trouble

Question
Hi Sandra,

I've got problems. I have a little girl rat. She's about 9 weeks old. I got her and another little girl who is a little older from a breeder about 5 weeks ago. On the first night punkie was with us, I was holding her and she took off under the radiator and into the flooring. She was MIA for about 6 days before one of my 6 cats found her (caught her?) and brought her back to us (unscathed, might I add...). At that point, the other girl (Marley) we got her with was already in the cage with the big girls because she was much larger. When we tried to put them back together Marley attacked Punkie and it was not good so we had Punkie alone ; - ( for 2 weeks until we could get her some new friends that were her size. We had her cage right next to the big girls cage so they could smell each other and touch noses and sleep next to each other, but punkie would also  be safe from the bigger rats. Anyway, we got three new baby girls aged between 6 and 8 weeks old and they all were put in a new cage with Punkie. Things were going great for the last 2 weeks. Punkie was getting along great with the new girls and they all were happy and playful and having fun out of the cage time with me on the couch. Last night, all of a sudden and for no reason whatsoever, Punkie took off like a freight train and ran under the fridge. I can't see her or get her out. I left out a live trap with food in it hoping she'll come back, etc.

My question is why did this happen? How come my other rats don't do this? Will they? When Punkie comes home, will she be destined to never have out of cage play time? I'm scared she'll jump out of the cage doors when I try and take my other babies out. I'm worried sick about her, too. I hope she comes back. Any advice would be good. Thank you!!

Answer
Hi

I hope she comes back. You need to keep your rats in a more secure area that they cant run and hide, such as a room with the door shut and perhaps make a barrier around the cage that will keep them secure from running away.  Your rats seem to not trust you and are in fear of you still so I advise that you let them get used to you before trying to pick them up.

Please read my site, and check out the two pages, training and scared rat and also "getting started" where it will tell you how to construct a cardboard wall that you can make to keep up and around the cage so when the rats do come out they will be contained behind the wall and cant climb over it.

Here are the links

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/trainingshyorbitingrats.htm

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/gettingstarted.htm


Please let me know if she comes back.