Friday, February 12, 2010

When should I introduce my rats?

I have a new female rat who is smaller than my existing female. After I go through all the steps like putting their cages together and swaping cages and all of that, when should i introduce them? I have tried once and failed my older rat latched on to the younger ones neck... So when is the right time?When should I introduce my rats?
How to introduce rats: http://www.bruxnboggle.com/forum/viewtop鈥?/a>








Biggest thing is going slow. The person who said rats shouldn't be put together are uninformed and shouldn't be posting here. Rats are HIGHLY social, and 99% of the time would rather have a cage mate than none at all. Usually the 1% that doesn't live well with other rats are due to social problems from an early age -- no interaction ever with rats, usually male, traumatic experiences, etc.








When you do introduce htem out of the cage, do it in a neutral territory. Often a bathtub is a good option. I've heard that a person put pudding on their rats fur, which makes them more interested in getting the pudding off than hurting each other. You may have to do these short introductions on neutral territory MANY times before they finally get used to each other. NO BLOOD NO FOUL. Even if your bigger rat pins down the little one, and the little one screams bloody murder.... if there is no blood, there is nothing wrong with what they are doing. They have to be able to sort out their hierarchy on their own.





Let the small rat into the big rat's cage on occassion with the big rat OUT, and put the big rat in the small rat's cage ( again, NOT together). They will get used to smelling the other's scent in their area. When you do finally move them into the big cage, make sure you remove EVERYTHING, clean the cage with a bleach solution, and wash any hammocks, food dishes, etc. Put hammocks and stuff back in a different location than it was before. ALSO: put the cage in a different room than where it normally is. This helps to remove any extra territoriality the bigger rat may have over her space.





Good luck! When should I introduce my rats?
Before introducing rats, it is very important to quarantine them to prevent the spread of any germs or airborne illnesses. Quarantining means separating the rats in a completely different air space for up to 3 weeks, and then introducing them.





Speaking from personal experience, I did not quarantine my rats long enough, and one of them had an upper respiratory infection while the other did not. Because I failed to keep them apart for over 3 weeks, now they both have upper respiratory infections. This error has cost me a few hundred dollars in vet bills (but I love my rats so this is no big deal) and lots of medicine that they hate taking.





So please quarantine your rats before introducing them.





Otherwise, take your time with introducing them. Put their cages in the same room where they can see/smell/hear each other but cannot reach each other through the bars of their cage. Do this a few times a day until they are comfortable with each other.





Fur further details, please view the links I provided. There are a lot of web resources out there!






whenever I got new rats the way that i have done it is to put them on the bed or in a neutral territory make sure that you have cleaned the cage very well because the older female is very territorial. I also find that 2 females together fight more than having 2 males or a male and a female together. Good luck and I hope for the best
i have never done this with mine, but i was told once to introduce them in the ';dry'; bathtub, no smells of either rat in there and then watch them carefully until they start to get along. also make sure each rat has its own hut to go to so it can have a space
It is not a good idea to introduce rats because they sometimes fight until one of them dies.
you cant put to girls together they will kill each other

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