Hello!

[Ratti]

I've only had rats since January and I currently have 3 boys. One of my original 2 rats had something wrong with him as at 4 months of age he had already outgrew my 8 month old and was almost double his size. He was as big as my forearm at 5 months old when he died. My friend bred a planned litter of rex babies and I'm on her waitlist for a rex boy so I'm super excited for when he's weaned and can come home.

 

[SQ]

Welcome to the forum

btw Babies need to live with other babies so it is important to get at least 2 of the same sex
plus they need to be at least 8 weeks old (10 weeks is safer) before being introed to rats over 12 weeks of age.
and baby rats do not smell like rats, so older rats can mistake them for prey an kill them

There is info on this forum about doing intros, see https://www.ratshackforum.com/threa...ps-used-when-putting-new-rats-together.32368/ joinrats.com also has some info

 

[Fidget]

..they need to be at least 8 weeks old (10 weeks is safer) before being introed to rats over 12 weeks of age. and baby rats do not smell like rats, so older rats can mistake them for prey an kill them

I don't think this is written in stone. A lot will depend on the older boy's temperament, and certainly you need to use great caution when introducing babies to older boys, and don't leave them alone together til you're absolutely certain the older boy is ok with being jumped on, but in the last year I intro'd a 5-wk old boy to a senior, and two 6-wk old boys to a 1-yr old, and the older boys were very accepting..

 

[SQ]

I don't think this is written in stone. A lot will depend on the older boy's temperament, and certainly you need to use great caution when introducing babies to older boys, and don't leave them alone together til you're absolutely certain the older boy is ok with being jumped on, but in the last year I intro'd a 5-wk old boy to a senior, and two 6-wk old boys to a 1-yr old, and the older boys were very accepting..

Yes, sometimes it can work out ok, depending on the rats involved
But I have heard of too many situations where people did that (some were previous members of this forum) and the older rats killed the babies
Intros always require attention to body language etc, but imo introing babies younger then 8 weeks to rats over 12 weeks of age, is just not worth the risk. Personally, I like them to be around 10 weeks before being introed to adults.

Here is some info on intros by Jorats. She also suggests waiting until babies are 2 months old before introing them to an older rat https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/intros.315/

 

[jorats]

I too recommend taking two baby boys and then introducing them to your older males once the babies are big enough like about 8 weeks old.