rhapsody
Senior Member
My super senior Stick quietly passed away in early March, so I immediately buckled down on the intros between her bereaved buddy Remus and the three-rat crew I adopted back in January. Up til that point, I had the four of them enjoy out-time together, but nothing further.
Hands down, post-hoarder rats (like my newly adopted three) are the absolute best during intros - they are so used to ever changing contact with other ratties from their original ... "environment" that outsiders/newcomers don't seem to phase them at all. Remus of course wasn't too keen on sharing a neutral cage space with them, and did initially attempt to throw his weight around. He'd get all poofy, then try to power groom them every time they tried to eat. Hysterically enough, they'd just roll over on their backs and let him "dominate" away, all while happily munching on their food blocks.
It took a week of solid work before I was comfortable with them all moving back into the CN, and we've been good ever since. So here's Remus (the black hoodie) living it up with his new buddies Rupert (apricot), Russell (big black berkshire), and Scamp (small black berkshire) - couldn't get all four in the same shot though.
Another development this past month was introducing the human baby to the ratties! Helen is 15 months old now, is already walking and babbling, and boyo, is absolutely fascinated with animals, especially my crew of rodents. The hamsters are too delicate (and temperamental) for a meet 'n greet for a long while yet, so I'm trying to slowly build a positive critter experience with my ratties. Remus has been great (and tolerant) of me teaching her how to pet him gently. And Helen's new favorite thing is to run over to the CN and shake the treat container so she can watch me give them their gerber puffs.
Hands down, post-hoarder rats (like my newly adopted three) are the absolute best during intros - they are so used to ever changing contact with other ratties from their original ... "environment" that outsiders/newcomers don't seem to phase them at all. Remus of course wasn't too keen on sharing a neutral cage space with them, and did initially attempt to throw his weight around. He'd get all poofy, then try to power groom them every time they tried to eat. Hysterically enough, they'd just roll over on their backs and let him "dominate" away, all while happily munching on their food blocks.
It took a week of solid work before I was comfortable with them all moving back into the CN, and we've been good ever since. So here's Remus (the black hoodie) living it up with his new buddies Rupert (apricot), Russell (big black berkshire), and Scamp (small black berkshire) - couldn't get all four in the same shot though.
Another development this past month was introducing the human baby to the ratties! Helen is 15 months old now, is already walking and babbling, and boyo, is absolutely fascinated with animals, especially my crew of rodents. The hamsters are too delicate (and temperamental) for a meet 'n greet for a long while yet, so I'm trying to slowly build a positive critter experience with my ratties. Remus has been great (and tolerant) of me teaching her how to pet him gently. And Helen's new favorite thing is to run over to the CN and shake the treat container so she can watch me give them their gerber puffs.
