Should I get my male rat a friend? Rat Owners! Help Meee. =)?

Question

I try to hold him, but I get nervous. So i thought maybe I can get him a friend. My rat is male, small (not like the white and black ones), a dumbo rat, and is nice, but he bites occasionally.

What do I need to introduce them?

Would a new cage help so my rat doesn't feel territoral?

How should I introduce them?

Do I put them in the cage the first night together or the new one separate?

Thank you, also any other details or tips would be wonderful!

Answer 1

Yes, scientific studies have proven rats, and social animals in general, actually suffer mentally if housed alone. Keeping multiple rats is in other words necessary. A single rat is not being cared for properly. You can't spend all day with him, after all.

The first step is a quarantine period. This is absolutely essential. While it is a precaution for health reasons, it could save you some heavy vet bills. Basically, any rat can be a carrier of illnesses. It will not be sick itself, and will not show any symptoms. But if the rat is moved into a different area with other healthy rats, those healthy rats will catch the illness, and the original carrier rat will catch the illness from the sick rat. So that gives you two sick rats.

A quarantine period lasts at minimum 2 weeks, but you are better off with 3-4 weeks. You must keep the new rat as far away as possible from your current one. It must be in a different room, and preferbly even different building. In these weeks, any illnesses will die on thier own or the rat will show sickly symptoms and you will need to cure it before it can meet your rat. So a second cage is very much needed.

After that, you most certainly do not put them together at first. Male rats are territorial, and will defend their property from strangers. What you need to do is introduce them VERY slowly, a little at a time. For me, it usually takes around one week. Basically, you want ot take them out to a place they aren't familiar with, that is neutral with both of them. And keep their meetings very, very brief. I like to take them out to the bathtub many times a day, but each time only for a minute or so. Eventually, increase the time you let them spend together. Only when they can spend long periods of time together are they ready to share a cage. They will chase eachotehr around and fight a bit, but this is normal, and not realyl hurting them.

After this, you want to clean the cage as much as possible to it smells new. And then put them in. Again, there will be an adjustment period, and thye will fight, but will eventualyl get used to eachother.

With a male, the second rat must be young, preferbly 6 or so weeks, before it will have instinct to dominate as it has not matured yet. An adult male will get along very well with babies since they will not challenge him.

Some more info:

http://www.petratscanada.com/ratcare.htm...

http://www.ratz.co.uk/quarantine.html

Answer 2

You should definitely get him a friend. Rats are gregarious and do better psychologically and physically when they have at least one companion. While it is easier to get litter or cage mates at the same time, it is not necessary. You need to quarantine the new rat when you bring him home as rats often have sub-clinical respiratory infections. The minimum amount of time is 2 weeks, but many reputable rat sites recommend at least a month.

When the quarantine period is over, you want to introduce the rats slowly. The actual introduction should be done in a neutral location such as a bathtub. Mask the scent of the rats by dabbing a little vanilla oil on them and supervise the meeting. Go slowly - let them meet a number of times and observe how they get along before popping them in a cage together. If you go slowly, you should be successful. In 20 years I have never had a problem with introductions.

Answer 3

When it comes to rats, if you don't want any problems like fights or even death, it's always best to get them at the same time (littermates/cagemates). Rats become very territorial about their home, think they get upset everytime you clean their cage out because they just got it the way they like it & we s***w it up. (but we have to for their own health) I would personally go to your local petstore such as Petco & ask their opinion, but odds are they will tell you the same.  

Answer 4

Yeah your best to get him a friend because they get very lonely living by themselves.

Go and buy a new male rat, but get one who is younger and smaller than your original one, and keep him by himself for two weeks, away from your existing rat, and when you handle, feed, clean and change bedding always wash your hands because if your new rat is sick you can spread the germs between them and make the other sick.  Once the two weeks are up introduce the rats on neutral territory.  By that i mean, neither of the rats should have been in this enclosure/ cage together.  Have a glove handy in case they fight and just keep an eye on them.  They will most of the time squeak and have a bit of a wrestle just to test out the dominance thing but if any serious fighting occurs seperate them immediatley.  If they get along don't put them in your old rats cage together before you have cleaned/scrubbed it out very well, territory is the main cause for fights, and also lack of space, i advise on having a large cage for them to live together so if the need arises they can keep out of each others way.  Also just another little tip, put a little drop of vanilla essence on each of their noses, it can help to confuse their scent when you first introduce them together.  If your rats take a dislike to each other and fight violently then you can introduce them gradually by keeping their cages side by side and introducing them on neutral territory each day, seperate them every time they fight, but keep repeating every day.  I had an older male who hated every rat, even females but after three weeks of introducing him he learnt to love his new male friend.  Now he is a much happier rat, they groom each other, play and snuggle together when they sleep.

Good luck, i hope everything works out.

Answer 5

if he bites occasionally then that can be fixed. every time he bites then pull your hand away and squeak. when rats play they squeak when hurt. so he will think that he hurt you and will stop. this worked wonders with my rats. and wash your hands before handling, that way there are no food scents that may interest him.

as for another rat that will be great for him. he will be fine alone as long as you play with him often. my rats always were. but back to the pairing subject, with males they need to be fixed to be paired. they can get aggressive when hormone levels rise. what you need to introduce them is a spare cage. first keep the new rat in another room for about 2 weeks to quarantine. during that time look for signs of illness and bad behavior. after the 2 weeks place both cages next to each other so they can sniff each other and get acquainted without being together and have problems. after about a week of that put them both in a bathtub or on a counter where there is a good amount of space and they can check each other out. have a towel ready in case of a fight. if a fight breaks out then drape the towel over one of the rats and pick that one up, stopping the fight. but this process of meeting will need a few tries. if they get along then bleach your first cage or the cage that will home both rats. by bleach i mean use warm water mixed with a small amount of bleach and let the cage soak in it for about 5 minutes. rinse well and dry. this rids of the scent. hope this helps!

Answer 6

All the literature we've read says rats are very social and it is best psychologically for them to have friend or two - we ended up with three females after initially only getting one.

We introduced the new rats (bought from the same store) into an established cage after only cleaning it and changing the litter, without any problems and our rats are definitely very happy to have companionship and friends to cuddle up to at night. Our cage is about 2 feet by 2 feet by 3 feet.

I have read that introducing them to each other in a neutral odor-free place... the bath tub... is also effective.

Be aware that multiple rats will mean multiple vet bills.

Bear aware that

Answer 7

2 cages seprate and 1 hour or more a day put them in the DRY tub together but STAY so you can break up any fights WEAR GLOVES you dont need any nasty bites

Keep on for two weeks even if no bites

If there are ANY first fights on last three days

NOMATTER what do agin for thee days repeat until no fights and do one more day and no fights put them in a cage togrther but at night you need to take one in seperate cage

Answer 8

well i have 3 rats and the 2 boys are in a cage together and when you introduce them you want to do it out side the cage.cause the other rat will be taritorial.how big is the cage.well i just put them in the cage together they fought at first but then they quit and there best buds now.i took the girl out cause shes getting readdy to have babys