Intros

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Holy crap almost had a hissy fit! :lol: Pinky and Spaghetti in the same cage with no blood!! I swear I didn't even know. The funny thing was Pinky was in Spagettis spot and he refused to move and Spaghetti gave up. Whoo hooo :dance: :dance: :dance: I'm almost temped to open the whole FN now. Could I or should I wait? Hard to know right now.
 
tinytippytoes said:
Holy crap almost had a hissy fit! :lol: Pinky and Spaghetti in the same cage with no blood!! I swear I didn't even know. The funny thing was Pinky was in Spagettis spot and he refused to move and Spaghetti gave up. Whoo hooo :dance: :dance: :dance: I'm almost temped to open the whole FN now. Could I or should I wait? Hard to know right now.
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How long have they been in the same cage? If you can stay by the cage for a few hours and if all goes well, you can give it a try.
 
So it is almost 7 am in the morning here and I am tired . I stayed about to about 1 am to make sure they didn't kill each other. They aren't bloody or anything. Just tired boys who took treats and went to sleep. Success!! Thank you Jorats :) for making this happen. I know now that when you have more rats that it just gets more complicated cause there are more different personalitys going on in the group. 1st time I've had 5 rats together.
 
tinytippytoes said:
So it is almost 7 am in the morning here and I am tired . I stayed about to about 1 am to make sure they didn't kill each other. They aren't bloody or anything. Just tired boys who took treats and went to sleep. Success!! Thank you Jorats :) for making this happen. I know now that when you have more rats that it just gets more complicated cause there are more different personalitys going on in the group. 1st time I've had 5 rats together.
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That's great! Another thing to keep in mind that rats in a colony will always have scuffles once in a while. Don't worry and don't rush to separate. Let them work it out.
 
jorats said:
tinytippytoes said:
So it is almost 7 am in the morning here and I am tired . I stayed about to about 1 am to make sure they didn't kill each other. They aren't bloody or anything. Just tired boys who took treats and went to sleep. Success!! Thank you Jorats :) for making this happen. I know now that when you have more rats that it just gets more complicated cause there are more different personalitys going on in the group. 1st time I've had 5 rats together.
Click to expand...

That's great! Another thing to keep in mind that rats in a colony will always have scuffles once in a while. Don't worry and don't rush to separate. Let them work it out.
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Ok then. I'll remember that!! Its been 2 days now and everything is going great!
 
Doing intro's for the second time. I got a 3rd rat and intro'd them to my two. There was some pinning and a little scuffling, but for the most part, things went really well! My oldest rat kind of established himself with some pinning and power-grooming, but that was about it. Then after awhile, Peanut (my oldest) curled up in the corner and went to sleep. The new guy checked him out a bit, but that was about it. So, I'd call that a success!

I'm currently trying to get him use to me too, stuffed him down my sweatshirt. lol.
 
odduckOasis said:
Doing intro's for the second time. I got a 3rd rat and intro'd them to my two. There was some pinning and a little scuffling, but for the most part, things went really well! My oldest rat kind of established himself with some pinning and power-grooming, but that was about it. Then after awhile, Peanut (my oldest) curled up in the corner and went to sleep. The new guy checked him out a bit, but that was about it. So, I'd call that a success!

I'm currently trying to get him use to me too, stuffed him down my sweatshirt. lol.
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Definitely a successful intro. :thumbup:
 
I need help my intro is soo not going so well between my two groups of girls, I'll try again later but I want advice on how to do this properly.

I read somewhere that I could maybe fill the tub up with a bit of water, scared both groups into hanging out together *lol*

No but really I'm at a loss, any advice is appreciated!
 
Hi, i hope i can post this here. Im doing intros with two 3 month olds, and one 6 month old males. So far all is going good. I just want a few comments to tell me what i should do next, or if i should continue what im doing now for a few more days etc. Thanks

This is the Link: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=30567
 
I rescued Maurice about a month or so ago, and Louis we rescued about a week ago. We aren't sure how old they are, but Maurice is for sure at least 2 or 3 months old, and Louis is much younger, I would guess about a month or a little more.

