1 problem rattie in otherwise perfect intros.

[Rachael]

I just typed this whole post and my laptop just turned itself off so I lost the whole thing, so I'm sorry if this is a bit messy/rushed.

Arthur is about 15 months old.
He has always lived with his 8 other brothers, but then he got a serious injury to his eye, which ended up having to be removed. Because of that he was taken out of the cage, his brothers can be quite rough and have hurt eachother before and we aren't sure how he got the eye problem, it could have been fighting in the cage. On the morning we took him to have the eye removed, we asked the vet to neuter him at the same time if that was possible. I didn't think it would be very easy to try introduce him back with his brothers again.

We gave him 4 weeks to heal/so it was sage for him to meet girls without any accidents and starting introductions with him and a group of 5 girls. In the group, Ava is his mum - and she definitely recognised him when she met him again, Teal and Pixie are his sisters and they've been fine with him, Olive isn't related to them at all but she is a very sweet girl and already seems to really like him.... but Jessie is the problem. :? She is the smallest in the group, but she's also got the biggest personality.
The group originally had 11 girls in it - but in January we lost 5 to a virus and 1 to a PT/the virus.... since it's just been the 5 girls. At one point I tried to introduce Nell (42 months old) to Jessies' group, she's been left alone as all her friends have passed away But Jessie didn't like her at all, Nell was terrified, and I had to take her back out.

Arthur and Jessie are fine together out of the cage.
They even play with eachother a bit. But as soon as Arthur is in the cage, Jessie is having none of it. She is very territorial. If she ever goes in a carrier/small cage like she did have to for a while until they got their new play area, and it smells of other rats, she fluffs right up and doesn't like it at all. :wallbang:
In the cage Jessie will attack him and he hides in a tube, doesn't come out until she is taken out the cage, or he jumps to the door and desperately wants me to take him out... and the last time he climbed the bars, looking to get out, and Jessie grabbed him, pulled him down and started attacking him again :wallbang:

Not sure what I am going to do, but Arthur can't stay living alone. He's playful and not too old, and he would love friends.
Any advice?

 

[Rachael]

This afternoon I decided to just go for it and put Arthur back in the cage to see what happened, and it's been fine/
Jessie has been watching him closely and laying down on the bottom of the cage (which, she never does, she is always in the tube at the top of the cage). Olive has actually been quite protective over Arthur which is sweet to see. He's been in the igloo with his lazy mum and sisters who didn't even wake up when he came in the cage, and they've had some cream then yogurt and ate that fine without any arguements. Going to just keep checking them - but fingers crossed that's it....

 

[jorats]

Are you making sure that the cage is completely scrubbed down before you add Arthur in? Scrubbing down the cage helps reduce cage/territorial aggression.

Also, there is no way mom or siblings remember him. But they might remember his good demeanor and calm energy which is why they feel closer to him.
My Gera has an amazingly stable energy and most rats go to him for comfort, yet they've never known him from before.

As for dealing with the naughty Jessie, have a time out cage ready for her. A small cage with nothing in it, not even water. Each time she bullies, pull her out and put her in her time out cage for about 10 to 15 minutes. Do this each time she acts up.

 

[Rachael]

Before he went in I'd just cleaned the cage, cleaned it with properly and moved the igloos/ladders/tubes around too, it didn't really make any difference - she still knows it is her cage. I considered swapping them with another cage but we're using all the 'big' cages and any other cages would be too small for them especially for Jessie who is very playful.

I will do that with a smaller cage if she does act up again, but he's been in for almost 2 hours now and everything seems to be all right. The cage wasn't completely cleaned like before when he went in today but for some reason today worked best :/

 

[Joanne]

It took a full month for my latest addition to be accepted by the group. There is still the odd squeak! but they let him sleep in the rat pile now. As long as there is no blood flowing, I would leave them together and let them work it out.

 

[Rachael]

Thank you

 

[Dahlas]

I once had one girl who was a bit of a problem with intro....I adopted an intact older boy and was I trying to intro to my group (all my rats are spayed and neutered) This one girl was fine with him during out time and I did intros and cage cleaning like everyone told me to....but in the cage she had a real problem with this guy.....Finally I got a separate cage....I put these two rats (my problem girl and my new boy in the bathtub for a couple of hours together and then put them in the new cage together....I left them together all day and all night.....the next couple of days I did a play session with the group but returned these two to their cage together.....Then after a play I added these two back in the big cage with everyone else (after a very good scrubbing) and everything was fine.....I only had to do this one with this particular girl....but for this case it worked...

 

[jorats]

That's a really good tip for one on one rat issues. I never would have thought doing that. I will next time!

 

[Rachael]

That's a good idea, I also didn't think of trying anything like that.