I'm introducing 3 old intact males that are siblings, to one old neutered male rat who lost both of his sisters.
Intro's have gone really well so far, and I'd like to get all 4 boys into the same cage asap, but I'm not sure how to tell if it's "time"
is there someway to know, or do you just go ahead and put them together, and stay close by that day to be sure things go ok?
One of my intact males has a problem with his "male bits" (an abscess, the vet says, she thinks one of his brothers bit him! I find that highly unlikely. I've had these boys since Feb and they've never had a fight. If they fight at night, they must be super quiet about it, because I'm a very light sleeper and I've never heard a peep out of them)
The neutered male is kind of high strung, he squeals if anything upsets him. He's also obese (came to me that way) but he's not a big eater (the vet laughed out loud when I said that, cuz he's so big) but I mean, he doesn't eat a lot of regular rat food or veggies. He did NOT get fat on a normal rat diet, that's for sure, cuz he's got very little interest in food. He must have been fed mostly high calorie, high fat treats. And not given much attention or out time, because where there are treats available (I put out some flavored infant cereal or dry cereal for intro sessions) he would rather play or cuddle with me or the other rats, than eat.
He's been losing wt so that's good.
Intro's have gone really well so far, and I'd like to get all 4 boys into the same cage asap, but I'm not sure how to tell if it's "time"
is there someway to know, or do you just go ahead and put them together, and stay close by that day to be sure things go ok?
One of my intact males has a problem with his "male bits" (an abscess, the vet says, she thinks one of his brothers bit him! I find that highly unlikely. I've had these boys since Feb and they've never had a fight. If they fight at night, they must be super quiet about it, because I'm a very light sleeper and I've never heard a peep out of them)
The neutered male is kind of high strung, he squeals if anything upsets him. He's also obese (came to me that way) but he's not a big eater (the vet laughed out loud when I said that, cuz he's so big) but I mean, he doesn't eat a lot of regular rat food or veggies. He did NOT get fat on a normal rat diet, that's for sure, cuz he's got very little interest in food. He must have been fed mostly high calorie, high fat treats. And not given much attention or out time, because where there are treats available (I put out some flavored infant cereal or dry cereal for intro sessions) he would rather play or cuddle with me or the other rats, than eat.
He's been losing wt so that's good.
