abby3089
Well-Known Member
Help with difficult intros!!!
I have 4 girls. One is a Elodie, new, a couple months old, currently housed in a separate cage. Then I have three girls in my main cage: Izzie is a year and a half old and sweetheart. The other 2 are sisters, Talulla and Lilybelle and a year old. A couple weeks ago I tried intros between my 3 girls and Elodie on neutral ground, and Lilybelle who is the alpha, attacked her badly, puncturing her shoulder in two places. Now that Elodie's recovered, I have tried to begin intros again. Between the first failed intro and now, I have switched litter and kept their cages side by side for about two whole weeks. But while Izzie has accepted Elodie, the two sisters still puff up and are aggressive when they see her in her cage. I tried an intro today between Elodie, Izzie who is no issue, and Talulla (who is the beta in the cage) in my bathroom. However while things were great for two minutes, Talulla bit Elodie ear. It left a scratch but I have no doubt it would've been worse had I not be able to separate them immediately.
Clearly these two sisters I have have hormonal issues or something. Elodie is sweet and submissive. She isn't even annoying or kittenish. It's just her very presence that triggers them. Any suggestions for dealing with aggressive hormonal females in intros? I refuse to believe it's impossible. They accepted Izzie, though it was when they were very young. I am thinking about putting Elodie in a cage full time with only Izzie, but since Izzie is getting old, I would hate for Elodie to deal with that loss and not be with other sisters. But nevertheless its feeling really hopeless right now...
I'll take any and all suggestions! And also nice stories from people who have rats that really didn't get along that now do...
I have 4 girls. One is a Elodie, new, a couple months old, currently housed in a separate cage. Then I have three girls in my main cage: Izzie is a year and a half old and sweetheart. The other 2 are sisters, Talulla and Lilybelle and a year old. A couple weeks ago I tried intros between my 3 girls and Elodie on neutral ground, and Lilybelle who is the alpha, attacked her badly, puncturing her shoulder in two places. Now that Elodie's recovered, I have tried to begin intros again. Between the first failed intro and now, I have switched litter and kept their cages side by side for about two whole weeks. But while Izzie has accepted Elodie, the two sisters still puff up and are aggressive when they see her in her cage. I tried an intro today between Elodie, Izzie who is no issue, and Talulla (who is the beta in the cage) in my bathroom. However while things were great for two minutes, Talulla bit Elodie ear. It left a scratch but I have no doubt it would've been worse had I not be able to separate them immediately.
Clearly these two sisters I have have hormonal issues or something. Elodie is sweet and submissive. She isn't even annoying or kittenish. It's just her very presence that triggers them. Any suggestions for dealing with aggressive hormonal females in intros? I refuse to believe it's impossible. They accepted Izzie, though it was when they were very young. I am thinking about putting Elodie in a cage full time with only Izzie, but since Izzie is getting old, I would hate for Elodie to deal with that loss and not be with other sisters. But nevertheless its feeling really hopeless right now...
I'll take any and all suggestions! And also nice stories from people who have rats that really didn't get along that now do...