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New Home Jitters

Bringing home a new pet is always exciting! Below is a list of do's and don'ts for what to do with your new furry friends.

Do:

  • Give your new pet 48-72 hours of settling time
  • The rattery is very quiet and peaceful most of the time. When rats are adopted to a loud, busy home, the settling in period of time is going to be greater while they adjust to these new, very strange settings. Don't be alarmed if it seems to take 2 weeks or so for them to fully come out of their shells. They are still prey animals, after all.
  • Intro existing rats to your new rats in a neutral space (bathtub, bed, couch, etc.)
  • Deep clean the cage before putting new and existing rats together
  • Use a bonding pouch!
  • Utilize free roam time effectively. Allowing them to roam on your bed or couch while you quietly sit with them and watch TV or work on the computer is a great way to bond at their pace.
  • Talk to and interact with your new rats in their cage
  • Ask me questions or let me know of any concerns!

Don’t:

  • Rush! While BTR rats are bred to be friendly and sociable, rats are still prey animals and new environments and people are scary.
  • Freak out about a few sniffles. New home sniffles are normal and should resolve within two weeks.
  • Throw existing rats not from BTR in with your new BTR rats without an intro.
  • Allow large animals unaccustomed to rats be around free-roaming rats. My rats grow up around cats and dogs so they are very used to these large animals and are not afraid of them. While my large animals have been heavily trained to leave the rats alone, your animal may not be so keen on these new critters. Better safe than sorry!
  • Cohabitate intact does and bucks. Does go into heat every 4 to 5 days and even a split second together can result in babies. This not only puts stress on you and your doe, but it also voids my contract and any future assistance from myself and surrounding ratteries with whom I work.

Quarantine

Bleuming Tails suggests utilizing a quarantine period before introducing new rats into an existing colony.

But why QT if the new rats I’m adopting are healthy?

While Bleuming Tails does guarantee that at the time of purchase the rats are free of URI symptoms and parasites, BTR does not do serology testing. Serology testing is used when testing for diseases such as Seoul, Sendai, and other viruses that can infect colonies. BTR doesn’t do serology testing for one very specific reason: the way these diseases are transmitted.

You can bring in these diseases on your clothing, your shoes, your mucosal membranes, etc., so even if you tested clear on Monday, your colony can be infected on Wednesday. This is a large reason why reputable breeders operate closed ratteries. It limits the number of people that could potentially bring in those diseases.

Bleuming Tails does guarantee that the rats are not and have not exhibited symptoms of any testable disease.

How-to Quarantine

  1. Be kept in a completely different airspace
    1. This means if the main colony is in the house, the new rats are in the garage, a temperature-controlled shed, or a trusted friend’s home. 
    2. If separate airspaces cannot be utilized, do your best to place the cages as far away from each other as possible.
  2. Last a minimum of 2 to 4 weeks
  3. Be sure to keep from cross-contaminating as much as you can.
    1. This means not handling one cage and then immediately going to handle the other rats.
    2. Be sure to wash hands and arms, change clothes, and blow your nose between handling sessions at the minimum. A shower is best as certain diseases can even cling to your hair. 
  4. During this QT period, cages SHOULD NOT be set up directly next to each other or across the same room

Introductions

Just like with most other domesticated animals, proper introductions are key for existing animals and newcomers to get along and live peacefully together. Proper intro protocols are necessary for pet rats due to many pet rats’ poor genetic backgrounds. Rats such as mill-produced rats from big box stores, feeder bred rats from pet stores, and some feeder bred rats from breeders often suffer from poor temperament due to poor breeding practices. This can even include rats from breeders who tout themselves as “pet only.” Any type of breeder is capable of producing poorly bred rats if they do not actively strive for good temperament in parents and babies. This is why choosing your breeder and source of pet rats very carefully is so important.

An introduction period can last as long as a few minutes to a few weeks depending on the genetic temperament and stability of the rats you’re trying to introduce. There isn’t a “normal” span of time for introductions. Scuffling during intros is completely normal and should be allowed to happen. This is the creation of the hierarchy and will allow them to settle with each other. Blood is your number one sign that it’s time to step in and separate your “combatants.” Rats who cause wounds bad enough to bleed are temperamentally unsound. Neck and genital wounds are attacks meant to kill. Linked here is a document detailing different types of rat aggression: https://rb.gy/ebkday

Doe Introductions

Does are generally much easier to perform introductions with as they tend to welcome newcomers rather than be territorial. They’re often able to adapt with both adults and babies, but some scuffling to establish a hierarchy is to be expected. However, a particularly dominant doe can wreak havoc on a colony and can cause previously stable rats to begin to show poor temperament due to her constant bullying. 

