Rat Wars

[rattfan]

Okay. We've now spent almost two weeks at this, trying to get one fuzz-brained, bog-stubborn male "teenage" rodent to accept another one as a housemate.

Zach, the resident, is bullying Luka, the newcomer, as much as when Luka arrived. I'm amazed Luka has any fur left, with what I find after each "introduction" attempt. These recently resumed after about five days off to let Luka recover from a nasty bite to his back. *Sometimes* we're ok in a neutral area, sometimes not. Tonight I tried them in an area neither knew, with access to a cage not used by either of them. Had to give up finally, as Luka was hunched in a corner and wouldn't come out of it. Zach continued to pick fights.

I'm about at the end of willpower to keep on with this, even though rats aren't solitary creatures and need company of their own kind. Try to explain that to these two! Pretty soon Luka may have to go back where he came from, a place with quite a few other rats who've learned not to be so territorial as Zach, although Luka is still unable to share a cage with any of them. As it is, Zach thinks he owns the furniture, the area outside his cage and anywhere else he wants. I'm just getting weary of plucking Zach off the top of Luka's cage, where he issues dire threats. If they aren't near each other, the theory goes, they never get used to each other. The theory also goes that adult and near-adult rats like these are the most difficult to introduce. I was able to do it with Zach and Joshua when Zach was four months old but the window is narrow. Now, at seven months, Zach is like a different rat. Luka is a little younger but not much. Since they're both rescues nobody's sure but I'd guess him at six months. Probably the fact that Joshua was quite a bit older and presumably with hormones a bit further from the boil also helped.

Wahhh. I'm quite weary with this. Also have gut-aches and upsets of my own so this battle of the small furry ones looms larger than it perhaps would at other times. I do feel it's not fair on Luka to keep trying. He's the one losing the fur!

Comments

[prk.livejournal.com]

Have you tried coating them both in something with a strong scent, or coating Luka with Zach's pee?

prk.

[ratfan.livejournal.com]

I've tried most of the tricks there are :-) One was lavender; crushing the flowers off some of my bushes and coating them in that. I got a couple of fragrant rats for awhile, that was it. Another was pudding smeared over them.

Haven't tried the pee trick and god knows Zach has enough of it. He's trying to spray the entire house and that was before Luka arrived!

Thanks - will keep the no-doubt riveted flist posted!