How 1 small rat can cause such panic.

[DadRat]

We have 2 rats: Jacob and Dom. Age 14 months, brothers.

Just adopted yesterday: Quilt and Gregory from someone who discovered a pet allergy to rats. Age 13 and 12 months respectively.

Tonight, in their quarantine cage, Quilt stepped on the cardboard box that Gregory was in. Only problem was that Greg's tail was in and out of the box. He started at Quilt plopping on the box, papercutting the hell out of his tail. Insert rat freakout and much spattered blood here.

Insert DadRat and MomRat trying to hold and calm the very new to them, very skittish because he is not the alpha AT ALL rat, who kept dripping blood.

The little rat managed to spray a lot of the bathroom while windmilling his tail. He got the floor, walls, towels, toilet, shower, mirror, wife's glasses... before settling down.

Now Gregory is in the travel cage giving himself an epic bath, occasionally forgetting that grabbing his dried blood covered tail hurts, and staring at Quilt. Quilt is in the quarantine cage, next to the travel cage, staring right back. We don't want wrestling to open the wound tonight, so they are spending the night side by side on the dresser, but seperate cages.


Jacob and Dom wonder why Mom and Dad have been running all over the place and not playing with them on the couch.

 

[ryelle]

argh windmilling tails and blood!! i can imagine the mess! was his tail de-gloved at any point or was it just cut?

 

[jorats]

Ouch! and yes, I can imagine the panic!! My parents just went through a similar thing. Poor Morris got a wee cut on his tail that bled all over the place.

 

[lilspaz68]

Sounds like the smell of the 2 resident males panicked one of your new boys and yeah Tails fountain blood, and when they do helicopter tail, its EVERYWHERE.

 

[eagle]

Toes and tails bleed like crazy. I paniced the first time Dragon cut her toe blood everywhere.

 

[DadRat]

Gregory seems fine this morning, other than a nasty cut on his tail that is scabbed over.

Quilt has been so aggressive today that we're not comfortable putting Gregory back in with him right now. Since we brought him home, he has drawn blood on myself, my wife, and Gregrat. And the previous owner said he was the gentle social one.

Maybe he is going alpha crazy because of our other 2 boys? Might have to look into a neuter soon. He takes food very gently, but trying to coax him out of the cage or pick him up has resulted in 2 nasty bites so far. Our first bites...our other boys have never bitten anything but a dog that scared them.

 

[jorats]

He's probably very stressed out with the move and smelling the resident boys in the home.
I'd get him neutered asap. In my home, biting the human is never acceptable and always results in the elimination of those precious manrat parts. :lol:
There is a possibility of him settling down after a few weeks and even after meeting the current residents without a neuter but not too probable.

 

[DadRat]

We're noticing some interesting behaviour in Quilt and Gregory as they settle in. We currently have them in a single cage that is divided, as Gregory has recieved several small wounds from Quilt. Quilt dwarfs Greg...likely a 2lb rat to a just over 1lb rat...Greg is a little guy.

BUT, when they are out for social time, Greg acts as the dom. He'll walk up to Quilt and nose him in the face, Quilt will squeak and bow his head. But they have yet to groom each other...it's like they don't quite know how to act.

Quilt has been very calm today...not puffed up, anxious, or anything. The only change in the apartment is that it has cooled off and we no longer have a fan pointed into our bedroom. Perhaps he can't smell Dom and Jacob as well?

Our working theory is that in their not completely functional rat relationship, Greg is the dom [even though he is tiny] but Quilt has been major aggressive when he could smell Jacob and Dom, so there has been blood loss.

We're thinking of having Quilt neutered if he maintains his aggression, but we aren't sure what to do with Greg. How does one teach rats to groom and submit when they don't seem to know what to do?

 

[jorats]

Neutering the aggressive rat is always theway to go. Greg should learn rattie behavior from watching the other rats.

Just to recap... Greg is living alone currently or with a buddy? While Dom and Jacob are together?

 

[DadRat]

Dom and Jacob are living in their cage in the living room.

Greg and Quilt are still in quarantine in our bedroom. We have a cage divided in half, Quilt has the upper level, Greg has the lower. The have outside time together on our bed a few times a day as we work on socialization and trust.

 

[jorats]

Oh I see.
So if you get Quilt neutered, you'll put him with Greg or do a foursome intro?

 

[DadRat]

4some intro, the main cage is more than large enough for all to be there if everyone gets along.

Quilt and Greg have been cagemates for their entire lives, it's just been a problem since we brought them home.

 

[jorats]

Oh... they must have gotten stressed with the smells of the other boys. That might settle down once they meet.