M0onkist
Well-Known Member
I'm kind of at the point of tearing my hair out over all of this - it's gone past the 'boys will be boys' stage...
Mr. Honeycomb, as near as I can see, has become intensely territorial of the bottom half of the cage. Before, he only used to chase Chance out of the bottom half to the ramp and then that'd be it - Chance would hide in the Chube for a while, and all would return to normal.
But now he's chasing him clear up the ramp and the last time I caught them (well, separated them), he'd gotten clear into Chance's fruit basket (which I call 'his' only because Chance is almost always in there), had rolled onto his back, but had FUR between his teeth - Chance's fur, obviously.
I put Mr. Honeycomb in solitary confinement after this incident (he was ready to fight ME too, if it came to that - but I know how to hold him so that he can't get a grip on me or jerk free or bite), and it took some time to calm Chance down. My mother was one the phone at the time and heard all the screeching and screaming coming from their cage, and was so alarmed that she promptly declared she'd neuter Mr. H. himself if it came to that! (obviously it wouldn't!!!!)
Tim, of course, keeps saying Mr. Honeycomb is just startled by Chance sometimes, and happens to respond with aggressiveness. But I've noticed more and more these past couple of weeks that Chance barely sets foot on the bottom level, MUCH preferring to stick to his fruit basket, or the little ledge beside the fruit basket. He watches what goes on in the rest of the cage, but he doesn't like going down AT ALL.
Oh, also fyi, Chance weighs 341g, and Mr. Honeycomb 680g.
Their snuggling has decreased to almost nothing. Theorizing that maybe Mr. H. had decided that the main level was HIS territory and he wasn't letting Chance go near it, I managed to scrounge up an extra water bottle and filled it up, and gave it to Chance in his fruit basket - the poor little bugger drank like he hadn't seen water in a day.
Obviously, there's something seriously wrong with their dynamic now. And with the holidays coming up... egads, it just makes it more of a nightmare, y'know? But the last thing I want is for Chance to be terrified of living in his own cage, and if that means neutering Mr. H., so be it.
Solitaries for Mr. H., while he seems to enjoy them, aren't ideal because he's just so damn huge - and I don't think it's really fair to confine Chance for something he never instigated, and having two full-sized cages for just two rats in a small one-bedroom apartment's a non-starter...
So I'm really at a loss of what to do. I want them to get along, but I don't know if there's anyway to reach through to them.
Mr. Honeycomb, as near as I can see, has become intensely territorial of the bottom half of the cage. Before, he only used to chase Chance out of the bottom half to the ramp and then that'd be it - Chance would hide in the Chube for a while, and all would return to normal.
But now he's chasing him clear up the ramp and the last time I caught them (well, separated them), he'd gotten clear into Chance's fruit basket (which I call 'his' only because Chance is almost always in there), had rolled onto his back, but had FUR between his teeth - Chance's fur, obviously.
I put Mr. Honeycomb in solitary confinement after this incident (he was ready to fight ME too, if it came to that - but I know how to hold him so that he can't get a grip on me or jerk free or bite), and it took some time to calm Chance down. My mother was one the phone at the time and heard all the screeching and screaming coming from their cage, and was so alarmed that she promptly declared she'd neuter Mr. H. himself if it came to that! (obviously it wouldn't!!!!)
Tim, of course, keeps saying Mr. Honeycomb is just startled by Chance sometimes, and happens to respond with aggressiveness. But I've noticed more and more these past couple of weeks that Chance barely sets foot on the bottom level, MUCH preferring to stick to his fruit basket, or the little ledge beside the fruit basket. He watches what goes on in the rest of the cage, but he doesn't like going down AT ALL.
Oh, also fyi, Chance weighs 341g, and Mr. Honeycomb 680g.
Their snuggling has decreased to almost nothing. Theorizing that maybe Mr. H. had decided that the main level was HIS territory and he wasn't letting Chance go near it, I managed to scrounge up an extra water bottle and filled it up, and gave it to Chance in his fruit basket - the poor little bugger drank like he hadn't seen water in a day.
Obviously, there's something seriously wrong with their dynamic now. And with the holidays coming up... egads, it just makes it more of a nightmare, y'know? But the last thing I want is for Chance to be terrified of living in his own cage, and if that means neutering Mr. H., so be it.
Solitaries for Mr. H., while he seems to enjoy them, aren't ideal because he's just so damn huge - and I don't think it's really fair to confine Chance for something he never instigated, and having two full-sized cages for just two rats in a small one-bedroom apartment's a non-starter...
So I'm really at a loss of what to do. I want them to get along, but I don't know if there's anyway to reach through to them.
