NicodemusRattus
Well-Known Member
I recently introduced my 2 older girls(both near 2 years old) into a new, large cage with Aurora and her 6 female babies (they're now near 12 wks old). It's been less than a week. Mogwai and Nimzy (my older girls) have been living next door to Aurora and her babies for a while now, and seemed really desperate to be in contact with Aurora's family. Everytime I open the cage door, one of them will bolt out and head straight to Aurora's cage and investigate. They've all met eachother, so I figured when the babies were old enough I'd allow Mogwai & Nimzy to live with them in a new cage. I waited for the babies to reach 12 weeks since that's what I was advised to do... but now I'm starting to feel like I should have done it when the babies were younger lol. Instead of the older females bullying the babies like I worried about, one of the babies has been actually bullying my 2 old girls! Nimzy is the largest rat in my house. She's as large as some males I've had. And come to find out, she's a huge scaredy-cat as well. I worried about her hurting the babies, but she's turned out to be a big docile push-over. And now one of the babies keeps bullying my huge fat old girl!! how weird. I figured there would be some initial dominance wresting or whatnot, but most of the babies have been respectful of their elders. And their mother Aurora loves having some adult company, she cuddled & cleaned Nimzy for an hour the other day. There is one little girl in particular though that's not as peaceful. For the most part the cage has been quiet, but everytime I hear screaming coming from the cage it's that same baby messing with either Mogwai or Nimzy. Mostly Nimzy. They got into it so bad last night, the two of them tumbled off the top platform, rolled down the ramp, and landed on the next platform and Nimzy was screaming so loud it scared me. She seemed genuinely upset and ran off into the igloo for the rest of the night. I'm not sure if the baby is trying to play, or honestly wants to be dominant over a rat that's more than twice her size and age. I haven't witnessed any biting, just wrestling. But Nimzy is old and doesn't move as quick as she used to. Her & Mogwai had been living a quiet life with eachother up until this intro, and hardly ever wrestle together in their old age. They love the new cage, and for the most part seem to love all the new ratties, and since it's only the one baby that messes with them I'm not planning to remove them. I know it's barely been a week and maybe I should give them more time to adjust, but with Mog & Nim being so old, I don't want them to get hurt. Should I consider removing the problem child out of this cage? I hate to take her away from her family. But she's the only one making this intro a problem.
