Specifics about the introduction session in the video: These rats had already been through many introduction sessions with each other prior to this. Karen Borga, whose rats they were, had been very careful with many baby steps during the earlier intros. Now came the moment of putting the 3 rats into a neutral cage.
As Karen and I analyzed the session: The two white PEW females were extremely energized, but they were not aggressive towards Jerry. I was watching Jerry very closely and could see that he maintained his interest in exploring the cage, and he gave the two pesky girls almost no attention. Much of his attitude was helped by my physically preventing the two girls from pestering him.
However, I was new to using a glove for protection during Intros, and eventually I made the decision to scoop him up and out when I realized I could not block both girl rats 100% of the time.
RESOURCES
The science here is Desensitization and Counterconditioning, and for preventing injury, Management. Reference articles are available in the Links page on JoinRats:
Classical Conditioning – Basics!
Management (Environment, Antecedent Arrangements)
Other galleries on JoinRats related to this topic:
Aggressive Rat Behaviors During Introductions
Rat Introductions YouTube
Using Baby Steps to Introduce Rats to Rats
Major Rat Body Language – RattyRat
Normal Play Behavior in Rats – YouTube
“No Blood, No Foul”?
Not True – Injury Can Occur
Are These Two Rats’ Behaviors “Over the Top”?
