Christmas hasn't bitten me for quite awhile, even tho I always smell like other rats.
He does grab my hand or a finger in his mouth when he is unhappy with me, and he bites down .... it hurts but he does not break the skin.
Christmas spends a lot of the time sitting on the side of his cage watching and listening to other rats in the next cage.
He does not show any signs of aggression.
I have had Christmas out on my lap a couple of times for a few mins with Molly.
Lots of sniffing but again, no signs of aggression
Yesterday I had a vet appointment for Petite Grisse and little Storm. My 3 older girls Petite Grisse, Molly and Alberta made the trip, along with little Storm and her mama Easter.
Christmas also made the trip ... in my jacket pocket and exploring the front seat and sniffing the bars of the container the girls were in. No signs of aggression.
In the waiting room at the vets I let Christmas join the group .... I have found vet visits and car drives can be good intro places as very unfamiliar territory and everyone is on their best behaviour.
Christmas ate treats in with the girls, walked around, sniffed a few butts, ate some more treats ... no signs of aggression.
About 10 min into the intro we had a fight between young big strong one-eyed Christmas and tiny ill Petite Grisse .... I immediately reached in and pulled Christmas out. Surprisingly, I was not bitten.
Elderly, frail Petite Grisse was having difficulty standing up and walking, she was bitten 3 times on the back and started bleeding a fair amount.
The vet examined Petite Grisse and said the bites were quite bad, quite deep - through skin and muscle ...
He said that if Christmas had bitten any harder, it would have punctured one of Petite Grisse's lungs. :sad3:
Poor Petite Grisse, no pain meds because of the pred she is on ....
Needless to say, Petite Grisse is not feeling very great .... not eating a lot, on meds .... very glad to be home in her cage with her 2 girlfriends.
While the vet was examining the ratties and talking to me, Christmas kept trying to get back into the container with the girls .... still showing absolutely no signs of aggression.
Christmas is still alone .... no signs of aggression when he eagerly watches the other ratties
I had thought introing him in with my 3 older girls would be good as they would not be any kind of a threat and they move slow so they would not startle him ....
My other two groups are all about 1.5 years to 13 weeks old .... so young, active, wrestling playful ratties that would likely be a threat to Christmas .... or move fast and be attacked when they startled him.
So .... I'll continue socializing Christmas. Perhaps continue introing him on my lap with one rat at a time ....
Please feel free at add any suggestions
Remember that of the males ratties he was abandoned with, he was the only male without a badly injured partial tail. Although his tail shows that it was injured in the past, it did not recieve the extensive injuries his cagemates had.
Christmas was seperated at the SPCA after the staff found blood splattered everywhere and his terrified badly injured cagemate hiding in the room.
Christmas was neutered in early Jan, and he chewed off one of his own toes after I adopted him.
