3 rd wheel?

Question
QUESTION: my daughters fancy rat died peacefully after 2 1/2 years, the following day we purchased two baby fancy rats( cindy & misty) in the fear that the other 2 1/2 year old she has ( zoe) would be lonely. cindy is much smaller than misty and zoe has taken it upon herself to groom, and protect cindy, even to tyhe point where if cindy tries to go out of the hut, zoe pulles her back in. in the mean time, misty has been on the top shelf of the cage all alone.. is she ok? is this bond that zoe is creating normal? will misty be accecpted, can i do something to promote theyre bond with her?

ANSWER:   Perfectly normal =)  Rats show affection as well as dominance by grooming and the rats are just trying to figure out their pecking order.  Female rats often act overly motherly to babies and as long as they aren't drawing blood it should be just fine.  Good luck with your rats!

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QUESTION: thank you so much! its comforting to have someone with knowledge to talk to ( Lord knows its not the 16 year old running the pet shop!!) so, misty will eventually be accecpted? also we noticed that misty is ywaning, coughing and streatching alot is she ok?

ANSWER:   Misty should eventually be accepted, it just sounds like Zoe has focused on Cindy for whatever reason.  It's normal for rats to sleep in different areas sometimes even when they are used to each other, Misty probably just doesn't want to be messed with at the moment so she's trying to avoid Zoe.

 Yawning and stretching a lot is normal for babies, but coughing can be a sign of respiratory infection.  Sometimes when you first get a rat they can get stress sniffles and can appear ill but it usually goes away after a week.  If she's still showing signs of illness after that time you'd do well to take her to the vet for an exam and some antibiotics; respiratory infections that are minor are easy to treat and if they are left too long they can get much worse and be harder to get rid of.

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QUESTION: im sorry! hopefully this will be my last question... when we try to go in the cage, zoe is snipping at us... this is verry new usually she'll run to the doore to come out, is this because shes protecting cindy? how do we correct this behavior?

Answer
 She probably is being protective.  As the babies get older it may sort itself out on its own, but for now just try to make a squeak sound when she does it to let her know she's hurting you.  You may have to let her come to you rather than reach your hand in there for the time being.