Rat scared of other rats?

[zenith931]

I have a double rex who's been by himself for a while in quarantine.  He's only 2 months old.  We've recently began trying to put him with other rats to get him used to them.  But he's SCARED of them.  We've done sueprvised playtimes before but he's still frightened of everyone.

We've put our most gentle guys with him on the bed and he runs away and squeaks whenever he or they get close.  He'll stand on his hind legs and squeak continuously until he runs away or the other rat leaves.  

Also, we've tried putting another rat in his cage with him.  He sits in one corner and refuses to move while the other roams around and whenever the other gets close, he squeaks again.

We're getting a little frustrated by his behavior but now my boyfriend has even mentioned getting rid of him!!!    So if we can't get him socialized I'm afraid I might come home to find him gone!  How do we get him socialized with others?  Stick him in the cage with everyone else, even the big aggressive rat and hope he fares well?  Or do it gradually or what?!  But I don't want to loose him.

[scout]

Having a "scaredy rat" has been something that I've found very trying - more so than rats who won't get along! I've had two now, and they're both remarkably the same. A young male rat, like yours, introduced to older, larger rats, cowers in the corner or runs at the first opportunity. With both my scaredy rats, their behavior provoked aggression in the alpha rat. Fortunately, most of it was posturing, but it is terrifying. And it only makes the situation worse.

In exasperation, I finally wrote to Debbie D for advice. She suggested starting with the cages a comfortable distance apart for the frightened rat. When he was acting calmly (not afraid), reward him with treats. Progressively, over whatever length of time it takes, move the cages closer together. Reward the scared rat every time the cage gets closer for not responding in fright. She said that rats won't eat when they're frightened. It took so long for this to work, that I finally got the first scaredy rat a little cagemate, younger than he was so he'd at least have some company. It took 5 months (and neutering the aggressive male) to get those boys all in one cage together.

My second rat lived with the big boys for 3 weeks. They never attacked him, but he never left his little box in the cage, either. When I came into a very docile,  very human oriented rescue boy who'd always lived alone, I introduced scaredy rat to him. It took them a couple of days to warm up to each other since they were both equally frightnened of one another. But they've been best buds ever since. And I've never tried to introduce those two into the big boys cage.

It can be very challenging working with rats who are frightened since their behavior can provoke aggression in otherwise docile rats. You just have to go very, very slowly with them. Eventually, they'll be able to deal with other rats without being frightened. But it may take a long time.

Good luck!

[TopoLM]

I've got one...  Frustrating, yes. Dougal came with a cage mate. Maverick. Once in their own place Maverick began to beat Doog up.

I thought Dougal was sweet.  At the rescue, he sat in the crook of my arm and looked quite content. Little did I know he was cowering!  While looking up info on Dwarf Rats today, I discovered, along with data on dwarfism, a "quiver" gene.  Yup. Doog quivers.

I took Maverick out and put him in his own cage thinking Dougal might get more confident. He didn't. He got snooty. Maverick is back in the bigger cage now.

Let me know if you guys come up with any good tips. I could never take Dougal back to the rescue. Both he and Maverick are kind of runty so they can't go in the mondo cage. I'm stuck with Dougal's whining.

[Apopli]

Well if he's only 2 months old, and he was in quarentine... I can't imagine you've had him very long. Plus, it wasn't even a full month ago that I had 3 of your rats you wanted to rehome because you had too many, and you posted a little while back about considering re-homing one of your rats, then ended up having had to separate one of your rats for aggression because he bit another's toe, or foot.

So taking this into account, it doesn't sound to me so much as your guys are "big and aggressive", nor does it sound like there are very many to introduce him to, so  this new guy is probably just really really shy. Keeping their cages as close together as possible helps the initial step. I've heard that giving shy rats no place to hide helps them come out of their shell, though you also run the risk of stressing them out.

Perhaps joint play-times in the bathroom? A confined area without too many places to get cornered, but enough room to get away if he feels he must. A while of this and he'd get over it. It's rewarding seeing everyone get along after working at it.

[sugarfoxx]

How does the rat act toward you? Is he trusting of you and does he seek comfort in your lap?  
I wanted to know that first off before I try to help but it seems you have good advice going now. I wondered how he was with you.

My two middle rats (Cracker and Jack) want to fight all the other males so the two live together in a cage. They are hyper as heck and puff out when they see the other rats. One will run to me for comfort while the other will go for the cage first and if that isnt handy than he goes for me.  They love me from a distance.  They were not socialized at all when I got them and I knew that. I am lucky to have the relationship I have with them now. They will come to me and eat from my hand etc but dont like to cuddle much.

Good luck

[zenith931]

Well if he's only 2 months old, and he was in quarentine... I can't imagine you've had him very long. Plus, it wasn't even a full month ago that I had 3 of your rats you wanted to rehome because you had too many, and you posted a little while back about considering re-homing one of your rats, then ended up having had to separate one of your rats for aggression because he bit another's toe, or foot.

The aggressive one is fine now and we've had him for a little while, actually.  He's been in quarantine for about a month and a half.  I waited so long because the others had a bit of a flare up of myco and I didn't know what that would do to his little lungs, so I held off till that cleared up.  I've got oodles more time now and he's got a cagemate on the way, I was just hoping he'd be ok with other rats by then.