# we meet at last...



## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

so i got my ratties to play together a couple days ago! little at a time on neutral territory, they really didn't seem to care one way or another about eachother. they kind of ignore each other, although picasso more than mozart. mozart crawls around and under picasso while she's trying to walk, but picasso kind of ignores her, lol. seems like it's going well! stuck them in a cleaned out mozart quarantine tank for a little bit but it made mozart agitated and she would pounce on picasso's head. i kinda just wanted to know if mozart could stand up for herself, lol. mozart is like 3/4 the size of picasso. gave them stuff to nibble on and mozart seems to annoy picasso cuz she tries to eat whatever is in picasso's mouth. we'll see how this goes, joann's fabric sale on fleece! new cage bedding! hooray!


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

aww glad all is goin well


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

Sounds like it's going splendidly!


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

so they have played lots together and i'm going to deep clean picasso's big cage out and see if i can stick the two girls in the cage together tonight. i feel bad that they have been alone for so long, but i hope they get along. 

i'm moving back to my hometown for the summer since school is out, and i'd like for my ratties to be in one cage (so i can fill mozart's little cage with more of all that crap i've accumulated in the last 9 months... ) by then. phew. i have so much crap to pack up! aghh!


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## Wench (Apr 5, 2007)

Oh gosh take your time putting them into a cage together. I wouldn't leave them unattended in a cage together for a long time.

Introductions almost always go the same way. They don't care for each other much at first, and then as they get to know each other they start building their relationship, and it generally involves violence. I would not enclose them together and not watch them.

When I got my second rat, Milly, I thought the intro would be easy because they seemed not to care about each other when I first put them together. In time Doris began to attack Millicent, and for two months they had to be separated at all times or Doris would attack Milly viciously.

I ended up buying another cage for Milly (she was staying in a travel cage), and she is still in this cage. It's been a little over two months now and Milly has just started fighting back as she gets healthier and more settled. The past two days I've been giving them time together every now and again supervised, and never for more than 30-40 seconds, just for them to fight it out. 

I'm just saying, for your own sake and for theirs, be careful and don't think because they seem laid back that they will instantly be friends.


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

oh no i'm definitely not leaving them in there unattended, nor for long amounts of time. i let them play on neutral ground, and then in each others' cage to get used to eachother. they wrestle where ever they are, but the smaller mozart will only fight back if she's in her own home, so i think it's good that she gets a little of that practice in. and i can close off the top and bottom portions of the cage and they can't mingle thru the night, sorry, i forgot to mention that, lol. mozart's quarantine cage was a fishtank, so i figured even placing it next to picasso's cage wouldn't do much as far as letting them get used to smells, so yeah. haha, i could see now why you were like, um, hellz no. XD


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## LizLovesRats5 (Mar 28, 2007)

I wouldn't worry about it, Ono. Rats just dook it out a bit at first. But I guess better safe than sorry.


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

updates, hoo-ah:

actually today they slept together in the big cage, it was the cutest thing i've ever seen in my life, i'm pretty sure. mozart finally gave up during several rat-fights today. picasso sat on top of her and nibbled her feet and power groomed her tummy, and mozart squeaked like she was dying the whole time. afterwards, they got along fabulously and snuggled in the cookie box at the bottom. i'll find some pics and add them later. <333

i spend a lot of time at home since classes ended, so they get a lot of time together each day, so i think they're progressing rather quickly. or i'm ridiculously eager, whatever. they stayed in the cage for 4 hours with the doors closed together while i was at work (roommates to check on them, don't worry) and they didn't really do anything interesting the whole time, as my dear roommate told me.


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

i'd dare say they're ready to be roommates full time from that description. congradulations!


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## mnic001 (May 9, 2007)

That's a cute story.


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

yeah, pretty sure they're the most easy-going rats ever. they snuggle together, eat together, drink from the waterbottle together. mozart is like an annoying little sister sometimes when she gets hyper and she popcorns up and down the cage and bounces off picasso's back, nibbles at her butt and pulls on her tail. picasso just sits down with her eyes closed like in a trance and lets mozart groom her face. is this like how subordinate wolves will lick the face of the alpha? got some hilarious pics, i'll post them when i'm back on my own comp.

so since the first intros 6 days ago, they have established dominancy and get along fabulously, so i'm going to go ahead and stick them in a cleaned-out big cage. i'm ridonkulously excited.


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