Watermelon finally has a family :)

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Maple

Maple

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 8, 2009
Messages
3,453
Location
Ontario
Well, I did my first intro to-day between the 4 ratties. Watermelon who is on her own and approximately 10 months old, Gaterie, 7 months, Porcelaine 2 months, Biscuit 6 weeks. Gaterie, Porcelaine and Biscuit are currently together. I put Watermelon and Gaterie in the tub first. All was good for 10 minutes so I added Porcelaine. Good another 10 so I added Biscuit. Biscuit kept running after Watermelon trying to jump on her back etc, and Watermelon took it pretty good. Roughly 25 minutes into the intro Watermelon got tired of Biscuit,(I'm guessing) to make a long story short, she started pinning all of them. Watermelon would first kick to the back (like a horse would kick) then she made a shiver (like when babies sometimes shiver when they pee) then she would turn and pin. I was OK with this except, when it was all said and done no one moved except Watermelon. It was like the other 3 were frozen with fear. I'm not used to this. In the past, a pin would happen and when it was over everyone would go on their merry old way. Not this time....Is this normal? Is it normal for a female adult rat to pin a baby? And why, once Watermelon started pinning would she continue to do this for no reason? Poor Gaterie was so still, at one point I thought she was dead. Watermelon walked up to her, sniffed her bottom, flipped and pinned her. It happened in a split second. What now? Do I do it again tomorrow?
Please help, I need answers, cause now I'm nervous. :sad3:
 
Even if Gaterie and babies are FROZEN with fear? :cry: How long will this be nornal behaviour? My first intro was approximately 35 minutes, is that OK and should I do it more than once a day? How much time is ENOUGH time? :blahblah: Sorry, I have so much on my mind right now, its no wonder intro's make me barf!
 
I'd do a 20 to 25 min intro once a day in a neutral area (tub), with a dish of food that can't be carried away, like yogurt or baby cereal.
 
SQ said:
I'd do a 20 to 25 min intro once a day in a neutral area (tub), with a dish of food that can't be carried away, like yogurt or baby cereal.
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To-day I used pablum and they were all fine as long as the food was there. It was once it was gone, that the poo flew!!!!! I put them in one at a time, shoud I be putting them all in together (the same time).
 
How I do my intros... always an hour long unless it's going very bad. I also put them all together right away in the neutral area.
If the rats feel safe enough to eat together, then it's not bad.
 
Sounds like a good typical intro. Watermelon will obviously be alpha. Its her Job to put that baby down, and teach it some ratiquette. (an auntie always does this once babies become too obnoxious) Before this, they were all playing and pinning...but this was serious ranking stuff and they went still and submitted. I would be very very happy with an intro like that :thumbup: Its normal to pin and stand over them holding them down, which the pinnee freezes...
 
Oh Ladies thank you thank you thank you. This gives me the confidence to go on. So this morning my daughter wanted to do it. She put Gaterie in first and that went real good. They ate and then sniffed. Gaterie actually tried to put herself under Watermelon. At one point Watermelon was licking the pee from Gaterie's bottom :sick2: but I took that as a good thing. Gaterie did approach Watermelon to-day, very slowly but she did go. Then we put porcelaine in the tub. Watermelon started to do the shiver thing, but didn't pin. Porcelaine got the hint and ran over to Gaterie. By the time we put Biscuit in, Watermelon kept jumping out of the tub. Jill felt she had enough and wanted to end it on a good note, so they were all put away. This session lasted about 30 minutes.
Watermelon will obviously be alpha. Its her Job to put that baby down
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Now that I know its OK I feel so much better. I went through a terrible guilt thing yesterday.

I think tomorrow I'll try Jorats' method, plunk them all in and see how long they last.
Thanks again to everyone, this has really helped. :D
 
Introing Bean to my girls Cecily froze and didn't move for like 20 minutes, even though nothing confrontational was happening. They all moved in together later that day.

Keep it up, it sounds like things are flowing pretty well :)
 
This morning all the ratties were put in the tub together and things were great for 35 minutes, so we took them out of the tub and put them on the bathroom floor. They thought this was great running around and jumping on and off Jill and I. After an hour of good fun, we placed the 2 carriers on the floor to gather up everyone and little Porcelaine went inside one. (Biscuit is the only "out of control" rattie, Porcelaine is alot like Gaterie), Watermelon followed her in. Things seemed OK so we waited for one or the other to come out. All of the sudden we could hear the dreaded screams......so we removed the blankets and Watermelon had poor little Porcelaine pinned. Watermelon would let go and Porcelaine would run for her life, but Watermelon wouldn't let up. Sorry ladies, after 5 minutes of watching Porcelaine run for her life screaming I had to remove Watermelon. What on gods green earth was that about? and should I continue in the bathroom or move it to their current "play area"?
 
sausage4ever said:
Sounds like it's going fine, if it was only pinning going on...it's rat balls that are dangerous. I'd leave them be.
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OMG if this is fine, I don't ever want to see terrible! :shock:
 
sausage4ever said:
Terrible is a "rat ball" it when rats ball up squeaking, screaming ang biting. I'm hoping to have none of those tomorrow when we do a tub meeting.
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Ohhhh, I had a "gerbil ball" once. Pee'd my pants! You should come to my house tomorrow, we've had tub meetings for the past 3 mornings and we're scheduled to do it again tomorrow at 9 sharp! :cry4:
 
Yep sounds like the wee one is a screamer. They are hard on the nerves but generally little drama queens. A whole lot of my Sugah's are Screamers... :giggle: This early in the game you do not want to have anything in the intro area that is closed off (like a carrier)...one rat will wander in, the stranger rat will follow and tension or screaming ensues. Its best to have baskets, open-ended tubes etc...and yummy food...

OK next you will have to observe Watermelon's actual pinning technique. For me this was important. A good alpha pins her cagemate, and keeps her head up (away from protesting paws) and often just looks into the distance for awhile. They will keep them down to make sure they TRULY understand their place. An okay one is when they will put their head down on the other rat, might powergroom the pinned rat, etc...a bad alpha puts her open mouth on the other rat's belly usually and waits for them to struggle...they will use that as an excuse to start a fight. Those alpha's suck.
 
Thanks lilspaz68, so much info my little brains are burning up. I try to watch not only the pin but what happens just before the pin. Todays meeting was pretty good :thumbup: Watermelon pinned each girl once. Biscuit is the problem and I'm guessing its just because she's young. I noticed she is now trying to mount Watermelon (I think) (from the back end). Is this possible in a baby so young? Watermelon took it alittle bit longer this time, but when she "blew" Biscuit knew about it :giggle: The funny thing is.....the babies like her!!! Even after being pinned, they get up and run after her. Gaterie stays away from all the action but yet when Watermelon gets in the frenzie, she pins Gaterie too. Gaterie doesn't need pinning and thats what bothers me.
As for Watermelons pinning "style" she pins in the tummy area, with her 2 front legs totally straight, and her head held high. (Like the Lion King standing at the edge of the cliff except its on someones belly :giggle: ) Porcelaine being very passive will pee and Watermelon always cleans it up, while still keeping her pinned!
Today I left the carriers on the vanity (I used my head)
All in all, day 4 was good. How long should I do this before moving to the next step?
Thanks again.
 

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