I have a rat dilemma and need some help. Be aware - my story is ridiculous. Sometimes I cant even believe how I got myself into this situation..
I have four 5-month-old litter mates (1 girl/3 boys) that I have hand-raised since they were about 3 days old. These guys are wild-born roof rats (its a loooong story, but I was suckered into caring for these orphans when no rehabilitators could be found - I had every intention of releasing them when the time came, but things didn't go as planned and I am now the official owner of 4, somewhat tame , wild rats).
I purchased a 2 layer Critter Nation cage for the ratties (knowing that out-of cage time would be very sparse and wanting them to have as much space as possible) and, separated the female from the males at 8 weeks of age (boys in the top half of the cage, girl on the bottom). The boys were neutered about 6 weeks ago, and are ready to be reintroduced, but I'm not really sure how to go about it. They have been separated for about 14 weeks (since the first week of July).
These guys are definitely not at all like normal domesticated rats. I sort of got myself into a pickle where they are just too humanized to release, but too wild to really handle. Only one of them is social and enjoys being handled (super weird lesson in nature vs. nurture). None of them bite, but grabbing/holding them is pretty difficult. Getting the two non-social boys out of their cage and into critter carriers for their neuter was a two-person, 1-hour job. So trying to take them all out and find neutral ground for them to "meet" would be extremely difficult, if not impossible.
I try to switch some of their toys and hidey-houses once a week, but don't know what to do other than open they gate separating the two sections of the cage and just observing.
My only other thought is to put the one social guy into the bottom with the girl to "test the waters". He is the only one I feel confident I could quickly grab and remove from the situation should things get crazy.
I don't want the poor girl to live alone her whole live, spent a lot of money on neuters so they could live together, and want them to all enjoy the entire cage to its fullest.
Help!
I have four 5-month-old litter mates (1 girl/3 boys) that I have hand-raised since they were about 3 days old. These guys are wild-born roof rats (its a loooong story, but I was suckered into caring for these orphans when no rehabilitators could be found - I had every intention of releasing them when the time came, but things didn't go as planned and I am now the official owner of 4, somewhat tame , wild rats).
I purchased a 2 layer Critter Nation cage for the ratties (knowing that out-of cage time would be very sparse and wanting them to have as much space as possible) and, separated the female from the males at 8 weeks of age (boys in the top half of the cage, girl on the bottom). The boys were neutered about 6 weeks ago, and are ready to be reintroduced, but I'm not really sure how to go about it. They have been separated for about 14 weeks (since the first week of July).
These guys are definitely not at all like normal domesticated rats. I sort of got myself into a pickle where they are just too humanized to release, but too wild to really handle. Only one of them is social and enjoys being handled (super weird lesson in nature vs. nurture). None of them bite, but grabbing/holding them is pretty difficult. Getting the two non-social boys out of their cage and into critter carriers for their neuter was a two-person, 1-hour job. So trying to take them all out and find neutral ground for them to "meet" would be extremely difficult, if not impossible.
I try to switch some of their toys and hidey-houses once a week, but don't know what to do other than open they gate separating the two sections of the cage and just observing.
My only other thought is to put the one social guy into the bottom with the girl to "test the waters". He is the only one I feel confident I could quickly grab and remove from the situation should things get crazy.
I don't want the poor girl to live alone her whole live, spent a lot of money on neuters so they could live together, and want them to all enjoy the entire cage to its fullest.
Help!