Musical Cages....

[lilratsy43]

So its been 3 weeks since the boys have been neutered. Everyone is doing well except Rhys, but everyone knows about him. I have done intros with Gunther, Teddy and Ty and although everything went rather well, I have noticed Ty is a bit defensive and he doesn't seem to know how to act around other rats. Either that or he thinks he is alpha, and he stands NO chance against Gunther...

So then I decided to try Casper with the bunch and well, Gunther and Casper remember each other and they know they DO NOT like each other. It only took seconds for them to both become poofy and try to go at it of course I seperated them. Then they were both miserable so intros had to wait for another day.

Because of Ty's weird behavior and the fact that Casper wants nothing to do with Gunther I took out all the rats from the CN. There are 9 in total. Blue is getting more and more territoral with age, she is completely harmless but she poofs up and does a little dance near them and then walks away... :giggle: I am thinking the CN is going to be a good fit for the two of them, even though that is a lot of rats for that cage, I really don't see it being a problem. The intro went really well, Casper did not poof up once, not even with the boys...

Rhys is going to remain alone for now, with his breathing and his abcess I don't want to stress him out at this time...

 

[jorats]

Don't forget that they will do the dominance thing anyway. What you are looking for is no outright attacks. If you get the huffing, puffing, butt rubbing, boxing, that's all normal and allow them to do that a bit... they need to get through it and then move on.
Slow and steady is good for everyone. Watch for body language on all the rats and I bet you'll do fine. You have a good sense of their needs.

 

[lilratsy43]

I know there is a certain amount of poofing that is normal. But with Casper and Gunther, its like puffy then ATTACK! They are not just boxing the way they go into it. They still 'fight' through there cages, puffying, tail wagging, huffing...just over all not happy to be near each other....

 

[jorats]

Wanting to fight through the cage bars is not the same as being together. Doing it through the cage bars is like a dog tied to a chain or in his pen, but once you let him out, he's not all that big and mean.
But you know your rats best... proceed with caution.