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.

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[ratcreature]

Thanks. It's just completely turned into my anxiety nightmare. I mean, the breeder kept saying that in her experience there usually weren't problems with introducing babies, and that if there were they would usually show right when they first met, but in the bathroom Ben was just indifferent, and all were mostly just very freaked out and unhappy about the shower stall. Krümel even seemed to check whether Ben might be a big rat that could be a milk source and Ben just sat placidly looking like he just really wished to be elsewhere as his belly was poked. And I practically piled them next to each other in the small box when I carried them to the cage from the bathroom, so they wouldn't flee in a non-ratsafe room, and then they all sat in the same segment, all wary of the new cage, and Ben was clearly stressed with the different cage, but he just retreated and then ate a bit, and he didn't care when Gonzo took some food, and it all seemed to go well at first.

But I keep thinking that I perhaps should have noticed something, or been more careful with some slower method, and I didn't completely replace all the hiding places and tubes and such, just washed as much as was washable, and bought a bunch of new things for the bigger cage, so maybe it was because the hollow branch Gonzo was hiding in still smelled like something of Ben's. I just feel so horrible about the whole thing. And now I'm really afraid of doing it again in a few weeks so Krümel won't have to lead an awful live as single rat through no fault of his. I just hope I will be calmer about it then.