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Jess[Chi]   Corde   GreySky  
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 #2087965


Jess[Chi]
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 Need Some Rat Experts Please

Hey i havent been on this for quite some time but i have some rat questions that i would love answered.

I have two rats, Marley an adult male hairless rat who ive had for a while. And a new baby named Munster who is a feeder rat. I have no idea if its a boy or a girl..im leaning more towards a boy and hoping it is a boy cuz Munster was meant for Marley as a friend. Boy or girl? it would be so helpful lol.

Munster


When I introduced them I put them both in my bathroom to run around and they really payed no mind to eachother. I thought things were going good so i put marley back in his cage and i let munster into the cage with close supervision for a couple of seconds to see how things would go. Marley tried mounting Munster so i thought of that as a normal dominance thing. Then Marley started grabbing the baby by the face with his teeth and dragging him/her around the cage...i immediately took Munster out and put him/her back into his/her cage. It didnt seem like he was hurting the baby too bad, he/she did yelp once so thats when i took him/her out. Now i have them next to eachother in their cages and i havent tried introducing them again. Im gonna wait till munster gets a little bigger and older and in the meantime keep having small introduction sessions in the bathroom with close supervison. My queston is, has anyone ever had this expierence and has it gotten better?

Any help is appreciated =] Thanks!
10/23/09  04:07pm

 #2088004


Corde
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   Message To: Jess[Chi]   In reference to Message Id: 2087965


 Need Some Rat Experts Please

when getting them aquainted put the old rat in the new rats cage



10/23/09  06:30pm

 #2088058


GreySky
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   Message To: Jess[Chi]   In reference to Message Id: 2087965


 Need Some Rat Experts Please

Munster is a male. How much bigger is Marley than Munster? It is not wise to introduce a tiny baby to a huge adult. The adult can and will kill it. Adults do not like babies. If the young rat is at least half the size of the old rat then it is ok. Otherwise wait until the young rat gets bigger to introduce them. Mounting and nipping are perfectly normal dominance behaviors. As long as the young rat is large enough to defend itself this shouldn’t be a problem. Some wrestling and squeaking is fine as long as there is little to no blood involved. Introduce them for about two weeks or until they seem comfortable with each other. Then completely wash the cage you plan to put them together in. Rearrange everything so the rats see it as a new cage. Even if your older rat used to live in that cage it won’t matter. If cleaned and rearranged the rat will see it as a new cage. Do not be alarmed by wrestling or nipping. Do not break up fights unless there is visible blood. You will probably get bitten and they will just fight again as soon as you leave the room. While Munster is still young he won’t challenge the dominance of Marley. But when Munster reaches maturity he may try to challenge Marley. Your rats may fight each other a lot for a few of months or so then settle down. They may have a few bloody fights in this time period. Don’t be too alarmed though because Munster will grow out of it. Some people are fortunate to have rats that never fight. I just thought I’d let you know what you should do in case of a fight. I also thought it would be important to let you know that Munster may go through an aggressive phase. Good luck! And let us know if you have any more questions!
10/23/09  10:36pm


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