Introducing babies to neutered male and adult female

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
C

Crystal Dunst

Guest
I have two adult rats besides mom. One a "sister" I brought home with her, and my previous neutered male. I have 5 baby boys that will need to be separated in a few weeks and I wanted to start introducing the babies to the other adults and I want to have the boys move in with the Randy when its time to separate so they still have an adult to teach them proper rattiquete. While having mom and girls move out of the tank and into the main cage by then as well. (the 75 gallon tank is rapidly getting to small and smelly despite 2xs daily cleaning)
Randy is a pretty docile male with other rats, generally very playful, and I have never seen him fight really when introduced. when he met Opal and Pearl, he kinda hid, they beat him up, he finally had it and just pinned them under him, and once they submitted he left to go hide. Poor boy had scare poops. He is also super skittish with me despite being with me 6 months (his blind brother was worse being skittish. RIP Oscar). He will play with my hand, give me kisses, slink up my arm and then dart back to his cage. Despite this he has never ever bit. When I have to take him out, he squirms, then frantically gives kisses until I put him down and he runs to hide. I was hoping the five well adjusted babies could teach him to relax, or maybe encourage him to play more. Pearl hates him and ignores him, but when opal takes a break from the babies, her exploitative nature brings him out of his shell some.
Pearl is a bit bossy, but her and the mom Opal still have play dates also, and remain close. If I keep mom around when introducing will it help buffer any aggression?
I plan to start with a cage barrier between them, and then introduce one rat at a time with gloved hand and rat harnesses on the adults to make sure I can pull them out and away from babies should they get mean.
If I see any aggression I wont do anything until they are 8weeks and better able to protect themselves. But I just really hope they can get along well!
Ive heard horror stories of rats killing babies, but I have also heard that is very rare, especially with females, or neutered males.
I appreciate all advice!
 
Babies must be at least 8 weeks old, 10 weeks is safer before starting physical intros with rats over 12 weeks old - otherwise they may be killed.
Babies need to be large enough to defend themselves
Young babies do not smell like rats and older rats can mistake them for prey

Please see the thread on the established gradual intro steps, link found in the Reference Thread https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/
and also please see the information at joinrats.com

It is important to intro rats slowly and gradually so that no one is hurt or killed

btw baby boys are separated from mom and sisters at 5 weeks.
 
Back
Top