I have 2 rats: Kichiro (12 weeks old) who is a roof rat that my cat caught when Kichiro was only 4 weeks old.
And then there's Miyoko (10 weeks old) who's a domestic brown rat. She's female but the two species are unable to interbreed. I got Miyoko when she was 4 weeks old so that Kichiro wouldn't be lonely. I just properly introduced them 2 days ago (they have met a couple of times before in the bathtub but it was awhile back and very brief) because I finally got their DCN (Double Critter Nation) cage, which took longer than I thought due to DCN being backordered everywhere and one store making a mistake with my order.
Anyway, Miyoko is very anxious about all this space and she keeps going up to Kichiro and scaring him. Like he was trying to sleep a minute ago and she's going up to the opening of his cereal box and making him squeak in fright. There's no aggression but it's very stressful for both of them. I had to take Miyoko out last night because she just wouldn't stop and poor Kichiro was hanging onto the bars of the cage and Miyoko kept trying to get at him. But she wasn't showing any aggressive body language.
I just put her back in a little awhile ago and now have had to take her out again. I know about the 'no blood, no foul' rule but she's just relentless about bothering him and when she's anxious she's extremely hyper and can't seem to stop running around (yet she calms right down and goes to sleep when I put her back in her old cage). Also right before I took her out just now I was hearing new sounds - hissing coming from Kichiro and a sort of huffing(?) sound that I'm not sure who was making. This was when Miyoko went inside Kichiro's cereal box so I couldn't see what was going on but Kichiro probably felt cornered so was making aggressive sounds.
When I go over when Kichiro starts squeaking Miyoko runs over to me as if for attention but she's just a bundle of anxious energy. She'll go back and forth against the bars and grab my hair and yank it through the bars if it's close enough (it actually hurt when she did that to my bangs!), if I put my finger up to the bars she'll bite it, or at least try to - when I see that she's going to bite down a lot harder than a gentle nibble I pull my finger out. It's so unlike her since she's usually very gentle.
Now I'm not sure what to do. Should I take Kichiro out, put Miyoko in and let her get used to the new cage? This way she won't have anyone to take her anxiety out on, and when she's settled in I can put Kichiro back in and see if she acts differently towards him then? I think Kichiro would likely to be scared of any rat and just avoid them, but would warm up to them quickly if he were given time and not constantly pestered by a hyper anxious rat. He's very non-confrontational. He's not really an anxious rat like Miyoko is either (ironically, considering he's the wild rat here). He's been fine with the new cage and has been exploring normally.
Or should I put them both back in their old cages and put the cages beside each other, THEN put Miyoko in the new cage and let her get used to it, then put Kichiro in and see how it goes?
Also, I'm not sure what to do about getting new rats. I had always planned on having more and I thought Miyoko having at least one friend of her own kind would be good. Is this normal behavior from Miyoko? I mean, if I got a couple/few 4 week old rats and introduced them (after a 2 week quarantine) to Kichiro would they pester him like this and be super nervous about all the space that the DCN provides? I don't know what's typical introduction behavior with rats.
And then there's Miyoko (10 weeks old) who's a domestic brown rat. She's female but the two species are unable to interbreed. I got Miyoko when she was 4 weeks old so that Kichiro wouldn't be lonely. I just properly introduced them 2 days ago (they have met a couple of times before in the bathtub but it was awhile back and very brief) because I finally got their DCN (Double Critter Nation) cage, which took longer than I thought due to DCN being backordered everywhere and one store making a mistake with my order.
Anyway, Miyoko is very anxious about all this space and she keeps going up to Kichiro and scaring him. Like he was trying to sleep a minute ago and she's going up to the opening of his cereal box and making him squeak in fright. There's no aggression but it's very stressful for both of them. I had to take Miyoko out last night because she just wouldn't stop and poor Kichiro was hanging onto the bars of the cage and Miyoko kept trying to get at him. But she wasn't showing any aggressive body language.
I just put her back in a little awhile ago and now have had to take her out again. I know about the 'no blood, no foul' rule but she's just relentless about bothering him and when she's anxious she's extremely hyper and can't seem to stop running around (yet she calms right down and goes to sleep when I put her back in her old cage). Also right before I took her out just now I was hearing new sounds - hissing coming from Kichiro and a sort of huffing(?) sound that I'm not sure who was making. This was when Miyoko went inside Kichiro's cereal box so I couldn't see what was going on but Kichiro probably felt cornered so was making aggressive sounds.
When I go over when Kichiro starts squeaking Miyoko runs over to me as if for attention but she's just a bundle of anxious energy. She'll go back and forth against the bars and grab my hair and yank it through the bars if it's close enough (it actually hurt when she did that to my bangs!), if I put my finger up to the bars she'll bite it, or at least try to - when I see that she's going to bite down a lot harder than a gentle nibble I pull my finger out. It's so unlike her since she's usually very gentle.
Now I'm not sure what to do. Should I take Kichiro out, put Miyoko in and let her get used to the new cage? This way she won't have anyone to take her anxiety out on, and when she's settled in I can put Kichiro back in and see if she acts differently towards him then? I think Kichiro would likely to be scared of any rat and just avoid them, but would warm up to them quickly if he were given time and not constantly pestered by a hyper anxious rat. He's very non-confrontational. He's not really an anxious rat like Miyoko is either (ironically, considering he's the wild rat here). He's been fine with the new cage and has been exploring normally.
Or should I put them both back in their old cages and put the cages beside each other, THEN put Miyoko in the new cage and let her get used to it, then put Kichiro in and see how it goes?
Also, I'm not sure what to do about getting new rats. I had always planned on having more and I thought Miyoko having at least one friend of her own kind would be good. Is this normal behavior from Miyoko? I mean, if I got a couple/few 4 week old rats and introduced them (after a 2 week quarantine) to Kichiro would they pester him like this and be super nervous about all the space that the DCN provides? I don't know what's typical introduction behavior with rats.