I've been keeping them in two separate cages beside one another, and yesterday (about 5 days after we got Louis) we put them together and they fought. We separated them, and Louis had a little nip on his leg that was bleeding. I put them back in their cages, and went back a step in the introduction.

I let them have their free range on my bed separately, and today when I got Maurice after it was Louis' turn, he was running around and making a strange revving noise which I googled and I found out was a 'growing anger' noise. I believe Maurice is hormonal, and judging by the size of his testicles, I am guessing that is the reason for his aggression towards Louis.

What else should I do? I want to keep trying the introduction face to face every few days, but I'm afraid of little Louis getting hurt. Is there any way to make this easier? Also, I really do not have the money to neuter Maurice so that is out of the question.

When/how do I know if the introduction is officially deemed 'unsuccessful'? how many times should I try introducing them before I should give up?
 
Lourice said:
I rescued Maurice about a month or so ago, and Louis we rescued about a week ago. We aren't sure how old they are, but Maurice is for sure at least 2 or 3 months old, and Louis is much younger, I would guess about a month or a little more.

I've been keeping them in two separate cages beside one another, and yesterday (about 5 days after we got Louis) we put them together and they fought. We separated them, and Louis had a little nip on his leg that was bleeding. I put them back in their cages, and went back a step in the introduction.

I let them have their free range on my bed separately, and today when I got Maurice after it was Louis' turn, he was running around and making a strange revving noise which I googled and I found out was a 'growing anger' noise. I believe Maurice is hormonal, and judging by the size of his testicles, I am guessing that is the reason for his aggression towards Louis.

What else should I do? I want to keep trying the introduction face to face every few days, but I'm afraid of little Louis getting hurt. Is there any way to make this easier? Also, I really do not have the money to neuter Maurice so that is out of the question.

When/how do I know if the introduction is officially deemed 'unsuccessful'? how many times should I try introducing them before I should give up?
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First off, the size of testicles, will have nothing to do with aggression or non aggression. That's the good news. :)
When you first put them together, where was the location? On the bed or someplace where both rats have never been? I would suggest using a table top. Put some yummy liquidy food in the middle and add the two rats, nothing more.
The fact that you say Maurice and Louis are both under 3 months, this should be an easy fast intros. Males don't really come into full hormonal maturity until about 4 to 5 months. Sometimes it does start at 3 months but that's not very common. A small nick in the leg, is not reason to think aggression. An aggressive rat will lunge and attack the genitals or the stomach, everything else is pretty minor stuff and a good indication to keep doing intros.
Do your intros in a "new" place, do them for at least 30 minutes long. Always end on a good note, even if they fought. Separate the fight, hand them a treat and then end the intro for that day. If you can do intros several times a day, that's even better. Switch their cages, each day, the boys switch cages, this will get them used to the other guy's smell.
 
We first introduced them on neutral ground where they fought, and the second time we did it in the bathtub. they didn't fight in the bathtub, but Maurice did hiss at little Louis which he has never done before. I'm not sure how old either of the two rats are because I rescued both of them, and especially Maurice because we found him abandoned in a field... but Maurice is definitely the older one. we've had him for 2 months almost so he must be 3 or 4 or maybe even 5 months old. we're not sure.

i didn't want to try introducing them more than once a day, but now I will rethink that. I just want this process to hurry up :(
 
Alright so we went out of the bathtub and back onto neutral ground tonight, and they fought. Maurice bit Louis on the belly, we had some blood on the floor and on my arm where he ran after. it was scary :( we aren't sure what to do now. do we go back to the bathtub? they were both so terrified in there, i hate seeing them like that. i don't know what to do anymore. Should I just let them live next to each other for longer?

also, today when we put louis in maurice's cage, he puffed up. should I wait until louis can go into maurice's cage without puffing up? we are desperate at this point.
 

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