# Antisocial RatS



## watry (Feb 14, 2013)

I have a foster boy in my care (him and 10 females were thrown into a snow bank...they weren't even in a box, they were just thrown in the snow) which resulted in a bunch of little ratties getting frost bitten and such. This boy was lucky because he only lost a tiny bit of his tail, but he is otherwise ok in terms of injuries.

Anyways, you can tell that he was from a neglectful home. He is neutered now, was treated for lice, and I have slowly been trying to get him used to me. He is so fearful that he will jump in fright, so I have just been talking to him and I don't touch him because I'm worried that he might bite out of being so afraid. He won't even take treats from my hands, so I just leave them around in his cage, and he won't even take them until I am gone.

I would like to propose my plan and see if anyone would like to add anything to it.

1) I am going to look at 2 females this weekend that are up for adoption. If they are healthy/social, I will try to introduce them to him. My boy will get curious if I show him one of my other females outside of his cage so I think it might help him open up if he were to have "girlfriends."

2) Slowly introduce them over the course of a few weeks (cages side-by-side, switching bits of bedding so they smell each other, etc).

3) Put them all in my former "monkey cage" (apparently a monkey used to live in it) which is a cage that is a good 4-5 feet tall and at least 3 feet wide if not more. Hopefully this will give everyone the space they need to start living together. *Since the boy is so shy, should I put him in the monkey cage for a day before I put in the females? I only have handled him by giving him a towel to go into and then I put him in his cleaned cage because he is so fearful, and he is visibly scared after the ordeal. Or should I just wait a few hours before putting in the girls?
*4) Watch them and make sure the girls are nice to him, etc. I'm hoping the big space will help them all have the space to get away if they need to. I'm just not sure if I should allow the male to acclimate before putting in the females, but then the space won't be "neutral" anymore. I assume that the new space will freak him out, but I know it is important to have rats be in neutral territory when they first meet each other.

Thank you for your input!


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## watry (Feb 14, 2013)

Oops, it is supposed to be called "antisocial rat" not RatS lol


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