Lily attacked the new girl!

[Ratatat]

Today was the sixth day The New Girl came to my house and the second day her and Lily had exchanged their blankets/fleece so I thought it would be OK for them to meet each for the first time. It started off great, they were licking and grooming each other then soon I guess Lily got bored since she walked away. The New Girl followed her then suddenly Lily just attacked her!

She didn't bite her too hard, since once I had cleaned her up The New Girl she stopped bleeding and was back to begging for attention from me.

Basically, I want to know should I do something to The New Girl? Or do you think she's fine (besides being a bit shocked)? She doesn't seem in any pain...

Also, I'm really worried that I rushed everything to fast (I guess I was overexcited and should of been more patient) so should I wait another week continuing to exchange their blankets and then try an intro again? And, if it adds on to anything Lily hasn't seen another rat for about a year and the Lily is all full grown while The New Girl is only about 3 months old and growing so I'm hoping that won't add any difficulty.

 

[SQ]

I would continue having the cages near one another and exchanging blankets for another week or so.
When you put them together was it in neutral territory such as in the bathtub, with a fleece blanket on the bottom of te tub and a plate of tastely food that can not be carried away, on the bottom of the tub?

 

[Ratatat]

I would continue having the cages near one another and exchanging blankets for another week or so.
When you put them together was it in neutral territory such as in the bathtub, with a fleece blanket on the bottom of te tub and a plate of tastely food that can not be carried away, on the bottom of the tub?

Thanks, and yes I did it in my bathtub (with a towel on the bottom) where none of them had ever been before. Though, I did not have any food (I'll be sure to have some next time), and I'll continue to exchange the blankets with the cages near to each other until next week.

 

[SQ]

Hope it goes better next time.

 

[jorats]

How old are the girls?
I'd continue with intros. Sometimes the dominant rat will hurt the other but only because the rat didn't submit and zigged when she should have zagged.

 

[Ratatat]

I'm unsure of both their ages, though I'd say Lily (resident rat) would be around a year while The New Girl would be close to about 3 or 4 months old.

I'm pretty sure Lily didn't mean to be so aggressive towards The New Girl, I'm hoping, like Jo said, that The New Girl just happened to make the wrong move at the wrong time.

 

[lilspaz68]

Your new girl looks much younger than 12 weeks, I would've said 6 to 7 weeks max. Definitely use the food, it can really make a difference in intro's...they focus on that instead of each other.

 

[Ratatat]

Just thought I'd update:

Tonight was re - introducing night tonight. Oh, boy... It went well at first, I had some food out for them which they kinda payed attention to. It started off well... they groomed each other, and then out of the blue Lily attacked Holly (New Girl who I finally names) luckily I had my hands already so Lily didn't cause any harm but sure bit me hard! (thank gosh for gloves!)

Anyways, I don't think I'll be introducing the girls again. Maybe it has to be their size issue (though Holly sure has grown in the past two weeks and is much bigger) but will for sure have to go and get Holly a new cage mate as she is in desperate need and I have a strong feeling that it'll go smoothly with those two. I feel bad for Lily not having a cagemate but I don't have the time/money for another rat plus there's still that possibility of them not getting together...

:wallbang:

 

[jorats]

Can you describe the attack? Lily needs to pin the new girl to teach her that Lily is alpha and must be respected.

 

[Ratatat]

Can you describe the attack? Lily needs to pin the new girl to teach her that Lily is alpha and must be respected.

I had never actually though about her pinning her down and showing dominance... though, still thinking back to it she when pinning her down there was quite of bit of squeaking involved and once I did pick up Lily she bit me pretty hard. I'm now rearing towards that it was dominance... Maybe Lily just bit me because of shock and not intending to bite Holly. Re - reading a few introductions tutorials I see that sometimes in can get a bit aggressive while really it isn't. I'm thinking and hoping that I just am overreacting and Lily was just showing who was alpha...

 

[jorats]

Yes, her biting you was probably not intentional but her releasing some pent up alpha stress because she couldn't show the other one to submit. Also, lots of squeaking is perfectly normal.
I'd keep trying!