How to introduce new rats to your originals

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Whitneyb93

Active Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2013
Messages
34
Location
Richmod, VA
I just picked up two new females and bathed everyone and everyone met in the bathtub and everyone was fine then and in the bathroom but as soon as everyone went in the cage my two original girls got mean. I cleaned their cage beforehand and everything. The hammock was even taken out
Should I let my original girls pick to domain that they're the alphas or is there something else I can do?


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I like to do several meetings outside the cage before putting everyone in the main cage. I also like to let the new rats check out the main cage without the older rats in it.
 
For almost all of my girls, I didn't do any introductions other than meeting once in a neutral area then moving in together. I have been lucky and this has (almost) always worked for me. I had a few girls that were picking on some of the new girls. I separated them and had their cages near each other for a couple days and kept introducing in a neutral area. It didn't help. So I moved them all in together.

When there would a fight (more than normal dominance fighting, but no blood) I would spray whoever caused the fight in the hip area. It immediately stopped the fight. And after a couple to a few times of this, the fighting completely stopped and I haven't worried about it since. It's been a couple days so far. I don't know if I really recommend this, because I don't know other peoples opinions on it. I'm just saying that's what worked for me. My recommendations... Do not aim for or near the face. Water spraying into the eyes, ears or nose is not good. Aim for the back half. Spray during the fight, not after. Otherwise it probably won't work. And lastly, don't spray when they are having a normal dominance 'fight'. If they are just pinning each other down with some light squeaks I don't worry about it, but when I hear loud, scary-sounding squealing then I quickly would go in and spray. Only spray who is doing it, not the others or the 'victim'.
 
My current resident rattie hissed and wacked her tail at my new baby rat I am trying to intro, but am reluctant after seeing what she did through her cage bars..Is there hope would you think as could she have just been defending her territory? I have my new rat on top of the DCN and my resident girl on the bottom unit. Since I cleaned there cage properly and rearranged a bit of things, she hasn't hissed or flicked her tail since that first time they met in her territory.
How long should I keep them separated in their separate units and begin to do intros??
THANKS!
 
for introductions there are lots of tricks
for a happy union. Here are the ones I did - might be wrong but they worked for me. I was told that it could take up to a month. When you first get the new ratties put the cages next to each other for a while each day so that they can sniff each other out once it's all calmed down then you can put the cages together permanently, just make sure that they won't be able to grab at each other through the bars. Next step would be face to face intros which is best to do in a completely unknown environment for all rats, you could even do this in a bath without water. I really wouldn't bath them until everything is settled as for at least my rats they dislike bathing intensely and get very nervous. This all worked for me and I was able to move them together very quickly, was incredibly lucky. I'm sure other people have tricks of the trade. Most of all take your time, these things can't be rushed. good luck.


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With my previous 14 rats pack, I have the great luck of only introducing once and then they moved in together (I've done it 5 or 6 times without a problem). The dominant was kind, I guess!

There would definitely be some pecking orders due the first time in the cage anyway.
 
Hey everyone! So I realized the intro process will probably take me about a month or more to do as my current resident is showing aggression to my new hairless rattie. She looks to be 1/3 of the size as my older girl and is hairless so I am SO nervous to intro them in the tub as wouldn't it be more risky for the new one as she is hairless? The aggression my resident rat showed when I put her on the top unit of my DCN was tail flicking, hissing, and puffing up..she was FURIOUS :shock: ..that was about a week ago and she only hissed and puffed up 1 since that time ,yesterday, when she got a good whiff of the little girl above I think..so progress maybe??s
I need some advice on the risks of intros with a hairless and a furred as my furred girl is a dominant adult that is always marking everything and is quite protective of me and gets very jealous when she smells the baby on me..(I say baby, but she is probably 2 months old,.)
I have a thread on more info about this if needed :heart:
 
Showing rats each other through a cage is not an indication of how rats will react to each other with no bars.
If your new one is old enough, over2 months old, I would start with a table top intro. Go from there and how you progress will depend on how that intro goes.
 
Thanks Jorats! I guess your right. Being as it was through her cage units and she probably was defending her territory with that aggressive response. Is a hairless more venerable though? I just don't want her to get hurt as she looks so puny...probably will start intros next weekend as I am in the second stage of doing swaps in each others cages for a few minutes every day to get them used to each others scents first
 
If she's attacked, there would be more damage, but you have to start somewhere, that's why I like a table top so you can be right on top of them should something happen.
 

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