how to get from 2 rats to none? or...?

that's my question basically, how do you get from a two or more rats, to no rats, without leaving one rat all alone, and without rehoming the lone remaining rat?

so far the only way I've been able to go from a group of rats to no rats is to rehome the lone remaining rat (case in point, Rocko was left alone when Dre died, and he is now living very happily with 2 girls at a friend's house)

I will soon have 2 rats aged approx 18 mos. Neutered boys. This was NOT planned, these are rats I know and have taken care of in the past, they need to be rehomed because the family is moving across the country.

I had planned to take a break and build up a vet fund but these boys come with a vet fund and everything they need, food, meds toys, hammocks, cages, etc

Since I also have a very hard time being rat less, maybe I should plan ahead to get more rats as these guys age, so that I never have one boy all alone?

how do most people handle this?

for now, I don't want more than 2 rats. In the spring, when I come out of my usual winter "hibernation", I could handle one or two more. That seems like it would be a good time to add a rat or two

The boys will be coming up on 2 yrs old then, should I look for babies or young rats? I'd like to have a girls next. I miss how playful they are. I would want to get them spayed even though these boys are neutered, spaying has so many health benefits.

Just trying to think ahead (for once) instead of waiting til my rats get old and trying to deal with their leaving.

ideas?

I was heading down that path with one old girl with a PT and two other elderly girls. I picked up another female who was fairly young, but my old boss lady Daffy never would accept the new girl. After a couple of weeks I rescued a bunch of Nakies. Daffy would not accept the newcomers either, and kept injuring the nakies during intros. So even through my best attempts at getting Daffy some company, she foiled me at every step and when Sabrina died Daffy was on her own until she died a little while later. She was next door to the other cage and made a game of biting toes, but that was it.
If I had one lone rat, I would probably try and get a couple of young ones, so that when the oldie died, there wouldn't be another lone rat for a while. (If I was trying to keep my numbers down...)

Joanne said:

I was heading down that path with one old girl with a PT and two other elderly girls. I picked up another female who was fairly young, but my old boss lady Daffy never would accept the new girl. After a couple of weeks I rescued a bunch of Nakies. Daffy would not accept the newcomers either, and kept injuring the nakies during intros. So even through my best attempts at getting Daffy some company, she foiled me at every step and when Sabrina died Daffy was on her own until she died a little while later. She was next door to the other cage and made a game of biting toes, but that was it.
If I had one lone rat, I would probably try and get a couple of young ones, so that when the oldie died, there wouldn't be another lone rat for a while. (If I was trying to keep my numbers down...)

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oh Daffy was just set in her ways, eh? silly lady
If I had known that I'd be offered these two boys, I would have kept Rocko, and intro'ed them all (Rocko actually has met them, as I took care of them last year, and they got along great back then)

Now that Rocko is settled in with his girls, I don't want to uproot him.

I guess when spring comes I will look around for a girl or two. By then my debt will be able half what it is now, so I'll have some credit available LOL
I'm close to giving up on ever being out of debt- still have not recovered from the 2 moves in less than 2 yrs. :/

I live a simple life, so I guess it's not all that bad.

thanks for the input =)

Life is what you make of it. You don't need to go skiing in the Alps! LOL

Joanne said:

Life is what you make of it. You don't need to go skiing in the Alps! LOL

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I'm just happy when I have enough for the bus fare across town :!: :rofl2:

We had a few solo experiences. A short one with Dominic when his cagemate died of PT while we were starting intros with Greg and Quilt. He was alone in his cage for a few weeks until they were all settled in together. His coping method was to live on the couch with me as much as he could, I was his own personal human.

We had a pseudo-loner with Gregory. He just wanted nothing to do with the girls and intros turned bloody every time. He lived out his last 6+ months in the bottom half of our double CN. He got as much people attention as he wanted (not too much most of the time) and seemed genuinely more relaxed once we gave up on intros. He was a rat that just could not seem to understand others rats. He got along with his original cagemate and that was it.

Our 2nd loner was Justin. We knew we were gonna be ratless for a while and that the brothers (Justin, Jenner, Jonathan) were out last adopted ones. Jonathan suffered PT and went quickly at a bit past his 2nd birthday. Jenner had a fatal stroke one afternoon a few months later (go him, he was fine in the morning and gone when I went to give lunch). Justin became the solo boy for his last almost 6ish months. Old man got tons of attention and treats. All the out time and loves he could get as his body slowly gave out. We had to have him PTS due to a jaw tumor around 33 months.

Contrasting the two times is interesting. Greg was not an exceptionally social rat. He seemed a bit lonely, but was so anxious and stressed by interaction with people or rats that he seemed more content solitary. When he wanted attention, he'd let you know. Justin was very social, with all his cagemates and every person he ever met. By the time he was alone, his health was fragile enough that we weren't sure if he'd make it much past an intro with another rat, and we were going to be ratless anyway. He just kept puttering along for quite a while until that tumor took hold, loving every bit of attention he could soak up.

For me, if a rat is really old and I had no plans of getting more, I would probably let him live out his days with me alone. But if he's still young, I'd find a way to foster rats with him and when he goes, I'd give the fosters back.

jorats said:

For me, if a rat is really old and I had no plans of getting more, I would probably let him live out his days with me alone. But if he's still young, I'd find a way to foster rats with him and when he goes, I'd give the fosters back.

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Yeh, Dre would have been ok by himself, I think but Rocko wasn't old, and he really needed buddies.
I wanted to foster but that's not an option for me because I don't drive, MRR only wants fosters who have cars and can bring the rats to their new homes. And they don't want you to put the fosters in the same cage as your rat(s), so it wouldn't work out anyway.

Oh that's too bad. Wow. Those are crazy criteria for fostering. :scratch:

It's the same with the rescue here. Had I introed my fosters to my rats, I would have had to adopt them. I think it makes sense though... those rats get attached to us and to each other, and when you surrender them, they lose both their human and their buddies... I was questioning that rule at first, but after thinking it over, I realized it was actually better for the foster - anyway, they all end up in chronic failed foster homes like mine or Victoria's... :giggle:

I'm sorry you had to give up Rocko... you need ratties your such a good rat momma!