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rainbowbrat23

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2007
Messages
337
Location
Wa
I did intros last night with Xavier and the girls.

All the girls loved him except my PITA ratty Twilight.

They fought a little and Twilight was soooo puffed up...it made her look 2 times her normal size. I have never seen her do this, nor have I seen any rat do this...

Any clues?

Is it just her trying to be dominant or what....and if so, why is she doing this now, and not before?

i swear she is possesed xD
 
HA, sorry to funny. My Rose does the exact same thing when I intro new ones. She gets puffed out like a huge cotton ball, huffs, and hisses like a cat it is extremely funny until she attacks her victim. Think of it like a cat when they feel frightened or threatened they try to look larger than they really are to intimidate the intruder. She will eventually get over it. Rose did it a lot at first and then as intro's continued she would calm down more and more until she finally excepted the newbies.

Oh and I to thought Rose was possessed I tell her all the time how EVIL she is and that it must be her rusty hood, ruby eyes and curly hair that makes her Satan reincarnated. :wink:
 
so it was weird today...

I got home and did the second round of intros.

This time Twilight went after him again, and when he ran to me, he refused to come off my shoulder.

I would put him down, and he would run right back.

He didn't do this yesterday.

THEN...out of no where, Twilight came charging at me from under one of the buckets I had down and clamped into my arm. I was bleeding and now my arm is a little swolllen and definantley bruised.

This is not like her at all.

I mean, she has always been the evilest rat in my clan, but after she did that, she turned on all the other rats!

2 of my other girls were attacked so badly they were bleeding.

I dunno wtf is up with her.....and dunno what to do.
 
yes, it was neutral ground.

I just dunno...she was in the cage just now attacking the ratties again!

I just seperated her, I can't take it anymore!

I will not have her killing the others.
 
will that really help?

I mean...I will if it really helps..

I am tempted to rehome her, and I know that's bad

*waits for flaming*

But I just can't have this, and she is getting way worse.

If the surgery helps, I will do that instead.

Edit:

I dunno about the spaying.

When I went to the vet last, they said they didn't have
much experience in it, plus she is a year old, and
last time i had surgery on a rat a year old, she
died 2 weeks later.
 
A spay on a female can sometimes alter their personality, but not as consistantly as with males. So it could be an option. But if you're not confident about your vet doing the surgery, I don't blame you for second guessing it.

Sorry she's gone all nutso :(
 
Is Twilight currently in a cage of girls? Did you have any other males prior to this one?

Some rats have bad reactions to the opposite sex, especially if one or the other is unaltered. ie; neutered male with unspayed females. It sounds like she's started going after the other rats since she can't get at the one she wants. Think of it like a person just being so mad they lash out at the first thing that touches them.

How much introing did you do previously? Did you do cage swaps and that?

As for rehoming.. Well, a person can only handle so much. No one can blame you if you can't handle this. In all honesty, though, with a little work, it could be just fine. You just have to pay attention to Twilight, see what exactly is setting her off, and do your best to get her through that. If after you've tried things, and it doesn't work out, then you can rehome her knowing you tried and it was just beyond your abilities right then.

It's when people are unwilling to try and just don't care, that people go up in arms about rehoming.
 
Sounds like the presence of the new kids is triggering her. One of my rats, Fizzgig, when he got mad he would chase his brothers or if I was closer chase me and clamp onto me.

Sadly he passed early in his life of natural causes, otherwise he would have been neutered.

I have a few other girls that do this though, you just have to take intros very slowly and make sure its on neutral ground when you do them. Some helpful things to adjust your cotton puff rat to the smells of the new one, try putting the new rats bedding in their cage for a while, switching it for a little bit so they are used to the smell
 
well see

This is the first male rat I have had neutered and introed to girls.

This was only my second REAL intro, but
I have been letting them sniff each other
since before we moved.

I would be holding him, and my hubby would
hold one of the girls, but I never let them touch
because i wanted no chance of babies.

After his surgery, he has been in a small cage
ontop of the RUUD that houses all my girls.

I would always let them smell each other through
the cage....but I guess that really doesn't help at
all does it.

