One young male, risk more?

[ashana]

Ok Girls I have a drama unfolding in my mind which i hope you girls can help me with.

Squirt is my one and only boy (He was a litter of 1 which Hannah had just before i collected her...he was still a pinky), I hate that he is by himself but am worried that by adding another male there may be some huge aggression issues. The vets here will not even look at sterilization until the males are around 6 months old (squirt will be 6 months in June).
Do i either :
A) Leave him in his own cage until June and get him snipped so he can live with the girls OR
B) Get another young male and hope they do not fight?

Any ideas, I know some people never have to get their males snipped but i also know of some horror stories.

Advise
Aimee

 

[Willow Bean]

I have to ask, first and foremost, is there a reason that you think there will be aggression issues? Who do you think will be aggressive?

I have 3 unaltered males and they get along great so I wouldn't be worried about them being aggressive just because of being unaltered. I would go ahead and bring home another male or two for him to be friends with. Just be sure to quarantine first.

 

[ashana]

Hmmm, I guess i am worried about aggression issues because i am told that Males tend to get very hormonal with age :roll:
Squirt is quite rough when he is playing with me also, he nips (never breaks skin) and popcorns all over my hand.

If i were to get some friends would it be better to get some babies or older rats?

Aimee

 

[SQ]

Sounds like he is still a baby.
You could intro one or two other baby boys in with him after a quarantine.
We will help you with the intros

You might be able to get a couple of little boys from a rescue.

 

[jorats]

I think I'd get him a little friend right away, hold off on neutering unless you it looks like their might be hormonal issues.
If you can afford to neuter him and the buddy, I'd go for it. Neutering really makes the males like young happy pups.

 

[ashana]

Thanks for all the tips,

I would get babies or other rats from a rescue except here in Perth we do not have any rescue places :cry:
In the future i am actually considering transforming my house into a rescue for unwanted rats :twisted:

Ok so i need to convince hubby to let me have another couple of boys, should be easy enough

Squirt is only about 12 weeks old
So does that mean that intro's should go quite well considering if i get more little ones the hormones have not kicked in just yet (I know they can breed and all

Aimee

 

[user 78]

Rats reach social maturity around 6mo old. That's generally the point when everyone decides where they want to be on the social ladder, and start trying to get everyone else to accept them in that role.

Getting some babies around his age or even a little younger would be the easiest intro, since babies love everyone and just want to play. Just take the intro slow and steady and everything should be fine.

Also, with his rough playtime antics, you can teach him not to nip you like that. It would actually be a very good idea to teach him not to do that, since accidents do happen and one day he might get you a bit harder than he meant to. When my girl Lil gets really excited, she tends to use her teeth more when she gives kisses between popcorning around. I've taught her "Easy" to keep her from doing it most of the time.

 

[ashana]

What a great idea
I normally tell him to settle or just take my hand away but that is not always going to be possible i guess and it is not really teaching him anything.
I will try easy, as it is short and simple for him to understand

Aimee

 

[Fidget]

Are you good with having 2 cages (at least because of the possibility of someone not fitting in in future) maybe forever cause someone is always the last one standing?
If you don't mind many cages then you are ok to get him a boy bud, but

If you want or need to limit your cages then you'd be better to wait and fix him and put him with the girls.
If you are more concerned with keeping cages down than number of kids you might get in touch with all rescue leagues that are close or have means of transportation (the rat transport highway is amazingly well-paved) and maybe find a spayed female to put with him til he is neutered and safe to put them both with the girls?

 

[ashana]

Hi Fidget,

I am ok with more cages, we already have 3 cages but are only using 2 we used the 3rd cage when we got Hannah originally since she had her pinky (squirt) with her and did not want to risk any problems.

Unfortunately there are no known rescue places in Perth or actually the whole of Western Australia. I may have stumbled upon 1 person that may do rescues who i am going to call today and find out if he still does it.

Aimee

 

[Stephanie]

See I have heard that males are extremely territorial as well but I have 6 unaltered males living happily together with very few squabbles. Mind you they play fight alot but what male species doesn't? I do have one aggressive male that we got snipped and I am still waiting for the aggression to subside (been 4 weeks now I think).

I have had more issues getting my girls together than my boys hands down. My six males were living ingroups of two until one night i did an intro (the first one) and they all had a blast! I put them in the big cage that night and had absolutely no blood or squealing since. They range in age from jsut under a year to 3 years old.

I think as long as they have a big enough cage they shoud be fine. My six are in a RUUD and that sems to be a great amount of space for them to not get overly territorial.

 

[dingosm8]

I debated about this same issue.
I had Roo, a little boy alone in his cage awaiting his neuter at 6 months of age. At about 3/4 months of age, I bought him a buddy, a very young Zeddy Bear, and there have been no major problems with them. They like to play fight, and get along, but they don't snuggle or sleep together yet.
I haven't seen any major aggression because they're still very young.

Here's Roo and Zeddy

 

[mamarat]

OMG they are so cute. Hmm, where did you say you are??? lol

 

[ashana]

OMG ..... Can i have a cuddle of your little men?
They look so darn adorable :lol: