Vicious rat, or just confused? - SNIP TIME FOR CASS!

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He was only home for one night and one day, and we gave him metacam at 3 mg/mL, I think .18 ccs of it? Does that sound right, if Mimo weighs 650g? My husband took the antibiotics and metacam back in with Mimo, so I can't read the instructions on the bottle.

Mimo has been with the vet on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and will be there tonight and tomorrow night, and I have no idea how they've been managing the meds. To tell you the truth, I am so relieved that they are taking care of giving him meds, because he gave us hell when we tried to give him his first dose the morning after he came home. We put it in strawberry jam, which he ate a lot of but not all... Force feeding failed and he struggled so much that that's when we think the original broken suture happened. :(

There were originally stitches on the inside and glue on the outside, but one inside suture broke apart and then the wound came open somehow. It was pretty bloody and dramatic-looking.

This is the Montreal Bird & Exotic Vet, and I've seen quite a few rats come in during the not insignificant amount of time I've spent there this week.
 
Oh, wow, how stressful! I hope after this last time everything will be fine, and he'll be able to come home soon. Poor guy! :(

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Mimo is home! He had to be re-glued FOUR TIMES over the weekend, but he has finally healed enough with the collar on that he can come home! He seems very pliant and curious for a fuzz who just had his torpedoes removed...

Castielle has the big cage, and Mimo is in a smaller enclosure - they are both in our bedroom, which is a new place for them, to try to establish their new relationship on neutral ground.

I put Mimo's towel in with Castielle (subordinate), and while he puffed up for about five minutes, he sniffed it all over and is no longer upset by it. We put their cages face to face, with puffing from Castielle and unconcern from Mimo, he didn't raise a single hair. They are both sleeping next to each other with the cage bars between them, but what has me baffled is the fact that Castielle, while slightly puffed and snuggling close to the cage bars to see Mimo, is bruxxing and boggling over and over and over again.

What does this confusing behavior mean? Mimo is still unconcerned and looks completely at ease, and then here's Castielle, displaying slight piloerection, sleeping close to him while boggling. :stickpoke:
 
Hmmm, I'm not sure. You'll need a weigh-in from a rat whisperer like Jorats.
He's obviously disturbed, but how much? Perhaps he recognises him and just needs to settle down. I would hesitate to try them right away until you're sure Mimo won't open anything up if they get into a tussle. Perhaps a few days of trading blankies or even cages until Castielle settles down.
 
It can mean one of two things. Castielle misses him or Castielle is worried he's coming back.
It's really great news that Mimo is not puffy and doesn't care about Castielle being so close.
 
Here is another long video of Castielle and Mimo - skip to around 4 minutes for the good stuff. Any help deciphering Castielle's body language would be very welcome!

[BBvideo 450,375:3fvoynyx]http://youtu.be/CFmHPDIJH3Q[/BBvideo:3fvoynyx]
 
Don't introduce rats like that through the bars, you can get very serious injuries that way. Even rats that will have no issues with intros will attack each other through bars. If the boys aren't reacting to each other through the bars, they're ready for a face to face intro. Don't do it on that table since one or the other may consider it their territory.

Is Mimo still in pain? He didn't come to the carrier door to see Castielle at all... Castielle isn't acting aggressive or stressed, maybe a bit bossy at times but that's it.
 
Castielle really looks like he misses his friend. I don't see any aggressive behavior there. Mimo doesn't seem all that interested.

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Mimo is awesome. No bully there.
Castielle on the other hand... he was walking belly to the ground, marking the whole area around the carrier. So he's really laying down the ground rules for Mimo. Which is ok.