As far as twilight goes, this is like the 20th time she has
bitten me, but the FIRST to draw a serious amount of blood
on me OR the other girls.

I did finlally but her back in the cage with the other girls
last night.

I just dunno.

I am going to attempt another round today and see
what happens.
 
Sounds like a tough situation. Good thing you have access to so many experienced rat owners here.

I think that some rats, spayed or not, are just particularly resistant to intros. I had almost given up on Edith (I wanted her and her sister to be integrated with Corrie's girls so that one of them wouldn't be left alone after her sister's death). Month after month, she would still puff up like a porcupine whenever she smelled the others. she attacked the others, so I had pretty much given up on the intro.

SQ finally got them integrated last Christmas. I have no idea how she did it, but she does have some magical animal skills!! She is modest and claims that it worked because her place was strange territory for them and they were more anxious.

Since then I adopted some other girls. One of them, (the alpha) Stella, acts just like Edith did. When they were out in a common play area that smelled like the "enemy" Stella attacked one of her sisters. When I foolishly reached in to break up the fight, Stella bit me (she had always been so gentle before). Since that time, Stella snorts at me through the bars (again, just like Edith!), especially if I have been handling other rats.

I just realized that there is something else in common between Stella and Edith, although it had never seemed to have any relevance to intros.

Stella had been spayed before any of this happened. I think that her personality got more aggressive since her spay. She did have a lot of post-op pain, and I had to take her in for an injection for it, but that was resolved the same day and she seemed to make an excellent recovery afterwards. Edith was the only other rat who had significant post-op pain. She had been a biter long since before I got her. (she has mellowed a lot, but still loves a good nip every once in a while).

Anyway, I doubt if any of this is helpful, but you never know. Most people say that intros with girls is easier, but that's not my experience! SQ has had much less trouble with males than with females. Her Cindy and Hannah were very aggressive with newcomers.
 
this is a new territory for all of them.

We just moved here and first free range they got was also the intro session.

I did it again a while ago, twilight attacked me and the others again.

This time he was squeekin when she would walk by.

I took her out and left her alone in the smaller cage.

I re-did the intros with the rest of them, and they all got a long great.

I even have them all in the same cage now while Finishing cleaning up the RUDD.

So that's how it went.

They all get along fine...except twilight.
 
rainbowbrat23 said:
this is a new territory for all of them.

We just moved here and first free range they got was also the intro session.

I did it again a while ago, twilight attacked me and the others again.

This time he was squeekin when she would walk by.

I took her out and left her alone in the smaller cage.

I re-did the intros with the rest of them, and they all got a long great.

I even have them all in the same cage now while Finishing cleaning up the RUDD.

So that's how it went.

They all get along fine...except twilight.
Click to expand...

Hang in there and keep trying with the intros. If you find that Twilight isn't coping well then the only options I can think of is either keeping her separate or rehoming her.

You need to bear in mind that Twilight does not know what a neuter or spay is. A man is a man and depending on her experience, that may not be a good thing (as her behavior indicates).

Sometimes the sexes just don't get along. The poor little things. Intros are hard and can be aggravated by a rat's age, character and level of maturity.

My girlfriend has 3 birds and I swear to God 2 of them border on being psychopathic! They dive bomb when they are out of their cages and I generally take cover in the kitchen where I can see the little looney tunes from the distance. :D

Hang in there Rainbowbrat... hopefully Twilight will begin to miss her companionship and come around. But if not, you will definitely do what is best for all. No one knows your rats and the possibilities better than you. :rose:
 
Okay, previously you said you had let them smell each other while you were holding them and through the cage. You need to back track a little bit and try some of the other steps.

You start off by putting the cages a few inches apart, far enough away that no one can reach the other cage. Start swapping any fabrics, toys, or houses from one cage to the other after they've been in there a while. It'll get everyone accustomed to the new guy's scent. Then you move on to swapping cages, which in your case you may want to put Twilight and a couple of her friends in his cage and put him in the girls' cage with the others. Make sure it's those he's already getting along with very well. When Twilight stops freaking out every time she goes into his cage, you move on to face to face intros.

