I don't know what to do...

[CardboardCastles]

I just had Wicket, the youngest of my brood, I've had her in the cage with the big girls for a few weeks (3-4) now, has, not little groomed-too-much nip scabs, but actual lacerations across her hind end...

And I know which bigger girl is doing it.

Mishka, my once shy baby is now a dominant and angry baby. She's the largest of my 6, and throws her weight around more that figuratively speaking. for the past two nights I've woken up to, no word of a lie, screaming. Squealing isn't even the right word, Wicket -screams-, when I flick on the lights its always Mishka pinning her down or chasing her around the cage in a frenzy.

I contacted Mainely Rat Rescue, where I got Mishka from....I don't have the money for a spay right now, it'd take a few weeks to come up with the $250 the vet wants to charge me, and I honestly don't think, if Wicket's poor hind end looks the way it does now, that I -have- a few weeks to wait for a spay. I don't have the room to seperate Mishka either, she's my chewer, she destroyed two pans to my SP Exotics cage in a night a piece....The best I can think to do is rehome her, but its killing me to even think about that, either.....I don't know what else to do guys, I'm literally in tears over the whole mess, I feel awful for Wicket, and I feel awful for Mishka.

 

[lj]

Can Wicket come back out of the cage? What Mishka a problem before Wicket went in?

 

[CardboardCastles]

Not as badly, but the other 5 girls are about the same size, Wicket is only half their size.

And no, Mishka destroyed the pan to my backup cage, I have nothing big enough to keep Wicket in alone for now...I'm going to see if I can't rig the bottom half of the FN for now so that they can't go between levels, and maybe seperate that way....I can put Pia and Wicket together, since Pia is lazy and doesn't do much of anything but sleep in the hammock and stuff herself silly....I just have to scrounge the money to buy hardware cloth again.

 

[jorats]

How big is the colony cage, could that be an issue? So you've had the new rat, the smaller rat with Mishka the bully for about a month now. It can take several months for Mishka to accept Wicket and leave her alone. She can also be unrelenting and a total b!#$
Can you try to dominate Mishka, when she goes after Wicket, grap Mishka and pinch her between the shoulder blades and press down. That should stop her for a few hours.
You'll have to ride out the storm if you want to keep her, it will be hard though, also, take Mishka out several times a day for one on one with her. Allow her to see the cage does not belong to her so she comes out for a few hours and goes back into the communal cage.
If that doesn't help... and she continues or does worse damage, then she'll need to be removed. Some rats are just neurotic that way.

 

[CardboardCastles]

Its a FN142, but currently they only have access to the top half of the cage, I have to go buy more hardware cloth to cover where Mishka chewed through (yes, through) in the corners.

I have 6 girls, including the baby, Mishka -is- the biggest, and definately blossomed into the bully (and I thought that Wil would have been the bully, but she's more of a stress-biter)

I definately panicked last night and just jumped to way too many conclusions, poor Kim over at MRR must have thought I was dumb with the email I sent her because I'm sure I rambled and didn't make much sense...In any event, today has been a little better, I've been taking Mish out for more one on one, and if she gets out of hand, I will do the pinch thing (although I will openly admit, I'm nervous doing it, after having had stitches from Wil just recently on belly and neck, I don't want my hands torn up!) and see if it helps.

 

[jorats]

If you are nervous, don't pinch her, you need to have a level energy, a dominant energy. We don't want to risk you getting bit.
Having only half the FN is cramping them, I'm sure, 6 is max, and that's with rats that are comfortable and happy together. When there's tension, they need more space. 6 in a double FN will be perfect.