A Very Long Afternoon

Today is the day we decided to try introducing Rossby and Sprite to CB, Foehn, and Cirrus. Before introductions started and in hopes they were successful, I thoroughly cleaned the large cage and M added lots of stuff for them to play on, along with several pouches.

Shortly before noon we brought CB and Rossby into the bathroom to start the introduction process. M didn't stay in the room because she doesn't like it when they start to go after one another. I placed them in the bathtub (neutral territory) and let them explore. CB was pretty relaxed, and Rossby was pretty nervous. They sniffed and crabbed at each other, but mostly just kept a wary eye.  After about 10 to 15 minutes, they were tolerating each other pretty well. The next trick was to get them to join each other in a clean pouch. CB readily scrambled into the pouch and settled in, but Rossby was having too much fun. He managed to find his "jump" during this time. Up until now he has been hesitant to jump anything more than small distances. However, he had great fun jumping from me to the sink, then to the floor, then climbing up the shower curtain, and doing it all over again. A couple of times he tried jumping from the shower rod to the ceiling light which is flat against the ceiling. There was nothing for him to grab and he fell to the floor. Fortunately I was sitting below the light and was able to cushion his fall. He did get his chimes rung a time or two when he tried to jump to a wall and found nothing to grab.  I figured he would soon tire and then climb into the pouch, but it was two hours before I walked out of the bathroom with both of them in the pouch!

After about a half hour we brought Foehn in for the next round. I set the pouch with CB and Rossby in the tub and then Foehn on the opposite side. CB and Rossby looked out of the pouch, Foehn cautiously approached. She sniffed a few times and then crawled right in to join the boys!  I was amazed it went without any consternation.

The last round of introductions was a little more difficult. We saved Sprite for last since she seems to be a little more scared and defensive at times. Surprisingly, Cirrus had a little difficulty with Rossby and even CB, She and Rossby got into it and when I went to intervene she locked on to my finger with her teeth and wouldn't let go. She was upset! Eventually, though, she and Rossby were OK. Poor Sprite had a tough time of it. She crabbed at everyone, and was very wary of anyone checking her out. Both Foehn and Cirrus did and both heard from her. Like Rossby, Sprite was not interested in going into the pouch with the rest of them and spent an hour or more jumping and climbing around the bathroom before she finally started to tire. She kept trying to settle down in my pant leg, but we couldn't allow that. I finally placed her in the top of the pouch and things seemed OK.

There was some crabbing back in forth in the pouch after awhile, so we decided we would put them in the cage and let them work things out. There were some tussles, but after a short period of time they settled in. CB, Rossby, Foehn and Cirrus were in one large pouch, and Sprite settled down in another.

They are awake now, and there have been periodic "outbursts" of complaining for the last hour, but I can't readily tell who is involved (although Sprite is certainly one of them). Hopefully they will be able to work things out overnight. It would be really nice to find all five of them sleeping together in the morning.