Thread replies: 5
Thread images: 1
Anonymous
Rat Warriors
2016-01-08 12:58:02 Post No. 2033157
[Report]
Image search:
[Google]
Rat Warriors
Anonymous
2016-01-08 12:58:02
Post No. 2033157
[Report]
Evening, all.
I just wanted a second opinion from fellow rat keepers. Pic attached is Hanako, who looks rather nibbled around the face. About six weeks ago, I was given a seven month doe because she kept beating up the rittens that her former owner tried to put her in with. The way the owner described it, it sounded like normal dominance behaviour, but the owner hadn't been keeping rats for very long and didn't really know how to do introductions. I took the doe, named creatively 'Rattie', and over the course of a week introduced her to my two adult girls, Hanako and her sister Sawako. Hanako and Sawako are big girls who'd never been apart, so I figured they'd together be able to take on Rattie. Rattie, rechristened Toshiko, is smallish and incredibly sweet, very intelligent, an excellent climber, an INSANE Rat Olympics caliber jumper, and, as it turns out, indeed something of a bitch to other rats. She immediately started pushing around Sawako and Hanako, who weren't quite sure what to do despite the fact that Toshiko is two thirds the size of either of them.
Yesterday I noticed these marks on Hanako's face. Sorry for only the one picture, but I've no one to help pin her down for me. There's more on her muzzle and some just past her eye. I was a bit alarmed so I checked her and the other two for mites, no problems. I watched them carefully today, and there's been a new development in the pecking order: if Toshiko gets too uppity, Sawako and Hanako will join forces and pin her down together. The look on Toshiko's face when they do that is something priceless. As a result, I'm 98% certain that the marks on Hanako's face are from her pining Toshiko. However, as for the other 2%, would you fellow rat keepers mind giving me your opinion? Many thanks.