Intro video and text tutorial

[jorats]

I adopted three males from Lilspaz68. They are older and intact. Ferdinand lived alone while Teddy and George lived together. I decided to intro these three to my colony and thought it was a great idea to take a video account of the process. Adding three different groups together, 3 of the males intact should have been the perfect opportunity to show what to look for, problem areas, puffy rats, the calming effect, the "do not touch" the romp issues... but nope. This group is so docile, I didn't get one reaction that I could use and document. I will still put up the videos just to give an idea.
But! my sister is also doing intros and hers are a little harder so I'll document that one as well.

Here are some pics!
Teddy! ...during the intros, I was taking multiple pics. As I was snapping away, Teddy walks up to me and starts to give me lots of kisses. lol

His buddy George... this guy was the happiest of the group. He generally hopped from one place to the other, making loads of new friends.

And Ferdinand. He's a hefty boy, big but not fat, a real doll. I'm not surprised that Bianca adores him. He was the only one to become puffy. But not out of aggression, only out of "fear for the unknown". It didn't take long for him to settle down and pee on all the rat buds, who frankly, didn't care. lol

A couple of intro pics:
Ferd and Teddy, eating the ten million cheerios I put down in anticipation of a confrontation. lol

And one of Doc with George in the back, Ferd and Teddy... all happy rats.

 

[toeberto]

Those are great pictures - everyone looks so happy and relaxed about the process. I have to admit, every time I think about adding another rat to our two, worrying about intros stops me.

Sarah
http://bentorats.blogspot.com/

 

[ChrisK]

They all look so lovely! This is such a great idea. I know I'm staying tuned for fun and further info.. It seems to me that no two intros are alike -- or rather I should say, since I'm only on my second intro process lol .. that the second is not "just like" the first. Looking forward to hearing your story and maybe picking up some more tips

 

[lilspaz68]

OMG I am sooo happy!!! :bliss: Especially for Ferdinand the lovely timid lonely boy. And George, what a good boy!!! Don't worry he will start licking like Teddy eventually...

Soo happy those boys got you first of all, and secondly, that they are soon getting a Rat Family... :bow:

Awww Bianca loving Ferds... *melt*

 

[Moon]

That's too sweet. Glad it's going well.

 

[kestrel9]

Wonderful photos! Such happy lads!

 

They are adorable :heart:

 

[lilspaz68]

How was Gera with them all? And Chief?

 

[jorats]

Chief is pretty much incapacitated so he just stood around and ate all the cheerios. Gera couldn't care less but he also didn't attempt to make friends either which I found odd but there's been so much happening to his colony that I can see him taking a step back and letting the others do the work. But the others of his colony like young Doc and Meeko didn't. Bianca on the other hand was the welcome wagon. The colony usually have full access to their cage during their out time and I think they were very annoyed that during the intro, they didn't.

 

[lilspaz68]

That makes sense And what a good girl Bianca is! Following in her momma's footsteps :heart:

You'll be doing it again today?

How's Nic doing with Neko?

 

[eagle]

I am so happy intros are going so well. I am sure Gera will soon be his old self. :heart:

 

[jorats]

I am so happy intros are going so well. I am sure Gera will soon be his old self. :heart:

Once, I move the intro back into the rat room, I can see Gera being his happy popcorning self again.

 

[jorats]

That makes sense And what a good girl Bianca is! Following in her momma's footsteps :heart:

You'll be doing it again today?

How's Nic doing with Neko?

Oh yes, once intros start, I do them every single day for a week or more, depends on how long they need it.
Nic's intro is challenging. Bruno (Stewart) is being a good alpha but it scared the crap out of Nic yesterday. (Rat ball with Bruno is Neko)
So I will be doing her intros as well. :thumbup:

 

[Dahlas]

That looks great....they are all so adorable

 

[jorats]

So here's the first one. That was taken within 5 minutes of them going on the bed. I'll post the video of the last minutes of the intro hour later today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_L-gGI5ZcA

 

[hprats]

Hehe, cute, but I look forward to some footage of the tougher behaviours.

But even better, you have so many awesome rat vids! I am watching "open the door" now and it is making me laugh. I usually only have one begging at the door!

 

[lilspaz68]

This was a fantastic idea!!!...NO other forum has this sort of instructional video...I am also learning tons myself. :thumbup:

 

[Petunia]

that is great!!

how do you keep the rats from climbing up on you when you are so close by? My girls all run over and try to climb on me, even if there's the tastiest food on the bed, they try to get up on me and get off the scary bed LOL


I wish I had a video camera so I could show you what is happening with my girl Hope- lately I think the girl is possessed or something, she's just so unpredictable.

 

[jorats]

I'm not going to bother with the last 5 minutes of yesterday. It was pretty boring. I'll work on uploading today which we had some issues. My problem kids are going to be Ferd and Teddy. I'll upload the video when I get back home from work. I also have a video of the rats getting nasty and I'm dominating Teddy. I'm not going to put that on YouTube. I'm sure I'll get plenty of nasty messages. I'll put that one on my photobucket. lol

 

[lilspaz68]

Oh wow! Never expected that....can't wait to see it tonight :nod: