Denna sida på svenska. Darius did not want any new rat mates. Absolutely not. That was obvious when Rubin moved into the house. A strange male rat in my house? "No way!" Darius seemed to think. His fur stood on end and he walked angrily around the cage. He even attacked his cage mates Eamon and Enzio. Luckily he didn't bite them. Darius never could stand strange males in the house. As soon as they came through the door he sensed their smell and got aggravated.
Rubin had just moved in and was about mate with Cherie. That would be her second and last litter. Cherie's first litter consisted of Eamon and Enzio and their five sisters.
Rubin moved in with Cherie. They did not agree. So he moved out and then in again a few days later. This time they become friends. While this happened I had to keep Rubin as far away from Darius and the other males as possible, since Darius could not stand the smell of Rubin.
After a wile Cherie had some small pink babies... By then Rubin had already moved out of her cage so she could be alone. Poor guy, I thought. It can't be fun to be alone all the time! Naturally all rats was having a lot of free time outside their cages, but it was many lonely hours in the cage for Rubin anyway.
Then I had a go at putting in Rubin with the other boys through bathing them all and putting them in a new clean cage. But that did not work, since Darius fought with Rubin and then Rubin jumped Enzio and bit him in the rear. Luckily there was no seriuos injuries, only a few small cuts in the skin.
The problem was that Rubin was supposed to stay, so in some way I needed to get Darius to accept Rubin. I invented varous ways to get Darius accustomed to the smell of Rubin.
I put Rubin's feeding bowl in the big boy cage (I took it straight from Rubin's cage so that it should smell a lot of Rubin). Darius got absolutely wild. He attacked Eamon and Enzio. Luckily he did not bite them. He did not calm down until I removed Rubin's feeding bowl from the cage. Then he lied down to sleep, totally exhausted.
When I placed the boy's feeding bowl in Rubin's cage he calmly went up to it and sniffed it with some interrest. Then he went to sleep as usual (Rubin was 1 1/2 years old and pretty calm, maybe because he is rex).
The next time I put in Rubin's feeding bowl with Darius and the rest of the boys it looked almost as if Darius was trying to pick a fight with the feeding bowl. He stood right on top of it with his fur on end and seemed very angry at - that's right - the feeding bowl! He took some rounds in the cage and then he cameback to the hateful feeding bowl every time, until I removed it.
When I had done this a number of times Darius stopped having his fur on end and looking dangerous every time, and then I invented something new. Since I have as many as around ten rats living with me (actually twelwe) I clean the cages rather often. Every or every other day. Usually every day.
Anyway I have a small extra cage that I can put my rats in while cleaning their big cage. Now I started changing Rubin's cage first, taking a lot of time to let him put his mark and smell in the extra cage thoroughly. Then I changed Darius and the other boy's cage, while I let them spend time in the extra cage (with the smell of Rubin). Wow! Talk about reaction! Darius got wild. But since I did this almost every day he soon got used to the arrangement.
All this happened while Cherie's and Rubin's babies grew big enough to leave mom. The boys moved in with Rubin so that they would not feel alone. What a mistake! Rubin did not at all want his sons with him. He even bit them (a few extremely tiny marks in the skin). I had not expected this to happen. Instead they moved in with Darius and the big boys, there were five little males and the cage was big enough. I thought that Darius would soon stop chasing them around and I was right. It took a while until he got tired of this new pleasure, but he never bit them. Not a mark. Eamon and Enzio was much too nice to do anything at all.
Soon after that Cherie and her daughters moved in with the other girl rats in the big girl rat cage. Unusually enough they all became friends at once. Not a squeak was heard the first days. The girls usually don't bite and holes in eachother, but they usually fight even more than the boys do.
So now I had one cage with males, one cage with females and one cage with Rubin. I started placing the cages closer together. I placed Rubin's cage one meter from the big male cage and Darius reacted immideately.
Closer and closer I put the cages and during the time I sold most of the new babies. Two I kept. A girl and a boy. Fayance and Farentino. (These was the babies of Cherie and Rubin.)
At last the cages was placed directly beside eachother and had so been for a week or two when I decided to try to bathe together all the boys again. It was now almost exactly three months since Rubin moved in. I cleaned a new cage and bathed all the boys except Farentino, since he was so small anyway. This time all went well!
Rubin and Darius stared surpricedly at eachother, but they did not fight. At first it seemed to me as if Darius was thinking that maybe it was Eamon or Enzio. They all looked alike, and probably smelled the same after the bath. (Rubin, Eamon and Enzio are all silver fawn rexes.)
The next day I cleaned the cage. Maybe I should not have done that so soon. Then Darius was totally clear about Rubin being Rubin and what did he have to do in Darius cage? Darius jumped Rubin and they fought. But this was a very short fight. They never bit any holes in eachother. I told Darius what he was worth and put them together again. Darius looked suspiciously at Rubin.
As soon as Darius had jumped Rubin all the other three vanished up in the hammock. Probably in order not to get in the way. Now Rubin too jumped up in the hammock and lied down with the other three. Darius went to sleep in a corner of the cage. This happened early one morning. After that I was home all day and every time I heard the slightest squeak I rushed there, but every time it was the girls playing and having fun.
A short while after the little morning fight Darius jumped up to Rubin in the hammock. Then the other three rats fled. It looked like Darius did not really know what he wanted. He looked hesitantly at Rubin. He had already fought Rubin to tell him it was his cage. Rubin is the kind that never backs an inch after taking stand (the hammock in this case) but he is at the same time not the guy to start a fight. It seemed as if Darius had come to realize this now. After a moment of hesitation he curled up into the shape of a ball and went to slep. Probably he could accept the situation, as long as he could maintain the position as top dog.
No more fights occured during the day. A few minor disagreements over the feeding bowl was solved without problem. This was yesterday.
This morning I found them, Rubin and Darius, comfortably streched out beside eachother in the hammock. They were so delightfully sweet. It seems as if they have become friends at last, even if it took a while.
Darius actually did get a new friend.
Written by Eva Johansson, 25th of August 1990.
NOTE: When you read about Darius and Rubin, remember that they never actually hurt eachother! No severe bitings, no blood. Actually they lived in peace for the rest of their lifes. Darius was just a dominant personality, and Rubin had a lot of integrity.
Copyright Eva Johansson.
Last update: 11th of August 2006.