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Jitters my OCD rat totally flipped out. I've had to isolate her for now.
I took in a close friend's rats since she has been having horrible allergy symptoms & they are at their worst when she gets home. At work she is fine but within moments of coming home she feels like ****.
We planned on them coming to me a couple weeks ago & today they arrived. Since my current big cage is in a state of transition after losing Fluffy this week, it was perfect time to make intros... might as well let all this business with new dominance orders being established work out along with new intros. (right? seemed like a good idea)
Everyone was very cool with each other IMMEDIATELY! I mean I put them all on the floor & they were just like, hey, how's it going, where the heck have you all been? Instant buddies with lots of play & mutual grooming.
Well, everyone except Jitters. She flipped out... not just flipped but she attacked everyone. I had to grab her with an oven mitt. I figured she would be my hard case because she has some very bizarre quirks but I really didn't expect this. I gave her a few minutes to chill & tried again. She was like a bullet & attacked the first rat she saw & then completely tripped when I tried to touch her, so on with the oven mitt again. I gave her an hour to chill on her own & then let her sniff one of her established "sisters" & she attacked her immediately. I couldn't even put her down, Jitters rushed her while she was in my hand.
CRAP!
Now what? I have the new 4 rats & the original 2 completely chillin' in the big cage. They are all cuddled up in the hammie & grooming each other & Jitters is being a PITA.
Has anyone ever had this happen? Does anyone else have a rat with horrible OCD symptoms? She has never dealt with change but I can't let her issues wreck it for everyone else who is getting along famously.
I'm thinking I may have to get her some Ratty Valiums or Prozac or something. I just don't want to sound like I total idiot when I go to the vet on Monday. I'd like to get some feed back & print off some info if anyone has anything to share or if they know of links about this.
I'm going to go take another look at her now & see if she has calmed down & try one more time with one of the established girls she has lived her whole life with (well since I got her when she was just a baby) & if that doesn't work I will try again tomorrow in a small amount of water. I don't really want to wash them again because they all just had baths today when I did the intro at around 5 pm.
I will check back to see if anyone else has any suggestions as well. I really hope I can get her to calm down & get back with the group. Looks like I know what I will be doing all weekend.
I took in a close friend's rats since she has been having horrible allergy symptoms & they are at their worst when she gets home. At work she is fine but within moments of coming home she feels like ****.
We planned on them coming to me a couple weeks ago & today they arrived. Since my current big cage is in a state of transition after losing Fluffy this week, it was perfect time to make intros... might as well let all this business with new dominance orders being established work out along with new intros. (right? seemed like a good idea)
Everyone was very cool with each other IMMEDIATELY! I mean I put them all on the floor & they were just like, hey, how's it going, where the heck have you all been? Instant buddies with lots of play & mutual grooming.
Well, everyone except Jitters. She flipped out... not just flipped but she attacked everyone. I had to grab her with an oven mitt. I figured she would be my hard case because she has some very bizarre quirks but I really didn't expect this. I gave her a few minutes to chill & tried again. She was like a bullet & attacked the first rat she saw & then completely tripped when I tried to touch her, so on with the oven mitt again. I gave her an hour to chill on her own & then let her sniff one of her established "sisters" & she attacked her immediately. I couldn't even put her down, Jitters rushed her while she was in my hand.
CRAP!
Now what? I have the new 4 rats & the original 2 completely chillin' in the big cage. They are all cuddled up in the hammie & grooming each other & Jitters is being a PITA.
Has anyone ever had this happen? Does anyone else have a rat with horrible OCD symptoms? She has never dealt with change but I can't let her issues wreck it for everyone else who is getting along famously.
I'm thinking I may have to get her some Ratty Valiums or Prozac or something. I just don't want to sound like I total idiot when I go to the vet on Monday. I'd like to get some feed back & print off some info if anyone has anything to share or if they know of links about this.
I'm going to go take another look at her now & see if she has calmed down & try one more time with one of the established girls she has lived her whole life with (well since I got her when she was just a baby) & if that doesn't work I will try again tomorrow in a small amount of water. I don't really want to wash them again because they all just had baths today when I did the intro at around 5 pm.
I will check back to see if anyone else has any suggestions as well. I really hope I can get her to calm down & get back with the group. Looks like I know what I will be doing all weekend.