Introducing a young boy to a couple older ones?

Addlement · Nov 7, 2013

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting on here. I apologize if this isn't the best forum for this post, but I felt like this was more a behavioural question than anything else.

I've been keeping rats for several months now, and they've always came to me in pairs or more (and always unaltered, so always same-sex groups). Last week, one of my boys passed away, and his brother has been left without anyone to socialize with for a week (in which I got him a checkup and he's totally healthy). I don't have any other boys around his age, but I do have two buck brothers that are about four months old that are currently living in a very large rat manor together. Would it be possible for me to introduce him to the two brothers? He was always the submissive to his brother, and the older bucks have always been very sweet. My only other options would be to try to find another male for him, but they'd come from a pet store nearby, and I don't know if I want to support their business since their animal care is really quite poor, or placing him in with the girls...which would have adorable, but unwise results. What do you guys think?

1095732 · Nov 7, 2013

Definitely don't put him with the girls if none of the are altered.

You could try introducing him to the other ones. I recently introduced my 3 full grown males to 7 younger males. I don't know their exact ages, but they were all smaller than my males, some a lot smaller (around 3 months). They all live together now and I haven't had a single issue.

I'm not very experienced with the proper methods of introducing, since for the most part I haven't had to. So hopefully someone else will chime in on that or you can just google rat introductions.

You can try taking them out and putting them in a neutral area (like a bathtub or table, if they aren't jumpers) and let them get to know one another. When I do this I let them stay out for as long as I can, over 20 minutes. I do this for a few days or however long it takes them to get use to each other. It's best if you can do it multiple times a day. It really just depends on the rats how long it will take to get them to live together. With some of my rats I've been able to put them in the same cage right away without introductions. With others it's more of a struggle and they still aren't living together.

I'd say just make sure they all have enough space. Rat manors aren't that big for multiple rats. They can hold 2-3. So if they don't have space to get away from each other, that's when I've noticed fights happen for me.

jorats · Nov 7, 2013

I would definitely try him with the brothers first. Not the girls! Although babies are super cute, they are a lot of work and a hardship on the moms. Plus...without proper knowledge of their background and genes, it's not wise choice.

You'll want to do your first intros with the boys in a neutral area like the bathtub. Have a yummy dish of food for distraction. Try and make the meet up last an hour unless things get tense. Always end the intro on a good note, after giving them each a treat.

Addlement · Nov 10, 2013

Thanks for the advice guys, I tried just that. Good news and bad news, unfortunately. He does great in neutral areas with the boys, but as soon as they go into an enclosure-- a ferret cage that none of them have ever been in-- everything goes crazy. He left four or five serious bite marks on the big boys in the first night. He's less than half their size, but he's something fierce, apparently. The other two were trying to keep away from him, but he'd still chase them around and attack them. I have a friend who has a pair of boys, and I thought maybe he could go in with them. It worked well..for a couple hours. All three of them ended up most of their back half of fur missing. It did not go well.

I'm not sure what to do. I definitely have never seen introductions that keep failing like this. Is he just too mean to fit in with other males? What should I do?

jorats · