Introducing new rats

[Superherorats]

Bit of a sad topic, but I sometimes wonder how the remaining rat will cope once the other passes on (I only have two). They have such short little lives!

How do people deal with this? Do you reintroduce another when they are starting to age? Or once there is only one left introduce another? Or do you just let the remaining rat live out the rest of his days alone? What’s best?

 

[SQ]

1. Some people will intro 2 babies (10 weeks old) to their rats when they are 1 to 1.5 years old ..... but this means they have 4 to 6 rats so they need the cage space, time and finances for 4 to 6 rats. Babies need other babies to play with, plus they can be irritating to older rats unless they have a friend/sibling to play with.

2. Some people adopt 3 rats so that if one dies there will be two .... but eventually there will only be 1 lone rattie unless they get more.

3. Other people will adopt an older rat to be friends with their remaining rat.

4. Some people who do not want to continue having rats will foster an older rat or pair of older rats for a rescue with the understanding that they will return the fosters when their rat dies.

5. Some people have another rat owner that they trust babysit their rat and cover their rat's expenses. For example, I have been looking after a friend's elderly boy since December as he was her last rat and she does not want to get anymore. He lives with my elderly rats so that he is not alone.

Rats need to live with other rats so it is important that they always have other ratties friends. A lone rat is less social and can become so depressed that they stop eating or become ill.

 

[jorats]

I've always had large colonies, over 5 because of exactly that. Each time I lost one or two, I would get two rescues and do slow intros. But with my last rat, she was over 3 years old and sickly so I didn't add any new rats to her and allowed her a comfortable end of life passing which was only a month after her last buddy passed.
If my rats are in good health, there's no way I would allow them to live alone ever. Unless of course, keeping new rats is no longer in your plans. At this time you could perhaps look into fostering rats until your own rat passes away if that's an option. If not, then you really need to spend as much time as possible with your friend. Rats will become lonely and could become depressed and sickly.

 

[Superherorats]

Thanks for the replies

My rats are only 9 months at the moment, but as I said, I often wonder what to do to prepare for that time once it’s becoming more imminent.

Totally planning on continuing to keep rats I like the idea of my next one being a rescue. Would it be advisable to start looking into this when they’re about 1.5 years then? Is it harder to incorporate an older rat than a younger rat?

My cage is large enough for 4 but I prefer to have less than that so they have the extra room