Unlike with bucks, when you have a dominant doe who is not welcoming to new rats, the situation can’t be fixed by spaying her. Rectifying this situation is difficult even when following solid intro protocols. Oftentimes, the best course of action is to keep one doe colony of the does who get along and then a second colony of the newcomers. While it is rare for a doe to attack, kill or maim in the same way an aggressive buck may, it’s not impossible.

Buck Introductions

On the other hand, bucks experience hormonal/genetic aggression in a much flashier and often deadly way. In most cases, HA begins to show up in bucks ages 4 to 10 months of age, occasionally up until a year old. However, there are situations where a buck is fine with their current colony and becomes aggressive with newcomers when the existing buck is already well past one year old. In cases like this, a vet visit is always recommended to rule out illness or injury as this can also cause sudden temperament changes. 

Most bucks will accept babies much more readily than they will adults, so it’s always suggested to introduce babies to males (<10 weeks of age) rather than risking it with adults if you’re unsure of the genetic temperament of your rats. The good news with bucks is that, for hormonal aggression, neuters are extremely successful in eliminating this problem temperament.

Types of Introductions

A neutral ground intro is when you take the existing colony and the newcomers and have them meet in a space that isn’t claimed by either. This can be a bed, couch, bathtub, etc. This method can be easily repeated as often as needed and for extended periods of time. A popular space when doing a neutral ground intro is a bed, couch, or playpen that has toys, blankets, and other items to occupy their attention as well as allowing you to sit in the middle of them and have all of them interact with you.

This method is a go-to method for a reason: it works, and it’s safe for everyone involved. If a scuffle were to break out, you’re within close distance and already have tools (that isn’t your hand/arm) that could be used to break up a fight.

For this method, you simply switch the cages for short periods of time to introduce the different scents before the official meeting. This can be repeated multiple times a day over the course of a few days. The goal is to desensitize them to the smell of the other rats before officially meeting face to face.

This method is the opposite of the cage swap and relies on obliterating scents. A deep cage clean is necessary, including washing/throwing away cage items that could soak in scents. The cage should be thoroughly and completely scrubbed down. Once this has been completed, all rats should be given quick baths with animal-safe soap and towel-dried. (While not good to do frequently, bathing a rat once for intros or to help them clean themselves when they can’t is perfectly fine. A sink or a few inches of lukewarm water is best with a platform for them to sit on. A towel is a good option because it provides purchase even when wet.) Once bathed, a drop of pure vanilla extract can be placed between their shoulder blades and they’re placed back into the fresh, clean cage.

The carrier method is based on the psychological idea known as flooding**. Flooding is when an animal or person is over-exposed to stressful stimuli in an attempt to desensitize them to that stimuli. For rats and the carrier method, it’s essentially trauma bonding. Some claim that the “calming down” that occurs during the carrier method is a hierarchy being safely established, but others say that the animals are actually shutting down due to the extreme stress and “pulling into themselves.” Shutting down is a common behavior seen in animals when stress levels become too high, and they can’t escape the stressor. (Some sources suggest taking the rats on a car ride during the carrier method if they aren’t settling down, adding even more stress to the situation.)

The absence of aggression does not immediately translate to the animal being calm.

Rats are prey animals and react to negative stimuli in one of three ways: fight, flight, or freeze. In most instances, a rat will nearly always choose flight if able. The carrier method takes away this option, leaving freeze or fight. For most rats, freeze is going to be their next choice. However, for truly aggressive rats, you’re now pushing their stress levels to the brink where fight may be their choice, and you’ve shoved them into a carrier that is too small to effectively and safely break up the fight.

*Bleuming Tails does not support the use of the carrier method as an introduction method.
**Flooding is a valuable training technique when used correctly, but the pros and cons of any method should always be weighed for the best interest of the animal, and ideally performed by an animal professional.

While it seems smart in theory, placing cages closely to each other is actually a recipe for disaster. It often just builds barrier aggression and stress, which is the opposite of what we want.

*This is generally not an acceptable form of introduction.

If a rat is willing to attack another rat severely, either maiming, intending to kill, or actually killing the other rat, they are genetically and temperamentally unstable, and you’re unlikely to have a positive outcome with any introduction method. 

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