Question about Sydney and babies living together

[Dahlas]

Okay so I have been putting Piper and the babies with Sydney for play sessions for a few days....everything has been great. The only thing Sydney is possessive about in her cage is her bed....She was with Piper and her other cage mates. She will sleep with someone only after she knows them well...she is not a loose kind of girl... :lol:
So today I decided to get the cage ready so everyone could live together. Up to this point babies and Piper have had top and Sydney has the bottom.
I decided to put Sydney's bed, washed out with clean blanket in it, in the playpen. Now everything was going great until Hazel...who can be a pain, decided to crawl in and groom Sydney's head and push her head under Sydney's asking to be groomed. Sydney pinned her and Hazel screamed. But Hazel screams very easy...she screams when her sisters and brothers walk on her, she screams when I am holding her and she wants to get down...she is a very opinionated little girl. I didn't interfer when Sydney pinned her....Hazel got out but crawled right back in.......this happened about 5 times before Sydney got out and went for a run on the wheel.......
What do you guys think.....
Oh and on a side note I have been trying to hold Hazel more and make her a little less squeaky....She is very friendly likes to be picked up but if she wants down and you hold onto her she screams and throws herself around...If she is playing she screams and if she is sleeping and the others walk over her......well we all her it......she is a funny little girl. None of the rest are like her at all.
I assume this is just her personality..........All babies have had equal handling. But i am trying to take Hazel out a bit more now....she isn't bad after you can get her to settle down but she doesn't cuddle in like the others..........

 

[jorats]

Hazel is definitely a talker. They're not all that common but when you have one, you know it. My Radar is a talker. I think it makes them that much more sweet.
As for the bed... how about not putting the bed in the cage yet. Not until they've been living together a couple of weeks?

There was an unfortunate situation with someone here, she added mom and babies back to the colony cage. Out time showed no problems with the aunt but when it came to put them all in. The aunt attacked and killed a baby. So it's really hard to tell. I think it's very uncommon for this to happen but nonetheless it can happen.

 

[Dahlas]

Thanks Jo....I think I will go a bit slower. Sydney is a sweet girl but has always been a bit of a loner with other rats and when I put them all in she was a bit possessive of her lab block...dish was clean and in a different spot but she actually chased a baby down and pinned her when they came near her lab blocks.........It really hurt me to see Maisie look frightened...they have lived such a fun sheltered life....nothing bad has ever happened to them...except there grandmother squishing one of them....
I don't want them getting reprimanded for doing nothing but acting like carefree babies...I never see Piper discipline them and the only noise I ever hear from them is Hazel screaming.....but she has been doing that for so long no one pays any attention to that

Oh and one last question....the boys are 4 weeks old tomorrow so it is safe to leave them in there for another 5 days to a week right??? I don't see them trying anything with Piper but they do chase their sisters..get on top and bit them around the head.......course that probably is just wrestling......but they are very well endowed.......

 

[SQ]

The boys should be fine for awhile yet.

 

[user 78]

Personally, I suggest getting the boys out of the cage by 4-4.5 weeks. 5 weeks is considered still relatively safe, though.

As Jo said, I would try and keep the bed out until they've had some time to really get to know each other. If Hazel kept going back, I really don't think she was as upset as her screaming would have suggested. It's always better to err on the side of caution, though, and make sure no one has anything they feel the need to get huffy about.

 

[Dahlas]

Thank you Javakittie....I am going to do more play sessions and wait a bit longer. I hate seeing Sydney live alone but in all honesty she looks like she loves it....She sees the babies and Piper everyday then goes back in her own cage and goes to bed......Or runs on her wheel.....she is very cuddly with people but not so much with other rats...

When I put her in the cage the babies where very excited all the new smells and having both levels...They where popcorning all around.....it seemed to really stress Sydney out......I think I will probably wait till I take out the little man rats and then try her agian when the babies are calmer..........

Plus I might wait till I get my huge cage........With more space Sydney might not feel so overwhelmed.......