How to intro a super rat-aggressive gal?

[rhapsody]

So this past weekend, I adopted a special-needs gal - she's ridiculously aggressive towards other rats, and really needs a lot of work on her general trust issues. The rescue tried introing "Skinny" to a whole variety of other rats that they have in foster care, and they all went rather badly. This gal is an absolute spitfire (with a huge Napoleon complex), and she's not afraid to go for blood. Here's what the rescue lady told me what happened over the last several months:

I introduced her into a cage with two neutered males who were twice her size, thinking they would keep her in check. World War Rat broke out and we tried moving her into another group with a GIANT neutered male named Big Al who was about four times her size. She lifted him off the ground and threw him off the second shelf of the Critter Nation they were living in together.

I tried bonding her in with my neutered male, Mayhem, and four other girl rats. They did great, and then one of the dumbo girls in that group snuck up on Skinny and jumped on her. Well, they were in the new Martin's RUUD cage that I got, which is about five feet tall and seven stories, and Skinny grabbed the dumbo girl by the neck and rode her like a sled down every ramp to the bottom of the cage. I got them separated in about ten seconds from them hitting the ground and she had bitten deeply into the other girl's neck, and it was a blood spraying kind of wound. Thankfully she didn't hit anything serious and I was able to get the dumbo patched up quickly enough to avoid her bleeding out, but needless to say Skinny has been in solitary since then.

Unlike the rescue, I have the luxury of time and space to drag out intros for as long as I want, but I'm slightly worried if its safe to even try! Last night I had my gang out for out-time, so I popped "Skinny" into their CN since its way more decked out than her SuperPet cage at the moment. Well, she went absolutely nuts! She tore into their hammocks, beat up their toys, and did her darn best to destroy their cage.

I'm thinking that I'll have to spend at least a couple months of "scent acclimation" by switching toys and cages around before even attempting an actual face-to-face intro. You guys think there's hope for her? If need be, I can accommodate her as a solo rat, but I'd hate for her to be alone ...

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

Have you considered spaying? It's just a thought, I had a girl who chilled out after being spayed.

 

[rhapsody]

Oh, I'm definitely getting her spayed sometime soon, but the driving force behind that is because every non-spayed gal I've had kept popped up with mammary tumors.

I didn't know that spaying would have behavioral impacts like neutering does ...

 

[SQ]

If her health is good, and if she has not been spayed, I would suggest getting her spayed asap.
While spaying does not usually make a huge difference like neutering boys does, every bit helps.

Since she just moved in, I would focus on letting her adjust to her change in circumstances.
I would suggest lots of socialization and interaction with you.
She needs to learn to trust and love you .... who knows what she has been through in her short life.

Once she is feeling safe in your home, her behaviour may change.
(Once Christmas felt safe, he started biting me and drawing blood.)
Let her very gradually become used to the smell of the other rats, her new home and you.

After she has recovered from her spay, and seems adjusted to her new home, then I would suggest switching cloths etc to help her become more acustomed to the scent of the other rats.

I would suggest you take it very slow and get your clues from her.
Once she is ok with their scent and shows no aggression around their things or in their cage, then you can start to think about physical intros. It may be that she will need to live with one or two gentle rats that she bonds with.

It is a very good sign that things were going well until she felt attacked during a previous intro. I expect that she will eventually be living with other ratties but it will likely be slow progress, especially since she has now had at least two bad experiences.

Looking forward to lots of updates and pictures.

Good luck

 

[EDK]

She sounds like she might have had a bad time with other rats in her past and now she may have no trust in her own species? Just a thought, but I'd defiently would spay her to help lower her aggression, at least i hope that will help to lower it some. I'd hate for her to have to be alone too, but after hearing her being so violent with other rats, causing serious injuries to some...she may have to be if the spaying and intros fails. Still, there's hope for her i'm sure, I'll keep my fingers crossed for the both of you! That might actually be a good name for her too if you decide to rename her 'Spitfire' lol

 

[jorats]

I agree with SQ and would do exactly as she suggested.

 

[Dahlas]

If her health is good, and if she has not been spayed, I would suggest getting her spayed asap.
While spaying does not usually make a huge difference like neutering boys does, every bit helps.

Since she just moved in, I would focus on letting her adjust to her change in circumstances.
I would suggest lots of socialization and interaction with you.
She needs to learn to trust and love you .... who knows what she has been through in her short life.

Once she is feeling safe in your home, her behaviour may change.
(Once Christmas felt safe, he started biting me and drawing blood.)
Let her very gradually become used to the smell of the other rats, her new home and you.

After she has recovered from her spay, and seems adjusted to her new home, then I would suggest switching cloths etc to help her become more acustomed to the scent of the other rats.

I would suggest you take it very slow and get your clues from her.
Once she is ok with their scent and shows no aggression around their things or in their cage, then you can start to think about physical intros. It may be that she will need to live with one or two gentle rats that she bonds with.

It is a very good sign that things were going well until she felt attacked during a previous intro. I expect that she will eventually be living with other ratties but it will likely be slow progress, especially since she has now had at least two bad experiences.

Looking forward to lots of updates and pictures.

Good luck

:yeah:
sounds like she has been tossed in cages to fast....and now might be even more suspicious of her own kind. Take it slow and she will have friends someday I am sure.....