iheartsammy said:
I have a male rat! he's fat too..
I wanted to get him a friend, but my mom said no because they will fight
how do you introduce properly?? also i had 3 young male rats once (brothers) and one was a evil little thing! he would bite people and even killed his brother! not only did he kill him, he ate him too
that poor thing was nothing but a pelt when I came home and saw him! they were fine when I went to school, then I come home to that poor thing looking like a bear skin rug! We took the other one out right away! I don't know what happened, they had food and water and always got along!
my mom is getting a rat from a friend at work. she can't keep it cuz she's having a baby and her bf is freaking out cuz they have a rat..
but it's a female and I was wondering if I could put their cages next to each other? not RIGHT next to each other, but at least so they can see each other???
Your mom is wrong, rats are *incredibly* socialable and aren't very happy alone.
Your male rat is an adult, so your best bet would be two get two male babies and introduce them.
All you do is introduce them together in the bathtub, once they are fine there, then get all smells off the cage they will be in, and put them in the cage together.
Often the resident rat will pin the new rat down, which can look scary as the rat being pinned will be squeaking like mad, but this is called power grooming and is an act of dominance, generally introducing rats should go off without a hitch, it is difficult at first to not jump in and seperate them at every squeek....But they WILL be doing alot of squeaking, and power groooming the first couple of days lol.
You can also put vanilla extract on all the rats (Including their bottoms) So they all smell the same.
Or, cover them all with cool whip. By the time their done licking it off each other they might already be bonded lol
Here's information on introducing rats:
http://www.petratscanada.com/ratcare.htm#social
Look under the title that says "Introductions" it has a few good links.
The female rat will also need a friend. Rats are NOT happy alone. Even if you think they are, you will see a huge difference in personality when they have a friend.
What you could do, is get your male rat neutered by a rat- savvy vet, then wait 4-5 weeks (I think thats the time after a neuter that they are still fertile, but ask your rat-savvy vet) and then introduce the neutered male and female.
There is the *VERY* rare rat that doesn't like other rats, as in every social animal, but almost every rat is so socialable that denying them a companion is like denying them water - It's a need that has to be met. (Unless in southpaw's case, where he/she has an older rat and they don't plan on getting anymore after him......Then it's best to spend as much time as possible with him until the end )
Also, the cage needs to be big enough for the number of rats in it.
Check this rat-cage calculator, it will say how many rats can comfortably fit in your cage:
http://www.rattycorner.com/odds/calc.shtml
Make sure you have the option set to "2 cubic feet"