New boys! Older rat humping :(

[Venus_rat]

Hi guys! It's been a while.
One of my rats died recently and left my year and a half old boy Nemo behind. So I got him two baby brothers (I'm not good with rat ages, but they're not old at all), Craig and Tweek. I introduced them and Nemo showed no aggression, groomed them, shared food, cuddles. Now all of a sudden, Nemo has been chasing them, mounting them, pinning them down and grooming them. I mean, it doesnt look aggressive, aside from the pinning them down and making them hold still part). They just squeak a **** ton and I dont like that he's mounting.

 

[Nyn]

Heey, what kind of introduction method did you use? Did you use the carrier method? And at what stage in the introduction are they at the moment? As long as there is no blood, there is no foul, but it does sound like there is some dominant behavior showing. It might be worth it to take a step back in the intro and go back to a smaller enclosure if you are using the carrier method. How heavy are your little ones? It is generally advised to have the babies at least heavier them 200 grams before introduction, age doesn't matter too much, weight does

 

[Venus_rat]

Hi! Thank you for responding! I used the carrier intro! I sectioned off half of their cage. They have access to a hammock too cause they were doing really well together until this.

I havent weighed them because I dont have access to one rn so I'm not sure.

 

[Nyn]

Okay good to know! Do you habe any kitchen scales? I normally weigh mine just in a bowl on some kitchen scales. It might be worth checking to see if they are heavy enough to defend themselves. In the meantime, has anything more happened? It might be worth taking it one step back in the intros. I had my ratties a couple of hours in a small carrier box and that helped enormously with the rest of the intros.

 

[Venus_rat]

I dont have one of those either unfortunately but I've noticed that they do chase after my older one (nemo). Idk if they actually do anything to fight back.

Nothing has happened other than what I first reported. The babies scream so much though and it makes it sound so awful. There isnt any blood or any signs of injuries but idk. It all looks and sounds so mean!

They dont poof up or put each other in corners either btw.

 

[Nyn]

I would say if there is no blood there is no foul.. babies tend to scream a bit more anyway because they are so young. My two little boys always squeek when something is going on

 

[Venus_rat]

I got a video now to kinda get a better idea of what's going on! I just wanna make sure that this is nothing to be worried about.
I split it into three videos bc of the time limitation

 

[Nyn]

This doesn't seem like too aggressive to me to be honest. There is no fluffing and the babies are not backed into a corner and scared. This might be a good video to watch to see what really aggressive can mean. Also a quick question; do you have your rats always walking on bars? Just as a side note, this can cause bumblefoot which is pretty bad for them. Please make sure the bottom of the cage, and all surfaces they stand on, are either soft or at least solid materials and no bars.

 

[Venus_rat]

Okay! Thank you for this! My older one also bruxes / boggles a lot while he pancakes. He seems really relaxed. He let's the boys lay on him all the time too.

Also, I actually just got the cage three days ago and wasnt aware of this! Is there a way I can alter my cage in order to cover the bars? The felt that I kept on there didnt last longer than 5 minutes.

I paid quite a lot for this cage and cant send it back. I thought I did enough research. I kept getting conflicted answers on what cage was better.

 

[Nyn]

No worries! All the pancaking and the laying together are really good signs! Introductions can be rough, so these signs are always nice to see

So I saw this thread on the other rat forum I am on which might be helpful for the cage you have. I'm not sure which brand it is, but any type of tray which is made of hard plastic will do;

https://www.ratforum.com/threads/cage-modifications.381020/
People usually fill this with some kind of dust free bedding. Most people swear by Back2Nature for in the litter boxes and then some type of dust free for in the cage itself. My girls and boys have easy ear infections, so I don't use bedding in my entire cage, just fleece and flannel that I wash at 60 °C with no laundry detergent (so it doesn't irritate their noses and breathing). I use dust free cardboard in the litter trays but I've also heard that some people don't like this.. if you search I think there are a lot of topics on this forum or the other on bedding

I'll add a picture of my cage as a reference;