Another cage mate?.... help please!

[rat.queen]

So today I found my poor rat Volos had passed away at 11 weeks old. His brother Vodnik is doing well, so far. I noticed it a week ago, Volos was hunched and when I went to go pick him up he felt thin, skinny and light compaired to his much bigger brother. I don't have the money right now, but has anyone experianced one cage mate dying and having to get another?. If so when, and how old should the new male rat be. Vodnik and Volos came from the same litter, they were legit brothers, so not sure how he'll take to a rat not really being his "real" brother, and I'm worried about his age with introducing this new rat. Or should I just give Vodnik away to the humane society here in Ottawa, I'm very worried and sad about this getting a new rat won't work.

 

[Scythe]

The younger the rat, the easier the introductions are. You should try to find a rat who is close to his age(and same gender) to introduce them together. It might take a long time(but I've mostly seen that with older rats), but it'll work eventually.

 

[rat.charmer]

You can basically introduce rats to each other at any age, provided you take things slow and follow good introduction steps. I would really encourage you to get Vodnik a new friend sooner rather than later, especially since younger rats tend to make friends more easily than older ones! There are already so many rats in shelters that Vodnik won't get the love, care and attention he needs! I'm sure there are many people on the board here who can help you find a good friend for Vodnik.

 

[jorats]

I'm so sorry for your loss, it must have been such a shock.
At 11 weeks, it would be easy to intro a baby to the little guy.

 

[rat.queen]

Thanks guys, I hope it won't be hard. I was thinking of getting one from the humane society, if so how do I go about introducing him to Vodnik?. I read you can't just throw him into the same cage right when ya bring him home, but I also read you have to "quaritine them" for like a month, thats crazy?. Whats the right way to do it?.

 

You will need another cage for the new guy. You will have to keep him away from your guy for 2 weeks to make sure he isn't sick.
Then you have st start doing intor's, you start on no familar ground's (for about an hour a day), after a week start adding houses and toys, then after another week, put them both on familar grounds for a week. After than you need to scrub your guys cage and make it clean, then put both in at the same time.

 

[rat.queen]

Oh ok, ummm depending on the size of the new guy, how big a cage should I get?, and what do I do if this does not work out?, what if Vodnik doesn't like the new rat at all?.

 

[Moon]

Intros are scary, but if you move on this soon you shouldn't have too much trouble. Ideally, you should get two boys so they can keep eachother company while intros are taking place, and three really is the perfect number of rats. But sometimes people aren't comfortable with that if they're new to rats and that's understandable.

The behavior section of the forum is the area you want to hit viewforum.php?f=22 .... especially the intros thread that is stickied up towards the top. The main thing is to take your time and start in a neutral area. Giving some time with cages near eachother so they can get used to one another's scent is helpful also.

When it comes to cage size, you can use the cage calculators stickied in the habitat section of the forum to find out if a cage is suitable for a certain number of rats. Good luck!