"Mouse" moved in with her new family - Intros are OVER!

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fexpress

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2011
Messages
230
Location
Coquitlam, BC
A little history...

Rat Shack Facebook post, December 20th from Cinderwolf, "anyone in the area able to take her in ? the ad just makes me so sad I wish I could get her." linked to a Craigslist post that read:

$30 Albino Rat (Downtown Vancouver) Female Albino Rat for sale!
I saved her from a feeder tank when I was needing an albino rat for a school film project. We have had her for about 3 months. Unfortunately being in school we haven't had any time to give her attention. She's still young but full grown. Very clean. We clean her cage every week. She is a bit skittish around new people and will take some time to warm up to you. Being a feeder tank baby means she was meant to be sold as snake food and so she didnt have much human contact. She comes with a small cage (will need a bigger one now) and a water bottle and some wood shaving bedding. She eats anything! She loves pizza, peanutbutter, tofu or anything meat. They need protein and a consistant diet of gerbal or rabbit food you can get at the aquarium store. She is quiet and funny to watch. She climbs all over the cage like a monkey.
Adoption fee is $30 only because If i give it away, someone will buy it for snake food. If your looking for snake food do NOT respond to this listing. Thank you!


Like Emily, I'd already seen the ad that morning, and I'd already emailed my husband to add this little sweetie to my Christmas wish list. Not hopeful, as my husband is very tolerant of our rats but isn't really a "rat person" per se. I waited a couple of days to see what his response would be.

I emailed the guy from the ad to see if she had found a home and got this back:

Hi Tanya.

I only bought her to be an actress in my motion piece for film school. I didn't even end up using her lol. She is very quiet and gentle. I don't know much about rats but my friend does and he came over and played with her for hours. Never bit him, just nibbled his finger. So apparently I'm the skittish one lol. She came right up to me when she was out of the cage and tried to climb up me so she has definitely gotten used to me. She is probably 5 months old. She's very young still but she's what i think is big. My friend says she'll get bigger. She is incredibly cute and I think once she gets to know you, you'll love her. She is really clean and not aggressive at all. She is more shy and is a lady. My friend calls her Lucy because he thinks she is very girly. I agree. She is white Albino and I saved her from a feeder tank. Hoping she can find a family and other rats is what she needs. She is super lonely and i feel awful. With school I have no time to pay attention to her and i want her to have a good life so yes please let me know. I had another response, but a big open cage with other rats sounds like she would appreciate that :D

I waited a few more days to see if she would arrive under our Christmas tree, and when she didn't, I emailed the owner again, and got this response:

Hi Tanya.
Yes she is still waiting for a home! You can have her for free.
Text or call me

So she came home yesterday, but she objected to the name Lucy, so her name is now Mouse.

(And now I need major advice, which I will post about in the next post, because I've never done a rescue before and I feel really, really "green" in this area)
 
Ok everybody, Mouse (formerly Lucy) is home now, and I need some advice on how best to help her become part of the family. Am I smarter to make sure she is used to us first, then introduce her to our mischief, or should I do both at once? This is a rat who came from a feeder tank, and then spent 3 months in a tiny little cage with virtually no human contact other than her cage being cleaned (the guy didn't play with her at all). She was very nervous and squeaky when we picked her up out of her cage last night, and immediately peed all over my daughter, but didn't try to bite. She didn't seem too happy about being touched though. We didn't want to stress her out too much so we gave her a box to sleep in inside her cage for last night, and today we moved her old cage inside our large tank and left the doors to her cage open so she can come out and explore. (The tank is NOT a permanent arrangement, just a stop-gap until we can get her moved in with everybody else). We have her cage and the tank next to our other cage, so the rats can see/smell each other but not have any contact. But I'm not even sure if that's the right thing to do (we are not quarantining as she has been the only rat in a house for three months now and is the picture of health). So experts, where do we start? Do I wait until she is calm with us before I introduce her to our other 5 girls? Or will she do better with us if she has companions?

We managed to grab her and force her into a Ratoob around my neck about 20 minutes ago, and she's mostly just sitting there, walking around a bit, but still unhappy if you try to pet her. Is it ok to corral and grab them when they are skittish like that? Or should I wait until she approaches me and gets on my hand herself? She did give me a warning nip this morning the first time I tried to grab her (well, really it was more like she pushed my hand away with her teeth, barely grazing me), but the second time I picked her up using a towel and she was ok although nervous. Am I smarter to use my bare hands and risk the bites, or should I use a towel so we don't wind up in that sort of conflict position? I know I should keep her out for at least an hour each time, correct? And several times a day, but other than that, not sure how to proceed.

I will take some better pictures today but don't want to be scaring her with cameras when she's already so shy.

Any advice/suggestions welcome. Thank you!

(I would also love to hear success stories of anyone who successfully tamed a feeder rat into a loving pet, because right now it feels very challenging. Thanks!)
 
