Cross-posting to LJ because I know there are people over there who will be interested in our rat antics.
( general ratty updateCollapse )
And here's the important stuff... grateful if ratty folk can read to the end to give me opinions, etc.
The boy colony may or may not be expanding. On Thursday there was a message on our Wanted board at work saying that a home was needed for two boy rats. I wrestled with the idea of contacting the person who posted the message, and eventually did. I asked a bit of background and eventually decided to ring the current owner, who for various reasons couldn't look after the boys any more and wanted them to go to a good home.
I said we'd have to see them before we decided whether or not to take them. I didn't want to bring back snuffly rats or ones that were aggressive. They explained that the one boy had bitten when cornered but we figured we could cope with that over time so brought them home.
The one boy is lovely and friendly, the other much more shy and scared (the one who bit). But we took them away from the cage they came from and gave them scritches and we thought we could work with that. We then went about organising cages so that (a) we could isolate them from the other animals for a while, and (b) they could have a bigger and more accessible cage than the one they came in. Their old cage was a nice size but had doors in the roof which were a bit of a nightmare to get them in and out of.
This is where the problems started. The shy/scared/bitey boy bit the OH. We then took them out again for cuddles/scritches. The other boy seemed pretty much fine but the shy one was quite scared and did bite at the OH again. And then the lovely boy decided to crawl onto his brother and they began boxing on the OH's arms and fur went everywhere. At this point we decided, possibly wrongly, that putting them back in their cage - but now their new cage - would be a good idea.
It seems it wouldn't. I've never seen such a rat fight with rolling and squealing and blood. And of course that was during intros, not between two brothers. The lovely little boy found a hiding place and stayed up there for ages. Eventually he came out onto us and spent ages not wanting to go back in the cage. He had a number of bites - one near his back leg and the rest on his shoulder/back. At this point we added some bedding and poos from the old cage into the new cage.
We had hoped that we might get the other boy out of the cage so that his brother could go back in and feel safe for a while, but the shy one is still very shy and scared - and we're worried about him biting us. We've now put the other back in the cage and they've huffed a bit and bared teeth and had a few scuffles. But now they're sitting separately and not fighting and not having the one hiding in fear. So hopefully, maybe, they'll settle. I'm hoping that shy boy is just really scared and taking it out on his brother. I don't mind when they're like this, huffing a bit, but not when they're rolling around and biting. But the fact that they're brothers and they were all curled up together before we moved them into the new cage... makes me wonder if we've done something terribly wrong.
I'm not going to do too much to befriend the shy boy until he and his brother have settled down. I want him to feel safe and at home before I start bothering him. I'm worried what intros with the other boys will be like, but with five huge boys he'll soon be overpowered.
But if he doesn't make friends with his brother again I really don't know what to do? I know I could neuter the aggressive one and hope that helps. The brother would be easy to intro with our boys, I'm sure of that, but I don't want to split the two up.
Suggestions from ratty friends will be more than welcomed, so I'm leaving this open to comments on both journals, but comments on dreamwidth would be preferable so I don't have to track two posts!
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sad
