I'll be bringing my new girls home tomorrow. They are both 1 1/2 years old and live together right now, but I will be introducing them to my crew of 5 in the near future. My crews ages range from 6months to 2 1/2 years. I've only ever done intros with young ratties and its been successful but I'm starting to get nervous about the intros with my older rats. Are intros with older rats a lot harder? I know it has a lot to do with each rats individual personality but I have a feeling that its going to be a lot harder with them being older and all...Any advice would be much appreciated. Also any stories about bad intros would help as I want to be prepared for the worst.
Intros with older rats! Need all the advice I can get!
- Thread starter bruxxy
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You just have to take it more slowly with older rats, go through all of the steps and take your time. Babies love everyone and don't ever meet a stranger, whereas older rats already have their ways and can be pretty set in them. Then again, everyone could fall instantly in love with each other and be a happy little colony.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
Try out the first intro in neutral territory, you will get a good feeling on how it will go right from that first try. I like to make it at least an hour, it's good to see their reactions when they are getting tired and fed up. From that first meeting, you'll be able to tell how long you'll have to do it.
Keep us posted!!
Keep us posted!!
I heard that rubbing a bit of vanilla extract on all the rats helps to neutralize their smell. I used this last time for my introduction but I was introducing 2 babies to the group, so its hard to say if the vanilla actaully worked or if everyone just liked the babies.
Has anyone ever tried this method or something similar? If so, what were the results?
To me it seems like it would be good for first introductions.
Has anyone ever tried this method or something similar? If so, what were the results?
To me it seems like it would be good for first introductions.
I actually had very bad results with it. It made everyone go after someone else's bum, trying to eat the vanilla off of them. Everyone got very tense, since someone kept grabbing their tails and trying to pull them this way and that to see if there was more vanilla.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
In my opinion, it's not a good idea to mask who the rats are, this just means that they have to go through the whole meeting process over again when there's no vanilla.
lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
I didn't like the vanilla either, too much attention to that smell, and where you put it is often where another rat grabs or bites.
Dahlas
Well-Known Member
I laughed when I read about putting vanilla on the other ratties......good idea but I could just picture my girl Sydney....She loves to eat and I think she would think I had put little vanilla rat cycles in with her....hahah I can just picture her licking all the vanilla off of everyone yummmmmmm
Fidget
Senior Member
I usually had no trouble with older ones and young ones (girls), the older ones seemed to give the little ones leeway or try to mother them (tho they got tired of the little ones energies & attentions after a time)
The mid-aged ones are usually the ones that I found being more challenging than accepting.
I wonder if you tried the oldest with the youngest first, and when they were good it might help with the balance between the old crew & the new one???
Just a thought, I'm no intro-expert :wink:
The mid-aged ones are usually the ones that I found being more challenging than accepting.
I wonder if you tried the oldest with the youngest first, and when they were good it might help with the balance between the old crew & the new one???
Just a thought, I'm no intro-expert :wink:
Willow Bean
Well-Known Member
It's hard to tell sometimes how an intro will go. My first rats, Merlin, Play-Doh and SocRATese, were all girls and I didn't know anything about rats when I got them. I bought SocRATese and Play-Doh at the same time from the same store at about 6 months of age and they were pretty well bonded. When I brought Merlin home at the age of 5 months or so, stupid me, I just put her in the cage with the other two girls 
and never had a trouble. They didn't bite, bully or irritate each other. It was almost like they were boys! :roll:
With Baby Girl though I haven't gotten her to live with anybody, no matter how slowly I take the introduction. She lived with Willow and got on fine with her for a little while, but soon enough there were irreconcilable differences and they have been apart since.
I wish you the best of luck, but I also have to agree with the others, Vanilla is not the way to go, once the smell is gone they have to figure out who everyone is again, not to mention that any over-groomers will try to go bald getting the vanilla off of themselves! :roll:
and never had a trouble. They didn't bite, bully or irritate each other. It was almost like they were boys! :roll: With Baby Girl though I haven't gotten her to live with anybody, no matter how slowly I take the introduction. She lived with Willow and got on fine with her for a little while, but soon enough there were irreconcilable differences and they have been apart since.
I wish you the best of luck, but I also have to agree with the others, Vanilla is not the way to go, once the smell is gone they have to figure out who everyone is again, not to mention that any over-groomers will try to go bald getting the vanilla off of themselves! :roll:
