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[RatsDrawBlood]

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Which unspayed female should I get for my unspayed 14 week old female?

1. I could either go pick out a 5-week-old (from the same small pet store that I'd gotten my rat from at 4 weeks old),
2. or I could go to a pet lover's home & see which 9-week-old hand-raised rat I smell good to.

 

[Fidget]

I can't imagine why you'd go to the pet store when you have another BETTER option!

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

why you'd go to the pet store

Possible upsides:

The one from same place I'd gotten her at 4-5 weeks old ... could be her whole sister, half sister, niece, cousin, or could smell or sound familiar to each other. And won't smell like it's been crawling all over someone else's cat. 4-5 weeks old is less threatening and more incites maternal nurturing instincts.

Although it might be good if the 9-week-old taught mine to not be scared of humans or bite them (or rat-to-rat language and social skills she missed out on), I think the main thing is that mine is so scared of change, so the safer-smelling 5-week-old is the one she's more likely to befriend instead of eat?

 

[Fidget]

Your girl is so young. I can't see 5 wk or 9 wk making any difference to her, a 5 wk certainly won't 'smell' any safer than a 9 wk! If she's not good with humans I expect she'll just be happy to have a ratty friend.
I had a single girl (from a petstore feeder bin - very small tank with about 30 rats & nothing else in it, all on top of each other), she wanted nothing to do with me, she was thrilled when I got her a friend.
A pet store is a last resort (if any resort). Save an existing kid, don't help a pet store create others...

Hey, personalities are more important than age - you could take your girl to the pet lover's place and let her meet some girls 1-on-1 and let Her choose her friend!
I've done that, the guy brought about 8 girls, I put them with Sunny 1-by-1, she wasn't immediately thrilled with some but she let Sirocco eat out of her bowl, was a no-brainer then!

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

Oh my gosh! Thank you so much for that last reply, you opened my eyes to a solution where I'd been thinking it was a rock and a hard place!

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

her meet some girls 1-on-1

Wait that way sounds hard, can I not just put her with the all the rats at once and see which one she gravitates to or at least tolerates the most?
Because if we intro one at a time:
Like let's say, her best match would've been the 1st one intro'ed, except we'd never know that, because she forever hates that rat (for being the first rat, that therefore was so scary, because she wasn't used to intro'ing yet)? Or the first rat is such a wrong match that it turns her off to the idea of ratty companionship, so she never notices that a later intro is her soulmate?
But would all at once feel like they're ganging up on her? So, would I just cycle through them all a few times each?
Or actually, also doesn't she need to see them being friendly with each other (so she doesn't think the idea is eat-vs-be-eaten)?

 

[Fidget]

There's no rules, use your best judgement while you see what seems to work best for her. Good luck to you & her! *Bet ya a nickel you come home with 3 ratties*

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

There's no rules

Darn I found out the reason for the woman's oops litterS is she can't tell until seven or eight weeks old that the boys are boys to be separated from the female adults and babies. Which I guess is why she decided to (think she might as well) leave the adult male with baby girls till then.

Yet due to unavoidable housemate, there's no way I can end up with more than two. Keeping this rat I can do because she changed him from thinking rats are yucky, to saying "She's the cutest thing I've ever seen." & watching her, feeding her treats, talking to her, singing to her, calling her sweetie, caring what happens to her & wanting her to be okay. So the only reason I may get her a friend is I convinced him it's cruel to not have her own kind.

At pet store, females are less likely to be prego ... but more likely to be a boy which is even worse.

Also I'm thinking these numbers I'm given are wrong guesses.

She said May 25th that they're 6 & 7 weeks, but June 1st that they're 8 & 9 weeks! But that she only remembers that the month they were born was April. ?

And yes I do keep thinking there are rules that probably aren't.

I'm so tired from thinking. There's just so much that can go wrong, that I want to prevent, that I want to get perfect, inspiring the world to try to treat all perfectly ....

I'll sleep on it.

 

[Fidget]

She said May 25th that they're 6 & 7 weeks, but June 1st that they're 8 & 9 weeks!

She has 2 litters? She needs to learn to tell boys from girls and separate them immediately, what will she do if all the girls get pregnant?? She can tell by 5/6wks...
Well, as I said, a few wks shouldn't make a difference to your girl. But the sex of it will, if they've been together too long you could end up with a pregnant girl, but honestly, you could end up with a boy or a pregnant girl from a pet store too, it happens Way too often.
Best to learn for yourself how to tell the babies apart so you don't have problems, she & you can look for nipples (wet their bellies if you can't see) & of course balls.. and there's info on the net http://www.afrma.org/sexing101.htm . Good luck..

 

[jorats]

It's unmistakeable at 4 weeks of age of the gender of a rat. You will see dangling testicles just under their rectum.
Also, rats will mate at 6 weeks of age with there's an older male/female with the younger rats.
I would always adopt a rescue, not pet store and never a breeder. But like Fidget said, at 5 weeks or 9 weeks, there's no difference, they should get along just fine with your girl.

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

She can tell by 5/6wks

Yeah I know, or less! The problem might be that not everyone can do the thing of pressing the spot that makes it stick out if it's a boy. (Also there's a window of a particular sexing opportunity at something like 5 days old, except that you can't take the boys from Mom till 4 or 6 weeks.) Good to know about the belly wetting!

pregnant girl from a pet store

I assumed the 4-5 week olds are significantly less likely to be prego than the 9 & 10 week olds (or maybe what's going on is she's way off on when their birthdate is), but hers are sexed by now. The main reason I'm now thinking I'll adopt from her is because of how, as surprises go, a boy seems more problematic than adopting a prego.

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

I would always adopt a rescue, not pet store and never

An adop op I passed up when she was eight weeks old was at a breeder, which I thought was considered better than a pet store, but I think I know what you mean about it being worse: Only if there was no rat overpopulation might it be good to breed for better characteristics (but also we'd have to agree on what those are).

 

[jorats]

An adop op I passed up when she was eight weeks old was at a breeder, which I thought was considered better than a pet store, but I think I know what you mean about it being worse: Only if there was no rat overpopulation might it be good to breed for better characteristics (but also we'd have to agree on what those are).

Exactly.