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cava
04-08-2018, 06:49 PM
I have three females and one male 7 month olds who are going to the RC as soon as the weather permits. They started really going at it today and it's not just one, it's up to three of them at a time. I hear the screaming and run in and everyone is in a corner shaking and chattering. Then they go hours of quiet and I hear it again.

The biggest noisemaker is Brian and I fear his sisters are beating him up but I also see him behave aggressively during play. I don't know who started it but today I fixed up the large bird cage and put him in there. He flipped and paced non stop for four hours. He destroyed the cage, turning things over, etc.

I put him back in with them, made extra boxes with bedding, provided four different food bowls all over the cage so they wouldn't have to associate but I think they're going stir crazy and pacing to get out and it just starts a whirlwind of crap!

What do you guys suggest?

I'm willing to put them outside this week, although it's still cold at night, and give them longer in the release cage. May be the stimulation and change of scenery will bond them together again, at least buying more time until someone gets into a real scrap...

Nancy in New York
04-08-2018, 07:05 PM
I have three females and one male 7 month olds who are going to the RC as soon as the weather permits. They started really going at it today and it's not just one, it's up to three of them at a time. I hear the screaming and run in and everyone is in a corner shaking and chattering. Then they go hours of quiet and I hear it again.

The biggest noisemaker is Brian and I fear his sisters are beating him up but I also see him behave aggressively during play. I don't know who started it but today I fixed up the large bird cage and put him in there. He flipped and paced non stop for four hours. He destroyed the cage, turning things over, etc.

I put him back in with them, made extra boxes with bedding, provided four different food bowls all over the cage so they wouldn't have to associate but I think they're going stir crazy and pacing to get out and it just starts a whirlwind of crap!

What do you guys suggest?

I'm willing to put them outside this week, although it's still cold at night, and give them longer in the release cage. May be the stimulation and change of scenery will bond them together again, at least buying more time until someone gets into a real scrap...


How cold does it get there at night?
What temp do you keep it at inside?
Personally I think I would put them outside and hope that the change of scenery would do them
good. They have been "cooped up" for so long, I'm sure they are itchy for a change of scenery.
Just give them tons of fleece and a couple of boxes just in case and I suspect they will be fine.

cava
04-08-2018, 08:22 PM
I keep it around 67 in the house. But I keep their window open about 6 inches most of the time so their room is colder than the rest of the house. We've had some frost on the windows in the morning and a couple of snows but it's usually 45 at the coldest and yesterday it was 70 during the day, but today high 40's.

I just completely tore this house apart to make new "things" for them and reconfigured their cage. Everyone is jumping around like bunnies. Hopefully it will buy me another week and we'll see what this weekend says.

They don't fight outside of the cage. It's cage aggression for sure! TG the release cage is just a tad bit bigger and a whole lot scarier!

Thanks Nancy!

Diggie's Friend
04-09-2018, 12:46 AM
We had nothing but trouble when a male we raised turned 6 months old , as he began to be dominant and territorial, chasing the female,

as to try to route her fromt the large cage that they shared.

Providing blankets did help some, yet didn't resolve the problem.

I remember when the female had enough bullying from the male, and it turned into a donnibrook!. Thankfully neither were hurt.

The only thing can be doen to stop this kind of aggression is to separate the male from the females at this point,

for this is a natural state of things when it comes to these species.

In the wild syblings often separate out by sexes over the first winter, not tolerating the opposite sex.

Diggie's Friend
04-09-2018, 01:09 AM
Though a larger cage, which is initially "scarrier", will slow the aggression a bit, as their 'spacial territory intolerance' continues to expand

the females will also fight one another for dominance. For save for over the colder months of Winter

when squirrels of the same sex mostly will nest together in support of body warm, this is the norm.