Eddie Haskel rat...plays nice with people, not with others.

[Rodentist]

For Valentine's Day, Chaz and I rescued "Scabbers" from about two hours away. He was a lone male, scawny and covered in scabs He had next to no fur on his back. His owner couldn't keep him anymore. With a treatment of Revolution, and a diet of HT and veggies, the scabs are gone, and both his coat and body filled in. We also got him neutered.

Thing is, all of that hasn't changed is his behavior. He is GREAT with people. A little suck-up even. Unfortunately, he is not so kind to the other ratties. Hector has a shorter tail because of him, and he is just aggressive, aggresive, ESPECIALLY with other boys. Lesser so with the ladies. His nicknames around the house has become Rodo_ c _ _ bag. (For you hangman fans out there) and Eddie Haskel. After a day, the fighting lessened. The ladies actually seemed drawn to his jerky behavior (as so often we are) and were all flirting with him something aweful. Helicopter ears, ear tugging and running, hanging out with him if he was in a good mood. All of this just seemed to stress out the other boys immensely, there are five of them, slinking in fear around their own house, very skiddish where they weren't before.

We took him out, and after a few hours, when they realized that he was gone and not just waiting around a corner to beat them up, things were returned to normal. Except Hector's tail.

I figure, he was alone for so long, at least a year, that he thinks everything he sees is his. Combined with the fact that he is probably just an high strung dude.

I know techniques to get ratties to adapt to people....but other rats?

They only good news is that our most recent rescues: Laura and Nellie....those vicious biters from Craiglist? He is afraid of Nellie. So he might have to share a section of a FN with them. I really want to have everybody integrated, a big happy older rattie family...any advice?

[center:2f8v1v1d]

[/center:2f8v1v1d]
[center:2f8v1v1d]Ladies: Don't say you were warned what kind of guy he is![/center:2f8v1v1d]

 

[SQ]

Did the cage next to cage, blanket exchange, intro first step go ok?
And did all the other steps of the gradual intro process go ok until you reached the last intro stage of having them live together?
If so, I would go back one step in the process and give it a bit more time.
Is he neutered?

 

[jorats]

He sounds just like my Oliver. The males low on the hierarchy scale were petrified of him. But then he was neutered. Eddie was neutered in February?
How many rats in his colony and how big is the cage?

 

[Rodentist]

He was neutered in February. That was done in the first week we had him, so he could meet ladies....safely. He was so sweet with us. He was foofing at the neutral ground intro, but he just seemed to be trying to avoid being bullied and holding ground. When he was put in the house, and the doors closed, thats when he became a terror.

There are 10 rats, 5 boys and 5 girls in a three story ferret nation. Its pretty big and only clears the ceiling by a few inches.
[center:3bc0j07z]

[/center:3bc0j07z]

We also have an oldster, Milton, who is now estimated to be 3 1/2, probably a little older, maybe younger. He is still trying to be alpha, however, Valentine completely left the old guy alone and chased everyone else. One of the reasons we took Valentine out quickly was that we don't want to distress old Milton, who probably won't be with us too much longer, and we want to make his golden years pleasant.

Milton is getting skinny, his main problem being hind leg degeneration. His back right leg barely moves anymore, his left enough that he can still get around. He is being kept clean by his colony. We feed them in the center level, and he still tries to eat with his mischief. We make him a separate plate and put it next to where ever he is at the time, but he still tries to live like he used to, and even seems to resent us trying to help him. Milton is also suspected of being half wild.
[center:3bc0j07z]

[/center:3bc0j07z]

We were going to wait until after Milton passes to try again...out of respect for Milton. In the mean time, my thought is putting him in with Nellie and Laura, in hopes that Nellie with teach him a lesson about behaving. That's all I have so far.
[center:3bc0j07z]

[/center:3bc0j07z]
[center:3bc0j07z]Nellie and Laura: Vicious Biters from the Falls[/center:3bc0j07z]

 

[jorats]

That sounds like a good plan. I wouldn't put Eddie back in, not with Milton so old and deserving a peaceful end to his life.
Some rats are better in smaller groups and can't do the whole big cage. A big cage can seem daunting and a lot of work for some rats to "take care of". Some alphas are unstable and need to be able to cover every section of their territory so this drives them nuts.