EmBee
New Member
Hello everyone,
I have a lonely rat on my hands, and I've been looking to fix the situation.
Bear, my oldest rat and newest rat, was somewhat of a rescue. The son of his previous owner posted an ad online - $20.00 for the rat and his cage. When I went to pick him up, I seen that his cage was filthy.. it seriously looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in months. He was also being fed an extremely low quality seed mix with entire shelled peanuts. His previous owner really didn't seem to know much about him, despite having him for a year. To be fair, she was an elderly woman and was in no position to care for him, but I really couldn't help wondering how or why she got him in the first place. She had told me that the rat had a brother, but he passed about a year ago. Unfortunately, her son didn't like the poor rat very much and had no hand in caring for him, so he was stuck in the cage all by himself, sleeping on/in his own filth and being fed a terrible diet. Her son was happy to see the rat go, and frankly.. I was, too. I got my new guy to his temporary quarantine home, cleaned the heck out of his cage, put in some soft towels for bedding and gave him his own hammock to sleep in. I'm also happy to say he is now being fed Harlan lab blocks, as well as an organic grain mix purchased from the Crafty Rat website. This all happened back in July, so needless to say he is out of quarantine and is living at his permanent home with me.
Although life is much better for Mister Bear now, him being a single rat is an issue that I've been working on since I brought him home. I hate seeing him all alone in his cage, but for all I know.. he might be one of those few rats who's just fine with being a lone bachelor. I've repeatedly attempted introducing him to Simon and Sid, my other two boys. They are about six months old, so dominance issues are present. At this point, I am kind of having my doubts. I know that introducing males is a long and lengthy process, but it has been several months now, and A. Bear once bit a chunk of fur out of Simon's nose, and B. pounced on Sid and attacked him (fortunately I was standing right there and was able to break it up as soon as it happened). He also chases them up and down the bathroom floor when he can see them. Sid appears to me more interested in Bear, however I've seen aggressive behavior on Simon's part as well. He won't tolerate being sniffed, and he arches his back whenever Bear comes close. If he comes too close, Simon will protest by way of shrieking and climb up my pant leg to get away.
I've been researching a bit online, and have read on several websites that it is generally easier to introduce a baby/young male to an adult male, since they don't have all the hormones responsible for causing the dominance issues. The guidelines for age appear to be around 6-10 weeks. I've also read that I should NOT wait until the younger rat grows old enough to defend himself against the resident adult. Has anyone here found this to be true or sound advice in their experience? I've been in touch with a local breeder, and have been seriously considering adopting a young male (maybe even two) to introduce to Bear. In addition to that, I'm absolutely giddy at the idea of getting another rat, but I'm also having my doubts. I would feel absolutely AWFUL if I brought home a new baby, only for Bear to seriously injure him.. or worse.
Can anyone possibly shed some light on this?
I have a lonely rat on my hands, and I've been looking to fix the situation.
Bear, my oldest rat and newest rat, was somewhat of a rescue. The son of his previous owner posted an ad online - $20.00 for the rat and his cage. When I went to pick him up, I seen that his cage was filthy.. it seriously looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in months. He was also being fed an extremely low quality seed mix with entire shelled peanuts. His previous owner really didn't seem to know much about him, despite having him for a year. To be fair, she was an elderly woman and was in no position to care for him, but I really couldn't help wondering how or why she got him in the first place. She had told me that the rat had a brother, but he passed about a year ago. Unfortunately, her son didn't like the poor rat very much and had no hand in caring for him, so he was stuck in the cage all by himself, sleeping on/in his own filth and being fed a terrible diet. Her son was happy to see the rat go, and frankly.. I was, too. I got my new guy to his temporary quarantine home, cleaned the heck out of his cage, put in some soft towels for bedding and gave him his own hammock to sleep in. I'm also happy to say he is now being fed Harlan lab blocks, as well as an organic grain mix purchased from the Crafty Rat website. This all happened back in July, so needless to say he is out of quarantine and is living at his permanent home with me.
Although life is much better for Mister Bear now, him being a single rat is an issue that I've been working on since I brought him home. I hate seeing him all alone in his cage, but for all I know.. he might be one of those few rats who's just fine with being a lone bachelor. I've repeatedly attempted introducing him to Simon and Sid, my other two boys. They are about six months old, so dominance issues are present. At this point, I am kind of having my doubts. I know that introducing males is a long and lengthy process, but it has been several months now, and A. Bear once bit a chunk of fur out of Simon's nose, and B. pounced on Sid and attacked him (fortunately I was standing right there and was able to break it up as soon as it happened). He also chases them up and down the bathroom floor when he can see them. Sid appears to me more interested in Bear, however I've seen aggressive behavior on Simon's part as well. He won't tolerate being sniffed, and he arches his back whenever Bear comes close. If he comes too close, Simon will protest by way of shrieking and climb up my pant leg to get away.
I've been researching a bit online, and have read on several websites that it is generally easier to introduce a baby/young male to an adult male, since they don't have all the hormones responsible for causing the dominance issues. The guidelines for age appear to be around 6-10 weeks. I've also read that I should NOT wait until the younger rat grows old enough to defend himself against the resident adult. Has anyone here found this to be true or sound advice in their experience? I've been in touch with a local breeder, and have been seriously considering adopting a young male (maybe even two) to introduce to Bear. In addition to that, I'm absolutely giddy at the idea of getting another rat, but I'm also having my doubts. I would feel absolutely AWFUL if I brought home a new baby, only for Bear to seriously injure him.. or worse.
Can anyone possibly shed some light on this?
