Can we put a neutered male with a female?

[zenia wulfe]

Aaah Ok, I thought it was all the girls, but I was remembering wrong because it was so many babies. XD

 

[lilspaz68]

That is crazy and extremely rare so everyone shouldn't get all paranoid. Myself? I wait 2 weeks then start intro's...never had an issue yet

 

[craze_176]

That is crazy and extremely rare so everyone shouldn't get all paranoid. Myself? I wait 2 weeks then start intro's...never had an issue yet

you're right, it is very rare. I think it's something you have to weigh the risks with, like if you have old girls or 5 females or something. If all 5 girls got preggo and had had 15 babies... :shock: lmao. Now THAT would be extremely unlucky.

I probably didn't have to wait so long with Hippo, it took him weeks to even settle down with the girls. With boys he sat in a corner petrified without eating or drinking for hours, slipping away to get a nibble here and there when everyone else was asleep in the cage, and only sleeping when he was exhausted. It didn't go away after 2 days so I pulled him out and scheduled a neuter. I've never seen a rat act like that.

He was calmer with girls but thought everyone coming up to sniff him or cuddle was looking for a fight. It took a few weeks for him to start playing and he seems very happy now. It was funny watching my petite girls be so persistent to show this giant wild-looking guy they just want to groom him and cuddle XD They would go on their backs and wedge themselves under him and groom his chest while he looked all tough

So I guess it depends on the rat too. I'm probably always gonna wait long though.. 15 babies are cute at first but holy crap do they go everywhere when they get older. And constantly doing headcounts of 15 isn't fun. And separating the smaller individuals to feed more every few hours is worrisome. And after they were a few days old Eva was LITERALLY scaling the walls (the panels on them anyway) to get away from them as soon as the cage opened XD

rehoming babies sucks too. I kept getting offers to buy the whole lot for $5 or rude people expecting me to deliver single rats out to the middle of nowhere for free so they can be kept in a tank all alone.

 

[twinklegem]

i believe you can.