Need some advice for intros

[lindsayfawn]

We have done many of intros but for some reason this last one is just not working. Elizabeth the girl we rescued from the SPCA is getting picked on really bad by Mya. Our bullies are Emily, Mya, Janeway, Willow, Mini and Sun and Charlotte do their share.
We did couch intros as we do not have a bathtub booo lol And after a week everyone is fine with Elizabeth on the couch except for Mya. So we tried the bathroom and she's fine with her in there and she's fine with her when they are both on my shoulder in the kitchen.
However..
As soon as I go into the living room or into their play area all the bullies that were fine with her on the couch are not fine with her in their area. Elizabeth makes matters worse because she runs away from them and then the chasing and nipping and so on ensues.

How can I get them to accept her in their place? We did the same for all the other intros and everyone got accepted after they worked out their differences but for some reason Elizabeth just isn't fitting in with some of them. So I have to block off one part of the FN so she can be in there with the nice girls.

Any suggestions as to what we can do? We've tried the dominant pinch thing and that worked with Emily but not with Mya.

Mya isn't even the alpha lol Emily is though Mya thinks she is the bugger lol

 

[Miss Sofie]

Well some times they just need a little help getting to know eachother...

First I would wash their cage really good so your girls don't feel like it's theirs so badly...
Let them met her in a place where they don't get to go normally so that it's neutral.

Let them check her out..

If that doesn't work - try vanilla extract (like the stuff you put in cake).
Put a drop between their ears and rub it in..
That way they all smell the same.
We use this methode and it has worked many times.

Maybe move stuff around in their cage or add new thing so they have a lot of thing to check out.

 

[lindsayfawn]

We've tried all that minus the vanilla stuff maybe I'll have to try that. Thanks.

 

[jorats]

What does Elizabeth do when the bullies go after her?

 

[lindsayfawn]

Elizabeth runs away and jumps all over the place. She's doing a little better. We cleaned the cage really good changed everything around and sprayed them with that quick clean stuff (no vanilla at the time) and it seemed to go ok. Mya, Janeway and Emily still pick on her some. I'm pretty sure it's because they haven't been able to pin her down because she just runs away and then get's into a corner to hide some place.
We're working with them so they stop being mean to her but really she just needs to submit I think doesn't she?

 

[jorats]

Ya, she needs to submit to them and then they would leave her alone but she's too scared to do this. With time it could get better or not. Some rats are just naturally jumpy and scared.

 

[lindsayfawn]

Alice acted the same way when we first got her. But she'd more freeze then run away lol when she was frozen on her back Gloria started to bury her with blankies lol crazy thing. She's quite out going now so I'm hoping Elizabeth will work it out with Emily and Janeway and Mya.

 

[lindsayfawn]

Well I was amazed when yesterday I found Mya and Elzabeth sleeping in the same hammock! Holy crap lol Emily seems to still have a problem with her and I think shes' the only one but they're slowly working it out. So glad they're starting to get along!

 

[jorats]

That's excellent! Sometimes I think it's harder on us than them. I was having a similar problem with my bully girls: Julia, Sara and Minou. But for the last two days it has not been so bad. Keeping fingers crossed for peaceful colonies for the both of us.

 

[lindsayfawn]

Each day seems to be getting better. Every now and then I'll hear some complaining going on and see Janeway picking on Elizabeth or Sun for some reason. But They're not as bad as they were so that's good. I think Maybe Elizabeth where she was kinda a lone rat needed to remember the rat language of either be tough or submit lol
I'm so glad they're getting along. You're right Jo it's probably harder on us then them 'cause it sounds so bad to us even though they're not really hurting one another lol

Here's a picture of Mya, Elizabeth and Bella cuddlin in the hammock! yay!

 

[jorats]

Awww... seeing them cuddle is so worth it.