Mini's Rescued Feeder Breeder pair, may need advice

[lilspaz68]

How is Stewie's back of neck issue doing? His neuter abscess looks like its granulating nicely :thumbup:

 

[MiniFrog]

How is Stewie's back of neck issue doing? His neuter abscess looks like its granulating nicely :thumbup:

his back is still the same....his scrotum one is almost gone

 

[hopefloats]

Did you put any bug stuff on him? Like revolution or did they at the vets?

 

[MiniFrog]

i don't know, and didnt know to ask :?

 

[Joanne]

I looked back to see if I could tell when that spot appeared. It seems to have been after he went to the vet for the second time. Perhaps you could call her and see if she gave him an injection that day. I am guessing it would have been antibiotics (Baytril?). It will be two weeks on Thursday - is it getting bigger, smaller, the same? Does it seem like it's healing from underneath (forming a scab?)

 

[MiniFrog]

The spot is a scab now it would appear, his scrotum's mark is nearly gone and Kimmy is healed, so I started intros tonight. Here are the pics/videos (I think it went really well) They were in there an hour and 45 minutes, I only put them back because I had to put Hayden to bed and they were sleeping, Kimmy in the corner alone and the other 4 girls snuggled on the towel I placed in there after the photo shoot, Stewie just checking things out lol

I decided to use the nursery since I do not trust that Kimmy would not attempt to run away, but we are on my bed, and the door is shut just in case lol

[BBvideo 450,375:2b971trz]http://youtu.be/RKgnnBrlC3A[/BBvideo:2b971trz]

Kimmy seemed to take a liking straight away to Honey, and I got out the treats

[BBvideo 450,375:2b971trz]http://youtu.be/RV2Y4TyA75k[/BBvideo:2b971trz]

[BBvideo 450,375:2b971trz]http://youtu.be/D7OGs0u7jPg[/BBvideo:2b971trz]
[BBvideo 450,375:2b971trz]http://youtu.be/SaW-hO5fc8s[/BBvideo:2b971trz]

Mitzi tried to steal Stewie's treat lol:

Minnie: "Hang on Mum, I think I blinked, can we do that one again?"

Minnie: "There, how was that one?"

Then I heard squeaking, noticed Mitzi on her back and Stewie was doing something to her belly, Kimmy went over to "help." He did this a few times, with or without Kimmy, and only to Mitzi.....

[BBvideo 450,375:2b971trz]http://youtu.be/yppt_oCBPkE[/BBvideo:2b971trz]

Honey went over to snuggle Kimmy

Little miss Kimmy actually was bruxing, so I started filming again, but by then she was done but started to boggle!!

[BBvideo 450,375:2b971trz]http://youtu.be/yC8liq_3xAc[/BBvideo:2b971trz]

About 1/2 way through it, I had my hand in the tank, and was not really paying attention to Kimmy, since I was paying attention to someone else, and she bit my thumb, hard enough to draw blood again

 

[EDK]

Ouch! Sorry she bit you ya maybe you just need more time with her, she's obviously got a grudge against humans but you can't blame her. What I saw with Stewie doing to one of your girls, it was a small form of domiance I think, or rough grooming. Usually there's no harm in it, it's just to say "Hey I'm bigger then you, I deserve respect" my alpha rat Gizmo does that with my other two boys all the time, he'll make them roll on their back and 'rough' groom them. There is some protest from my other rats when he does this, but its all about dominance, and thats probably what Stewie was doing. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't esculate to anything more, but I wouldn't worry about it. This is just my opinion though, others may translate that behavior differently, I'm no expert I'm just saying it how i see it and compare it to what I see with my boys. Hope that helps so far though intros look like they are going well! I just hope Kimmy will stop biting you at some point Have you tried squeaking really loud when she bit you? Squeaking to let her know "OUCH THAT HURTS" lets her know and sometimes that can help with preventing it.

 

[MiniFrog]

So today was their second time together, 2 hrs and 15 minutes I believe, and no problems. I gave them supper in there, some peas/carrots mixed with noodles and bits of egg, and Kimmy went right for the egg to chow down on (last time she would not eat the puffs) and she was also deciding to jump on the edge of the bin along with the other girls, so I am taking that as both a good and bad sign lol, they are teaching her bad habits >_< but she is feeling more comfortable to explore with them

[BBvideo 450,375:dfpet0j0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvQOjQN18qc&feature=youtu.be[/BBvideo:dfpet0j0]

This one looks like they are both looking at me as if to say "it wasn't me mum, it was her, she dumped the food dish upside down!"

Everyone wanting to know what I was doing:

Kimmy getting brave and standing up to check the camera out

They are making a break for it!!

 

[Dahlas]

LOL...things look like they are going great!..

 

[MiniFrog]

Stewie's scab looks like it is lifting a bit, and he has started protesting when I try to pick him up sometimes.....is it because I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would have liked with him lately? And Kimmy still is timid of me, any tips there? She lets me pet her head sometimes, and sometimes I can pick her up for a few seconds, and sometimes she takes food from me. What else can I do for her??

