Sally is scared of the cage. (update- GOOD NEWS!!)

Shop with us on Ebay
Advertise with us
Fins us on Amazon
The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
G

gramma2jaakk

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2009
Messages
265
Location
Kennesaw, GA
and we don't know why. The other day after having free range time she would not go back into the cage. I had placed her on the shelf, and she froze for a moment, then FLEW out the door to my shoulder, ran down my back and to the floor, then made sure to keep just far enough out of our reach. When Neal finally got her to come to him, she kept looking scared and would not go in her cage.

The other girls went in just fine. Sally is now staying in a smaller cage (which we aren't too happy about but what can we do?) with Molly. Molly is so easy-going and we didn't want Sally to be alone. We are wondering if Sally is finally realizing that Lucy isn't coming back and is thinking the cage is the reason behind Lucy's disappearance, or if one of the other girls is being mean to her. I know that Cindy, being the youngest, is trying to show the others that she can stand up to them and hold her ground, but introductions went so well and there was no blood-shed.

Cindy, Josie and Amy are all getting along great. Molly and Sally are doing fine together. Polly (the newest one) is fine also. And every day, we will put Sally on our shoulder, block the top half from the bottom half of the cage and open the cage door (FN 142). We place our hand on the shelf with our arm straight and let Sally creep to the cage. She has gone in a few times but comes right back out. Something has spooked our sweet little girl.

Has anything like this happened to anyone here? Does anyone have any suggestions? We don't want to force Sally into the cage. THAT just seems mean. But we would really like to get all the girls back into one cage.

Anita
 
jorats said:
Could one of the rats be bullying her?
I'd put her back in the cage, she needs to get used to being in there.
Click to expand...

But when we try to put her back in the cage, she goes nuts. She runs into the bars and we are afraid she will hurt herself really badly. That is why we are working slowly with her to get back in.

Yes, we've also thought it could be one of the others bullying her. And we have eliminated which ones that would be. We don't think it is Josie (they've been together almost a year now) or Molly (who is so easy going and does not pick on anyone nor does anyone pick on her). If it is a bullying issue, it is either Amy or Cindy. Cindy is the youngest and is trying to make her place in the pecking order. Amy is the biggest and is the boss of the cage. But we've never seen Amy bothering Sally. We have seen Cindy trying to mount all the others though, during free range time, so thinking it could be Cindy.
 
jorats said:
Have you tried doing intros again? Did this just happen out of the blue?
Click to expand...

Yes, just outta the blue. I've asked Neal when he thinks we should try doing intros again. I have the feeling that he isn't too sure about trying again, now that Josie is with Sally and Sally seems to be doing better with her. We do keep trying to get Sally to go in the cage willingly, but all she does is stretch out on our arm and sniff suspiciously. If we even make a move like we are going to leave her in the cage, she runs back down our arm and then it is a struggle to get her back into the smaller cage that she is in now. (Don't worry, this smaller cage is big enough for 2 rats)

I'm going to get Neal to agree to start reintroducing all the girls again, later this week.
 
jorats said:
Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

She is the oldest of the bunch, and it really broke her heart when Lucy passed away. Thankfully, Sally seems to be doing better this week than she was last week. She doesn't seem to be as startled by everything. I can only hope she continues to improve.
 
I've had that thought also. Like maybe she is thinking the big cage is the reason Lucy isn't coming back. But we will be starting on reintroductions later this week. Hopefully we can work her way through this.
 
HOORAY!!! We finally got Sally back in the big cage! We gave her a month out of the cage, and last week decided to try her again after her and Josie's out time. It was a LONG process but finally got her in.

Neal and I were doing some major cage cleaning, and had been discussing how to get Sally back in the big cage. Since we have a FN 142, we raised the ladder between the upper half and the lower half, and put a piece of plexiglass over the hole along with a litter box. We covered the hole pretty good! We are still thinking it was Cindy and her younger antics and hormones making Sally not want to go in the cage.

We put Cindy, Molly and Amy in the upper half, and I just set Sally on the shelf in the bottom half. She looked a bit nervous, but after Josie was in the cage with her and the door was closed she was fine! Climbed into the hammock and went to sleep. I AM SO GLAD!!! I just wanted to let everyone know. :D

Anita
 

Latest posts

Back
Top