You sound like you are in the same boat as I was with Stewie and Kimmy. Stewie I can now pick up, but I have an agreement with Kimmy to only pick her up if it is really necessary lol, and to allow her to come to me. If I remember the advice that was given to me, put her in with the other rats before she gets used to you, because it may help calm her down and she will see from the others that you are not really all that scary.

viewtopic.php?t=30620 is the thread of my duo, not sure if there is any advice in there that might be helpful to you, Stewie has never bit me but Kimmy has 2 or 3 times, right through the nail, hence our current agreement haha.

Good luck though, and keep hand feeding her, allowing her to come to you to check out, don't force her or it might make it worse.
 
Some photos...






Aaaand, then she peed on me again. :thumbup: Awesome.

(Tried giving her some broccoli and cauliflower and she keeps throwing it out of the tube.)
 
Today she is trying squealing when I pick her up...lovely. :( Oh well, tough for her. She's in the Ratoob, and although she is vehemently rejecting every tasty morsel I offer her (by shoving it away with her paws) she is eating and drinking and pooping normally overall, and right now, she's chilling on my shoulder. She keeps sticking her head out of the 'toob though, and sniffing my face. I have to admit I'm a little nervous she might bite (she did give me a warning nip when I tried to offer her a treat a minute ago, but she may have missed the food?). We used to have a hamster that bit, and I hated getting bitten. I'm also worried that she might be planning an escape route, and might make a break for it. She seems to just be sniffing though, but if I move my hand to touch her, she quickly tucks back into the 'toob.

We are considering starting intros with a couple of our smaller, less dominant girls this evening, but not sure if we are better to do it a bit at a time, or everybody at once. We're hoping she might relax if she sees the two of them relaxed with us. I'm a little nervous she could become aggressive with our girls...how likely is that with her being the new rat?

Because she's so hard to pick up (and apparently she screams now), I don't want to stress everyone out. But I also don't want all our girls swarming and overwhelming her during intros and maybe making things worse for her.

What do you do with a medium sized group like ours? Intro everyone at once, or a few at a time? Any thoughts/advice?
 
When I got Kimmy and Stewie, she used to scream when I picked her up as well, and I asked the same question, all 4 at once to intro or just one or two, and the advice that was given to me was all at once. You will be there to watch her, and just because she is that way with you, she may be different with other rats. Kimmy loved the other rats, and it calmed her down big time, it's because of them I believe that I have gotten as far as I have with her. Kimmy was worse than Mouse I believe, I would say Mouse is in the middle of Kimmy and Stewie's behavior. If you really are nervous, then try an intro with just the 2 less dominate girls and see what happens, if all goes well, put all 5 in the mix next time.
 
Thanks, Mini Frog! I have a feeling your experience is going to be invaluable over the next few weeks. I read as much of your thread as I could before bed last night. One of my biggest worries is she won't take food from me at all, so it feels impossible to reward her good behaviour, or to teach her that I'm not a threat. I'll keep trying, perhaps I just haven't found the right food yet.

(Mouse is so cute, I just want to smoosh her, but she's having NONE OF THAT! LOL!)
 
I'm so glad you took that girl in, she was breaking my heart. Keep trying to gain her trust. My grumpy man never did come to like me, but hot mash made him more comfortable. He loves the mash, but only gets it if he will sit in my hand. This rat used to fear poo if I picked him up and tare up my hands with his nails. He still dislikes being handled but tolerates it now. He only ever bit once and that was 100% my fault.

So try making mash for her and give her a bit in the cage to see if she likes it. If so then the next day give her a bit, but keep your hand by it but don't try and touch her. Keep slowly bumping up the requirements until she is eating it out of/on your hand.

As for intros I would try her with one, then two just to get a better idea of her personality. If she gets along with them then go ahead and do intros with the whole group. (Like Mini said :))

When I brought Zella home she was alone, and had been alone for at least a couple of months. I introduced her to one of my calm rats to test her personality. That went well, so next thing you know I had everyone out but the babies. (That's 10 including Zella.) She met the babies next intro since they were so small (comparatively) and I wanted to make certain she would be nice, otherwise they would have been out too on the first intro.
 
CongRATS!
You got some great advice and a good plan in motion. Continue to socialize her, make sure she's in the ratoob for at least 30 minutes with you.
Good luck on the intros!
 
Congratulations on your latest addition! She is so lucky she is going to have a family to snuggle with. Let me throw in my two cents:
I firmly believe in forced socialization to a point. I would definitely keep taking her out every day and putting her in your rat scarf. My rats usually will not take a treat when they are out of their cage - only Petunia, who is foolishly brave, so don't get discouraged if she won't eat. The main thing is, she is getting used to your smell, sound and movements. I would always handle her with bare hands unless she is really hurting you.
Rats also have a hierarchy, so I think it would be more productive to intro her to all your rats at once. That way she will find her spot and not have to keep re-establishing a new one with the addition of more ratties.
Don't get discouraged - you WILL win her over! Patience, Grasshopper.... :)
 
Well, intros for tonight went quite well. We started off with just Mouse and two of our least dominant girls, Pandora and Hazel. Unfortunately, that didn't work as well as we thought. It took adding our alphas back into the mix in order to get the desired response. Funny how it worked out.