 

[lilspaz68]

:heart: :heart:

You are doing just fine...let your socialized girls show Kimmy and Stewie The Way :joy:

Just watch Kimmy, she has a biting habit, but if you remember she is there,and offer her the back of your hand to sniff instead of tasty fingers, and she doesn't get opportunities to make you bleed, she will forget and stop.

 

[Godmother]

Looks like a very successful intro!

 

[EDK]

Just keep at it, things are going awsome so far! Stewie's black spot does look like its reduced :joy:

 

[MiniFrog]

So I didn't get to post this yesterday, but since they were together so long with no issues, I thought I would allow them time in the cage to see what would happen......the 2 newbies spent a lot of time sniffing around, and then Stewie started being dominate.....he even did a side step thing where his bum pushed Honey into the corner, and of course once I got up with the camera he stopped. He also chased the young sisters around to hump, he would try with Alice but she pulled a ninja move as if to say "I don't think so!" (the girls on chat joked that he needs to buy her dinner first lol) and he had no interest in Honey apart from making sure she knew he was in charge. Kimmy was not too bad, she just went with one or more of the other girls, like they were showing her the ropes (literally lol). I got a couple videos, in attempts to catch Stewie in the act, thought I would share them, one of them I have to stop quickly because Minnie runs up to the top of the cage, where I cannot reach her, lol, but luckily she comes for treats! At one point when I opened the door to put food in, Kimmy even came running to the open door just like the other girls, when I offered her my knuckle she sniffed and ran. I gave them another paper bag, which they loved, and put the couples' igloo and hanging house in the cage so they would have something familiar in there. If I get a chance today, and if I can figure it out, I will throw their bird ladders in there as well as their water bottle, although if I do get the other girl, I might want to keep some stuff for her cage as well lol.

[BBvideo 450,375:wvnyokb1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpoYvZlP5hE[/BBvideo:wvnyokb1]

[BBvideo 450,375:wvnyokb1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pboYxAp_RDo[/BBvideo:wvnyokb1]

[BBvideo 450,375:wvnyokb1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6cZk6grjuc[/BBvideo:wvnyokb1]

[BBvideo 450,375:wvnyokb1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUSpesI_Nm4[/BBvideo:wvnyokb1]

[BBvideo 450,375:wvnyokb1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEv7VGUXybE[/BBvideo:wvnyokb1]

So after he was being a bum in the cage, I took him out for some snuggle time, and he wet back to being the sweet boy I knew:

[BBvideo 450,375:wvnyokb1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EPuW7cR_j8[/BBvideo:wvnyokb1]

[BBvideo 450,375:wvnyokb1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMlk4B1OnqI[/BBvideo:wvnyokb1]

Close up of his scab:

He would have gone to sleep here like this, but hubby had a friend over so between them talking and the dog whining from his kennel.....lol

 

[EDK]

all seems to be ok so far, i thought stewie was a bit puffy when they were in the cage, but not fights broke out so that's a good start, maybe he just needs time to settle, other then nice work!

 

[user 2700]

Congrats Mini! Sounds like things are going well for you, looks like an adorable group.

 

[MiniFrog]

Ok, so Stewie has started nipping when he is in the cage, but then falls asleep on me during snuggle time, so I am so confused what to think of his progress lol.....I notice Kimmy has the head swaying thing going on though, and whenever I have someone out of the cage, she runs over to them (when they go back) to smell every inch of them. She sits and watches the other girls when they come to the door for their treats, and today both her and Stewie decided to join them!! He did first, I had to go to her on the first one, but I have a cute video of her:

[BBvideo 450,375:irtao3c6]http://youtu.be/BhBAdFL_kqk[/BBvideo:irtao3c6]

I have to clean the cage, and have no idea how to get her out without setting her progress back, any suggestions? I mean I COULD use the face cloth to pick her up, but do not want to stress her out anymore than she already just got over :?

 

[hopefloats]

When dealing with bitey rats there are two things you have to do. 1. Pick them up for meds and 2. take them out so you clean the cage. Dont let them be optional for her lol she will survive.

 

[MiniFrog]

Any tips on the picking up part though? I mean if I can lure her down to one of the lower levels, it should be ok, I feel more comfortable doing it with the face cloth, but is that ok? I never did get you grab thing down :?

Side note, I love tongue water bottle pictures!!

Stewie:

Kimmy:

Alice (Ok so no tongue, but I love how she seems to be pointing lol):

Honey:

 

[hopefloats]

How ever it takes to et her out. And honestly hesitation will add fuel to her fire. I would treat her more like a regular rat that may bite then being to cautious with her. You can work on trust training with your hands but she is going to have to get used to you hands so picking her up sometimes will be good for her, just give her a treat as you pick her up and right before setting her down. She may not take it at first but after a while she will.