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Title: New rat being bullied by other rat....Please help!!! Post by: pinkycottontail on June 24, 2008, 11:16:10 PM I have had my pet female Dumbo Rat(murray) for a month today and today I purchased her a play mate another female Dumbo Rat(Betsy). Well Murray is being so mean to the new rat and I'm scared during the night or while my bf and I are at work tomorrow she will kill her or harm her. Is this normal, what should I do. The lil one is so scared. I am so worried about her....please help me.
Title: Re: New rat being bullied by other rat....Please help!!! Post by: LastEchoes on June 24, 2008, 11:36:31 PM It's normal because you can't just stick a new rat in another rat's territory. First off, new rats should always be quarantined.....And THEN introductions have to be done slowly and certain steps need to be followed to ensure no rat injures another. Rats are very territorial.
If Murray is bulling/hurting the new rat, than you have to separate them and start introductions the proper way. Do a search on the forum and MANY many threads with advice and how to properly introduce rats will come up. Here's a link to get you started http://ratguide.com/care/behavior/introducing_rats.php Title: Re: New rat being bullied by other rat....Please help!!! Post by: Ratlovingkippy06 on June 24, 2008, 11:40:39 PM Never just put a new rat into a cage, read the guilde lines, i would remove that new rat before she gets hurt.
Title: Re: New rat being bullied by other rat....Please help!!! Post by: pinkycottontail on June 25, 2008, 12:00:33 AM I haven't put them in the cage together yet but, they have met in a neutral area. Murray is only a couple of months older than Betsy. I do not have 2 different cages right now to seperat them.
Title: Re: New rat being bullied by other rat....Please help!!! Post by: Ratlovingkippy06 on June 25, 2008, 12:12:22 AM well your going to have to get a second cage because if you put her in that cage shes going be attack worse. You really should research or ask someone even an employee if it was okay. Yes rats like being in pairs but they it is done is very touchy
Title: Re: New rat being bullied by other rat....Please help!!! Post by: LastEchoes on June 25, 2008, 01:33:44 AM I haven't put them in the cage together yet but, they have met in a neutral area. Murray is only a couple of months older than Betsy. I do not have 2 different cages right now to seperat them. Wait...you don't have a 2nd cage and you haven't put them together yet....then where are you keeping the new rat?? And if they met on neutral territory, you need to give a more details of their behavior, how they act, and how Murray is being 'so mean' to the new rat so we can give advice. Title: Re: New rat being bullied by other rat....Please help!!! Post by: Ratlovingkippy06 on June 25, 2008, 01:46:53 AM yeah sometimes rats seem " mean" when a older rat is putting a new rats in his/her place to say " hey i am the boss and if you challenge me your going to get it ok?" Kayla my rat is a big baby and makes a Ton of noise over nothing, you really need to have a good understanding of rat behavior and body language to have an understanding of what is really going on. we need more details
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