The worst scuffle we had was about three minutes in, when Hazel just decided to flip and wash Mouse, and then ripped a big chunk of fur out for no reason. Hazel was looking kind of puffy, so we weren't totally surprised. But no blood, no foul, right? It took Mouse another 10-15 minutes before she could do anything other than sit there with her eyes closed, especially if Hazel was around. :(

Here are the videos from tonight:

http://youtu.be/gCxIvOVbytg

http://youtu.be/KofF8RKNgZU

http://youtu.be/gbUqckUOSos

http://youtu.be/krAKx8KT1hM

http://youtu.be/lFaqxnyZr2M

Considering Mouse has never had friends before, I thought she did rather well. What isn't in the videos is that several times, Mouse actually opened her eyes, perked up and started following the other rats around, trying to figure out what they were doing. At one point, she and Dora were sharing opposite ends of a chicken bone. I think she's going to be okay. She doesn't have to love being cuddled, I just want to know that she's not dying of fright every time we touch her, and I'd really like her to have friends.

Go Mouse go!

P.S. Mouse's parting shot was to pee all over me at the end of the session again. :( Oh well, she is looking bright and interested, and spending a lot of time looking at the rats in the other cage. I think that bodes well for the future.
 
*Rebel_Angel* said:
Congrats all look's good, I'd just watch in the last vid there look's to be a blob of blood?
Click to expand...

Oops, no, not blood at all. It's roasted carrot. I had put some treats down for them to enjoy, and they dragged one to the other end of the tub. Meant to mention it when I posted the video but I forgot. :oops:
 
They do love roasted carrots, in fact some of mine won't eat it raw but love it when it's nice and soft and roasted. They always get the leftover roasted vegetables if ever were using the oven.

In all honesty, I was surprised at how little aggression we saw from the rats in general. We have had other intros where it's been a flip-and-wash contest the entire time. However, this is the first time we have intro'd an adult rats (5 months) to the rest of the group. Normally we are introing younger busy rats. The one thing about Mouse, she wasn't being a complete pest the way a baby rat will be. She wasn't going up and poking at all the other rats. She was mostly just following them around a little bit towards the end, trying to figure out what they were doing. I think having some super friendly rats to model proper behavior for her, will do her a world of good. I'm really hoping the intros continue to go well, as I'd like to move her in with them, sooner rather than later.

I am going to try doing 2 intro sessions with them today, and see how she does. Fingers crossed.
 
Here is this morning's intro.

http://youtu.be/PvsCN8MLvtc

It went so well, that at the moment, all six girls are hanging out in Mouse's (very temporary) tank. I am hoping if they get a chance to chillax together in a more neutral spot than their own cage, they may be able to show her how to use the water bottle, and the hammock, because Mouse doesn't seem to understand what a hammock is for. It's their usual naptime right now, so I suspect they will go off to sleep shortly. At the moment they're taking a good look around.

The only conflict I've really seen between Mouse and the other rats, is between her and Hazel, but Hazel is pretty far down the totem pole, and is probably just putting Mouse in her place. Mouse seems perfectly content to play a submissive role though, so I suspect the intros will continue to go smoothly. For now, she looks like a different rat than the one I brought home two days ago.
 
This morning's video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPMvzFmo8nk

6 rats in a 'toob. Again, the only problems Mouse seems to be happening, is with Hazel. Everybody else has pretty much accepted her, or appears to. She did have one run in with Pez yesterday, but it was minor, and over in a couple of seconds.

Mouse also seems to be letting me touch her from time to time. Occasionally she pushes my hand away with her paws, but sometimes she will let me lightly stroke her side or her face.

Last night intro session consisted mostly of rats trying to squash into the same box with Mouse. I think she may have been giving off stress signals, and they were cuddling with her to calm her, or at least that's how it appeared. They all seemed to be taking turns, although River seems to be Mouse's favorite. Mouse will even seek her out, and this morning when I got up, I found River sleeping in the used bedding from Mouse's cage, which I had put into the main cage to help them get used to Mouse's scent.

***

Following the intro session, I moved everyone into Mouse's (temporary) tank, to hang out. Hazel immediately got puffy, so she is spending some "time out" time in Mouse's old, tiny, very bare (except for the smell of Mouse!) cage. The others are passed out in the tank together, in the hammock, except Mouse and River are cuddled up on the floor together.

Mouse is getting more relaxed with being picked up by us. She still doesn't like it, but she comes towards our hands instead of running away now, which is a huge start, I think. AND she just figured out how to get into the hammock in the last 2 minutes (although she couldn't figure out how to get past the bottom level), so they really are showing her how to "be a rat" by modelling things for her.

What do you think, everyone? I'm thinking we may be able to move them in together this weekend, as long as nothing goes haywire in the meantime. Thoughts/suggestions/ideas?

In the meantime, here's a couple gratuitous photos of Miss Poopy-Pants aka Hazel:

IMG_2924_zpsb9f23025.jpg

"Hi Momma..."

IMG_2925_zps0fd94345.jpg


"You didn't see anything..."
 
Hazel must be your alpha. She's a gorgeous gal, who can stay mad at that face. lol
I bet it won't take long for all the rats to be happy and together.
In the video, near the end, was that Hazel flipping Mouse and then went on her way?
 

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