Intro Operation Intact 04

Day 4 of intros, on partial familiar ground. Things are progressing good however, Ferd is not responding as well as I'd like so these intros might take longer.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• rats
• intro
• dominance
• chattering
• stress
• familiar
• ground
• neutral

[lostismyconstent]

Interesting. My old rat (just one female, don’t think she was neutered) would run around a lot. We’d play with her by running our fingers over her head, neck to nose, and she’d jump back, run a circle around her cage, then come back and we’d do it again. Like a dog. But she would make that chattering noise. Was she chattering because she was very exited or was that bruxing? She certainly didn’t seem to be stressed out but I’d hate to think she was! Do your rats ever do that?

[jorats]

@lostismyconstent Chattering and bruxing is completely different. I'm sure your little girl was bruxing. They can bruxing for a number of reasons, fear or contentment, I'm sure your little girl was happy when doing hers. Chattering is much louder and faster.

[Crezelda]

as for the importance of scent, would it be wise to mix up soiled bedding between colonies to homogenize all the scents into one big " colony" smell? it seemed to work when i introduced female dwarf hamsters together.

And is it normal for males to become very "bossy" with your hand if they are given a breeding setup? ( im a reformed feeder breeder, i dont do that anymore thank goodness :D but my pet male just got very bossy with me after i gave him a family to run)

[jorats]

@Crezelda Yes, it would be beneficial to add bedding from the other cages into the cage but not during intros. Not until you reach familiar ground.

And it's totally normal for a male to become a bully after mating. Not so much given a family but allowed to mate is what causes him to become hormonal. Another thing, don't ever allow a rat to dominate you or your hand.

[stalhein61]

I'm ashamed to say I was rubbish at introducing two new young rats to my remaining old one. They were in cages next to each other for a week, I let them out together and they seemed ok, but when I put them all in one cage the older one nipped the ends of their tails off and had a fair go at neutering them too. :-( But they settled down after I kept stopping their fights. That hurt a lot. Not as much as a ferret bite, but close.

[jorats]

@stalhein61 A lot of people don't realize you have to take steps for intros. There are rats that are really easy to intro and you can skip some steps but generally with males, no. It takes time for them to get used to the idea that the new rats will be buddies. Also, before moving them all in together, the cage must be completely scrubbed down.

[tanrat7]

@liamO1999 Basically what's good for humans to eat, is good for rats. Cheerios are a whole grain low sugar cereal so they're great for rats

[liamO1999]

are cheerios good for rats

[stalhein61]

@jorats

With a few years hindsight, I agree with all that. I just didn't know at the time. XD

[BriannaDawnc]

@jorats Oh that's actually what I was planning on doing with mine, after quarantine is over.

[jorats]

@BriannaDawnc No... but the rats were living side by side of each other. I think it helps that they can smell new rats for a day or two before starting the intros. 

[BriannaDawnc]

Just curious, did you take any other steps before the bed intro?