About introducing rats through cage bars and why it's not a good idea, have you ever seen dogs meet through a fence? Most will act like they want to kill each other. But have them meet without any barriers, they are just fine. Same goes with rats. The minute there's a "claimable space or territory" you can set off aggression and they could attack. But these same rats would not attack if the barrier was not there.
When they meet face to face, don't use that blanket. It all belongs to Castielle now. All in all, that was really good considering there were bars there.
Alpha behaviour in this video with Castielle, the walking low to the ground to mark and circling the carrier as well as the grooming himself in front of the carrier, releasing his scent even more.
But even so, these are normal and acceptable so long as Mimo doesn't object. But it looks to me, like it should go smoothly.
 
It is not going well. :(

We introduced them in the bathtub, and for about 10 minutes, they crawled all over each other and acted like they were old pals. Me and hubby hi-fived... And then the shrieking began! A new alpha is rising - his Supreme Puffiness, Castielle the Fierce. I have never seen a puffier fuzzball in my whole life.

He cornered Mimo, who, completely non-puffy, shrieks, like WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! until he is hoarse whenever Castielle corners him. There wasn't even any fighting even, just Mimo shrieking his head off. Good grief. What on earth is up with these rats.

:panic:

Castielle was the aggressor - he dances and hops around like a giant, fierce ball of cotton, not even sidling - bouncing sideways at Mimo. Mimo doesn't even puff, although he does a lot of rubbing (now Castielle is rubbing around the cage a lot too), and shrieked whenever Castielle cornered him. Castielle didn't even go after him or bite him. The sound of a rat shrieking... It's awful. Just awful.

Looks like we will be keeping them separate for awhile. :wallbang: Unlike most rats, they seem to do better with bars between them. In fact, I'll even say that nothing about them seems to be normal or usual. :sad3:
 
If they didn't attack each other even though one was corner that is a good thing. The shreaking with taper off with more intros. Keep an oven mitt or towel handy to break them up if needed. Usually I can just toss the towel on them and they forget they are tussling.
 
That's not necessarily a bad intro. The shrieking is protesting. Castielle is making sure that Mimo stays Mimo and does not become Meano again.
Keep doing your neutral ground. Offer yummy treats. If Mimo is really upset, move Castielle away with a towel and say no. If Castielle chooses not to go near Mimo again, give him a treat. Reinforce good behaviour.
 
Our play date went really well this morning, but Castielle is now the alpha and is REALLY happy about it. After about an hour together with no problems, we put them in the completely scrubbed-out CN, which we wheeled into another room.

There were a couple of initial squabbles when they were in the cage, no shrieking, a LOT of posturing from Castielle as he laid down the new law in the cage (is it possible that he is a long-haired rat? can rats be long-haired?). Mimo has been extremely meek, sweet and calm today - he does do a lot of mouthing on our hands, but no nipping or biting yet. Castielle finished up his display by sitting on Mimo and washing his own torpedoes. Talk about insult to injury!

Mimo is scared, but is very easily handled now. You can just lay a towel on his back and slowly and carefully lift him up without trouble. He is nervous about everything and not as curious and swaggering as he used to be; he's also thinner and smaller after his surgery compared to Castielle, who grew fat and squishy on treats. I hope he gains his curiosity and sparkle again, since he very obviously submitted to Castielle's new authority. Castielle pinned Mimo onto his back, and Castielle also crawled completely under Mimo, nose to tail and tail to nose, on several occasions this morning.

They seem to know that the bathtub is a neutral place, and when they are put in the cage together, they act differently than they did in the neutral space, almost like they KNOW they have to duke it out and decide on the rules because it is their long-term, confined space.

I feel a bit bad for Mimo. His reign is over and he seems resigned to it. :( Poor little man.
 
Sounds like a wonderful change to me. I would would day that as long as Mimo is submitting to Castielle's authority without any challenge, then that's a very good thing indeed.

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Things are going as expected. You might find that Castielle will settle down even more now, he won't need to keep proving himself. And he might very well become quite docile with you both as well.
This is good news!

When picking up rats, they much prefer to be scooped up with two hands. Like scooping water with two hands. If that makes you nervous, use a towel over your hands and scoop.
 

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