my day has turned horrible...

[ratcreature]

I got my two new little rats today, and I proceeded how the breeder suggested, set them together in a neutral location (my bathroom), and all was calm. Ben wasn't aggressive, actually not much interested at all in the two little ones. Since all seemed to go so well, and Ben was his usual laid-back self I set them in my new cage, and all three seemed nervous at the new surroundings and just hid for a bit in different locations. Ben went into the direction of Gonzo a couple of times, but they didn't fight. Then all of a sudden Ben went into the hiding place where Gonzo was and I just heard a squeak and Gonzo was dead. It was just a few seconds, and I couldn't get there fast enough to do anything since both where in a hollow branch. Obviously I immediately took Krümel (who was sleeping nearby) out of that segment and put in a barrier. But god, I feel guilty and completely crushed, and now have two single rats and one dead one. He was just five weeks, I don't even have a photo of him. And now I'm off to bury a tiny rat.

Comments

[maygra.livejournal.com]

Aw, honey. I'm so sorry.

[ratcreature]

Thanks, it was just horrible. I mean, I haven't even gotten to know Gonzo yet, but I had cuddled with him for a bit, and he was such a beautiful tiny rat, all that soft dark grey fur with a white belly, and now he only lived to be five weeks old.

And I keep thinking that I maybe should have been more cautious, but the breeder said that serious problems were unusual, and tend to show right away but, they seemed fine in the bathroom, not cuddling or anything, but ignoring each other and Ben wasn't aggressive at all with the tiny ones, though not very interested in them either. I mean, Krümel even looked at his side/belly as if to check for sure that this wasn't an adult rat with tits one might get milk from and Ben just went away, still spooked about the bathroom. Perhaps I should have kept them longer in the bathroom with no hiding places, but I thought since they weren't seriously fighting and all hated the shower tub and tried to get back to me or in to the transport box that I could try the new cage, and they weren't aggressive when I scooped them all up in the small transport box to carry them from the bathroom to my bedroom. And later in their new cage Ben was okay with Gonzo and Krümel taking fruit pieces from the food dish, and all were reluctant to venture out into the different modules and unsure about it, so it seemed to go okay to me.

Maybe it was a bad sign that Ben didn't piss on them to assert his dominance like the breeder said was likely he would, I don't know, it's the first time I tried to integrate rats. Or perhaps I could have recognized the squeak Gonzo made when Ben first came to his hiding place as a bad kind of squeak, but afterwards Ben always went away and Gonzo was okay after those times, so I thought it was just a submission squeak and they'd be fine, and then the next time Ben went to him he just suddenly killed him. I mean, I stood in front of the cage still watching them, and when the squeaking increased compared to very brief squeaks before I opened the cage and picked up the branch to interrupt and separate them, but then Gonzo was already dead, as Ben had bitten him in the neck and shook him until it was broke.