Hello from me and Charlie

[Rellis]

Hi, my wife and I recently adopted a lone boy named Charlie with the aim of finding him some friends down the line - however, after trying gradual introductions with younger boys from a local rescue, we’ve realised that he does not want friends. Go figure! He was given up originally because of aggression with other rats and humans, and we’ve managed to hand tame him, but he won’t accept other rats at all. We decided against the risk of neutering, as his age is uncertain and he seems content as he is.

So, a quick hello from our old grump Charlie and ourselves!

 

[SQ]

Welcome to the forum Rellis and Charlie!

So glad that Charlie has a good home.

You should be aware that if Charlie is in good health and if you have a good vet with the knowledge and experience to safely neuter rats, that surgery would likely be low risk. Rats really do need to live with other rats if at all possible …. and most aggression in male rats is hormonal.
Charlie might also enjoy being introed to one or two spayed girls.

Great that Charlie has become friendly with you and is doing well
you may find the information in the Reference Thread to be helpful

 

[ViciousCurse]

Welcome to the forum! How old is Charlie and how old were the rats being introduced to him? Charlie may do best with young baby males.

 

[Rellis]

We don’t know exactly how old he is, but we know he’s at least a year. The younger rats were six months - any younger and our cage wouldn’t be suitable bar-spacing wise!

I’d definitely consider spayed females if I came across any. There don’t seem to be many rats looking for homes in my area. The small, independent rescue we loaned two from don’t have any spayed females.

 

[SQ]

you would likely need to get a couple of girls and have them spayed by a good vet with the knowledge and experience to spay rats safely ….. it sounds like Charlie is only middle aged, not elderly