What is the age limit for a rat ............?

Question

What is the age limit for a rat that is about 3 and has never been with other rats except when he was a baby to be joined with another male rat to be his playmate? Is this OK? Should I leave him by his self?

P.S His name is Cuddles 'L' Wagner in case you were wondering.

Answer 1

I'm not sure what you're asking.

The average lifespan of a rat is 1.5-3 years.

It is never too early or too late to give a lonely rat a same-s*x friend, but besure to do a proper introduction.

Good introduction reading:

http://ratguide.com/care/behavior/introd...

Answer 2

it's fine to introduce it to another rat. jst when you do it, do it slow. put them somewhere where neitherof them have ever been, let them be there for about 20 times. watch over them the whole time. alittle rough housing is alrite as long as neiter squeaks or looks like one's getting hurt. if ones getting hurt take it away for a few hours or a day then try again. if one squeaks while they're together and isn't even being hurt just means it's cranky, so seperate them for a few hours then try again. do that 3 times a day, a few hours apart. make sure to watch the whole time. after 3-5 days of getting along, without hurting eacother, completly clean the cage, with NO soap, just water and a rag. clean the food and water dish/bottle and clean any toys if they can be cleaned. then put in fresh food, water, and fresh bedding. put them both in the cage at the same time, and watch them for about an hour. again, rough housing is fine. just as long as one's not getting hurt. and just watch over them fo a few days, and if nothing happens your good.

Answer 3

100% social animal who would love a new friend. I would recommend one slightly smaller of like s*x.

Answer 4

2-3 years, i know someone's rat that lived to 5 years... the average is 3 years

Answer 5

I'm not sure about the "official" age limit of a rat, but my pet rat lived for about 5 years  and his name was ratsy and my friends hamster killed his friend (both males) if that helps at all

Answer 6

i thinks it's about 3-4 years because i have mice and there age limit is 3 years

Answer 7

There is NEVER any sort of "limit" in any case whatsoever. The reason for this is because all animals are different, and get used to things at very different rates. They are not all the same so you can just set a programmed limit or something, lol :)

Rats must NEVER live alone! They are extremely social, and you will be depriving it one of its needs by forcing it to live by itself. It is instinct for rats to have others for company. You cannot spend 24 hours with it after all, unlike another rat. It does not matter how ever he lived before, one thing that is always certain is thta he does need a companion, and it is never too late.

But you need to research some on introducing rats. You cannot just pop two rats together, there are some steps first.

First, there is a quarantine period, which should last at least 2 weeks. This is mandatory because air bourne illnesses can infect both rats, if one is infected. And the infected one is only the carrier, and not ill itself, so it's impossible to tell. The point of waiting isbecause these illnesses die on their own, after at least 2 weeks.

Then there is the slow introduction period. Since he is a male, I suggest you get him another male, but at a young age, preferbly 6 weeks or less. This way the baby will not want to compete with Cuddles (lol, cute name!) If you already have anothr rat, than that's fine no matter the ages.

Males are territorial, and will first need to fight out their "positions". One has to be more dominant over another. You need to first get them together on neutral surfaces, like a bathtub to meet. I usually make these meetings very brief, for only a few minutes, but do them several times a day, like 5-10 times. You should keep it up for around a week or more, until you see that they can be trusted together.

Some info for you (also scroll down for the quarantine section): http://www.petratscanada.com/ratcare.htm...