scared anymore, but she will on occasion run to a tube for cover when she sees Adelle. on other occasions, though, she'll go up to Adelle just to antagonize her and then run away to a tube. i'm thinking part of it might be an age thing too. Whisper is a little older, just over two, and always been alpha--she's always been what i've called the "i'm gonna do what i want" rat--while Adelle is only 6 months. i do find them often sleeping together in the daytime, but at night during playtime things are a little different. ugh, girls

 

[jorats]

Almost sounds like playing. Wow, a 2 year old girl doing that, that's great, she's got spunk!
If you see them cuddling other times then you know all is ok.