I’m wasn’t feeling well yesterday. This happens at least once a month where I feel super depressed and there’s no good reason for it so I’m going to chalk it up to hormones and try not to let it get the best of me. I sure wish it would happen on a day off, though, so I could just crawl under the covers and sleep it off instead of having to sit at work and feel like I’m a trapped animal.
Speaking of animals, the introductions between the rats did not go so well on Monday. Joe shampooed the carpeting on Sunday before we went to my parents’ house for Easter. On Monday morning I gave all the rats a bath to reduce their scent (plus they all smelled like urine, particularly the brothers since their temporary cage sucks and I can’t lay down newspaper in it like I can in the big cage). I put the brothers in the bottom half of the big cage and left everyone alone for a couple of hours. Then Joe and I brought them all out in the pet room to supervise. At first they seemed to ignore one another but then Marshmallow attacked Steve and scratched his paw and made him bleed. Doug was so scared he wouldn’t move off Joe’s lap.
We ended up putting them back in their respective cages to cool down but it was disheartening, although not entirely unexpected. Marshmallow was acting up all morning like he knew what was coming and once they were actually in “his” room he started puffing up and rubbing himself all over his cage to mark his territory. He did the same thing later that evening when I took him out on his own to play. He rubbed himself all over everything in the room, including me!
We took them out again yesterday to see what would happen and Marshmallow and Steve fought again. This time Steve seemed to be the aggressor. He ended up re-injuring his paw and he caused three separate wounds on Marshmallow’s back within seconds.
Based on what I read this is going to happen until they get the pecking order established, but it seems awfully violent. Marshmallow and Doug will stand up nose to nose but it never goes any further than that. I think the reason he and Steve keep fighting is they both want to be the alpha rat which is kinda weird since Doug usually dominates over Steve. In any case, I plan to take them out separately over the next few days to let them calm down and heal. Then I am going to consult with the rat group I belong to on Facebook to see what they suggest. I’m not sure at what point I should give up and determine they can’t all live together peacefully.