Raven, terror of ratboys twice her size! (update, not question)

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SqueakingJellybean

Mission Control -- All is ratness
Joined
Apr 12, 2013
Messages
276
Location
Ontario, Canada
We've been doing intros with four of our five.

Raven and Cleo are thrilled with Milo most of the time. The rest of the time, they are sending mixed signals and confusing Milo. He's getting less frightened of them and spent one evening vigorously grooming both ladies. The next night, Raven kicked him in the face and flipped him over, causing him to seek refuge in my housecoat sleeve. Intros are progressing slowly but slowly.

Rook is still actively aggressive toward Milo, so we're not putting those two in the same location so much at the moment.

Rook is terrified of Raven, who is literally half his size. She's the only one who stands up to him, and has tossed him on his butt at least once. He tries to bully Cleo, but Raven doesn't let him get away with it. When she faces him down, he either runs back to his house or hides in my housecoat. There is no good reason why he should be cactusing and sidling at the ladies he's so eager to sniff when they're all in their respective apartments.

We tried the bathtub intro thing once post-neutering, and that was the worst thing we could have done. It set our progress back considerably. I have no doubt that it usually works, but we have a bunch of awkward rodents, each with their own issues.

So that's where we are right now-- two nervous loafs with no idea how ladies work, and two ladies who just want the gents to calm down and groom them already.
 
I remember I once was trying to intro a largish colony together and it was taking too long and then someone told me just move them in already and watch and see how it goes. It was the best advice for them. Maybe it's time to move him in and get him to face his girls so to speak.
 
Oh, if we did that, he'd never squeak to us again! On a positive note, many are the ladybutts being groomed by Milo tonight. He seems to be figuring out the dance, at least a bit. He's been out with the ladies for about an hour and hasn't run away terrified yet. There is hope!

It'll be Rook's turn to spend some time with the ladies soon. If it works out with them, we'll go back to getting Milo and Rook reacquainted.

Since Chess and Rook were cuddling and grooming each other at the vet the other day, we may try to reintroduce those two as well. Having a full DCN for the pair might help ease any tensions, as well as making it harder for Rook to block Chess in anywhere. Since being away from Rook hasn't appeared to impact Chess' health, there's no reason not to try to reconnect them.
 
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