Starting intros agin -Progress!

[OceanEyes117]

Berry has been on her own for about 2.5 weeks since Blossom suddenly got sick and passed, but yesterday, her new friend arrived! Meet the still unnamed sweetie pie girl

She's light fawn, dumbo ears, and has much cuteness. They are close to the same age, I think Berry is maybe a few weeks to a month younger. New girl is a bit shy still, understandably, but I started neutral intro's last night.

All seemed to go pretty well. Berry was VERY hyper and excited, she could hear and smell that there was someone else there. Berry did a bit of scent marking and some mounting/humping ( :emb: silly girl, you're a girl not a boy! :laugh4 There was not real poofing, boxing, or kicking. A bit of grooming, but not much. Seemed to be some general interest, but not tons, but no dislike either. At what point should I move from neutral intros to familiar? I'm thinking I'll save the dreaded bath for before moving in together. They've had an open box with fleece as a semi-protected spot during intros, but no covered area. I was planning on giving them a more closed hidey spot when I saw more calm, grooming, snuggling type behavior.

 

[jorats]

Sounds like you got a good handle on things. So when you see some snuggling, then you can move to familiar ground.
They really don't ever need a bath.

 

[OceanEyes117]

Had some more out time last night, first with just her and I, and then with Berry. There was a good amount of sniffing and noses being shoved into rears ( :shock: :giggle: ) Berry was much more hyper again; I saw her crawling over new girl a few times, and leaving some droplets behind on her fur and on the blanket. She spent a good amount of time following her around. They did share some ensure baby cereal and I saw a bit of mutual grooming, though more of Berry grooming her than the other way around. After awhile I shoved them both down my sweatshirt, until Berry got antsy and started forcing her way out of my collar. I heard a bit of quiet squeaking while they were in there, most likely caused by Berry. Often, when I go to pick the new girl up she squeaks a bit. She's all healed from her spay, but is regrowing her fur still, so I'm not sure if she's still being protective of her belly or just cause I'm new. She hung out in my sweatshirt for a while longer, and I even got some ear snuffles at the end! I'm thinking I'll add in the igloo tonight and maybe move to familiar place tomorrow, if all continues to go well.

Om nom nom nom!

Hey! Watch where you point that bright flashy thing!

Belleh!

New girl grooming Berry, lasted about 30 seconds or so

 

[jorats]

Some rats are natural talkers and will squeak at anything.
You're doing a good job.

 

[OceanEyes117]

She's definitely been giving me a little side eye when I make a move too quickly, and will kind of freeze when I reach for her or pet her. If I keep at it, she'll eventually relax, but she seems more ok with me when she's out with Berry wreaking havoc somewhere nearby. She was rescued from a hoarder situation, so being alone is probably pretty strange for her. I was so excited when I got the ear snuffle from her! It always cracks me up when they randomly ram their noses into your ears and snuffle deeply. It tickles, but also the holding still and not spasming at the sudden and forceful invasion of one's ear just makes me laugh so hard. It's all you can do! I have a feeling she'll come out of her shell pretty quickly. They were calling her the adventure girl, cause from day one she was up at the doors of her cage demanding attention when everyone else was busy being scared and hiding in the corner.

 

[Dahlas]

They look great...they will be best buddies in no time at all..

 

[OceanEyes117]

Today's playdate has gone quite well. :dance: New girl started out by grooming Berry, then Berry was grooming her. They spent lots of time in the purple igloo and did some exploring. They were even nibbling on the same pice of spinach at one point. Later on there was a bit of boxing/wrestling in the igloo, but no poofy fur, so it could have been playing plus dominance. It did elicit some squeaks from new girl, but Berry would knock it off if I tapped on the igloo and said Hey! Those mostly ended with Berry on top power grooming. Now both are tucked into one corner of the igloo, resting

We started out with some of this...

...And then we had some of this

Some exploring....

Some shared snacking...

More grooming...

And then quiet

The light was fading so my camera didn't focus quite right, but you can see Berry grooming in front, and new girl with her eyes closed behind her.

That was about 30 min ago and they're still cuddled up, resting :cloud9: I don't want to move them or disturb them, so I'm trying to be very quiet :giggle: Later, we'll have some more playtime but move to familiar territory, which is my couch. Berry's CN is right next to it, so normally I open the door and she can come and go as she pleases. Should I give them both access to her cage, or keep it closed until later on?

 

[jorats]

Yay for cuddling!

 

[OceanEyes117]

After spending all day together with minimal fuss, I put them in the little cage that new girl has been living in. A bit of sniffing and they were in the hammock. So I cleaned the CN, wiped it down with with my all natural disinfecting wipes, put new liners and hammocks in and away they went. Theres been a bit of banging and squeaking, which is to be expected, but I'm hopeful things will quiet down again and we'll have our first night together!

 

[mamarat]

Fingers crossed!!

 

[OceanEyes117]

Yeah, it was a bit too much too soon, which I knew, but my mind hit the "BUT they're doing so well!" point and wouldn't let go. There was a good amount of exploring, then a lot of rolling and scuffling, so after about an hour I separated them and swapped them, leaving Honey in the CN and putting Berry in the little cage. I think I'll do another day or two of familiar ground play time, but take away CN access, cause that seemed to be the big focus. They kept crawling up the side trying to get in and explore. Then we'll try again.

 

[jorats]

You take one step back and try again. They'll be living together in no time.

 

[OceanEyes117]

They're sleeping together in the same hammock in the same cage! :bunnydance: :bunnydance:

I pulled them out of their respective cages this morning and gave them some playtime with some different toys. Being early, they settled down pretty quickly in the box fort for a nap. When they had been in there for a few hours without a peep, I decided it was time to try again. I scrubbed the CN down again, took out all the extra toys and houses, save one hammock, and let them discover that the doors were open. And ta-da!