rhapsody
Senior Member
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:
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 ...
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 ...