If, after all of this, Twilight's still being a snot, you can try a water intro. You fill the tub with a couple of inches of water, and add rats. I put a large casserole dish [big enough to just hold everyone] upside down in the middle. Generally everyone's too busy getting out of the awful Wet Stuff and grooming to really bother with anyone else. If they do okay with that, you drain out the water, put a bowl of something nummy and soft [so everyone has to sit there and eat it and can't take it away] and they hopefully stay occupied with that.

So far, that's been my fool proof no fail method of intros.

jennifervb : Twilight gets along fine with her cagemates, so long as the new boy isn't involved. She's getting overly stressed when intros are happening. Having a rat as a single shouldn't be an option unless they're having issues with every rat, every time. Even then there are steps you can try to take to keep everyone together.
 
:D so funny, I have seen many of my ratties do this to try & intimidate the other rats, another thing they do that is so cute, they turn their butt toward the other rattie & kick the heck out of them with their back feet, some times it just stops at pushing the other rattie around with their butt twisted side ways, the longer you have rattie the more you will get a kick out of their characters !
 
javakittie said:
jennifervb : Twilight gets along fine with her cagemates, so long as the new boy isn't involved. She's getting overly stressed when intros are happening. Having a rat as a single shouldn't be an option unless they're having issues with every rat, every time. Even then there are steps you can try to take to keep everyone together.
Click to expand...

No she doesn't...as I said before...she has been attacking ALL them...even before intros, but since intros, she has been worse.

I have done intros many many times.
This is my 8th set of intros.

I am sorry to say, I rehomed her.

Since my last post, she had attacked
one of my other rats in the cage, and
almost ripped the ear off of another.

She is too old for surgery, and I just
did what was best.

I found a good home for her, and we
can visit her every Saturday.

The gal that I gave her too has her with
her almost alllll the time, and she seems
very happy there. She even plays with
their little dog. I told them to be careful,
but I watched them cuddle together...I
seriously could not believe what I was seeing!

The gal has owned rats before and has
dealt with ones like Twilight before, so
I was more than happy to send her off
with the spare cage I had Xavier in, a
bunch of hammocks, food, toys, wheel,
and her run about ball (which she
doesn't use anymore over there) and
the vet information.

Just thought I would update everyone!

Thanks for the support guys...rehoming
her was hard, but we get visitation rights xD
 
In your previous posts, you made it sound like she had never gone after the other rats like she did after you started the intros. That she started attacking her cagemates after the boy was brought into the mix.

Even people who have done dozens of intros sometimes forget the small steps, and there are always different ways of doing things.
 
rainbowbrat23 said:
javakittie said:
jennifervb : Twilight gets along fine with her cagemates, so long as the new boy isn't involved. She's getting overly stressed when intros are happening. Having a rat as a single shouldn't be an option unless they're having issues with every rat, every time. Even then there are steps you can try to take to keep everyone together.
Click to expand...

No she doesn't...as I said before...she has been attacking ALL them...even before intros, but since intros, she has been worse.

I have done intros many many times.
This is my 8th set of intros.

I am sorry to say, I rehomed her.

Since my last post, she had attacked
one of my other rats in the cage, and
almost ripped the ear off of another.

She is too old for surgery, and I just
did what was best.

I found a good home for her, and we
can visit her every Saturday.

The gal that I gave her too has her with
her almost alllll the time, and she seems
very happy there. She even plays with
their little dog. I told them to be careful,
but I watched them cuddle together...I
seriously could not believe what I was seeing!

The gal has owned rats before and has
dealt with ones like Twilight before, so
I was more than happy to send her off
with the spare cage I had Xavier in, a
bunch of hammocks, food, toys, wheel,
and her run about ball (which she
doesn't use anymore over there) and
the vet information.

Just thought I would update everyone!

Thanks for the support guys...rehoming
her was hard, but we get visitation rights xD
Click to expand...

decision making can be really hard, especially when the little face can't tell you what's wrong. I'm so sorry you had to suffer through that fiasco rainbowbrat but it appears as if you were able to find a really good solution where you can still be a part of Twilight's life. :love6: :rose:
 

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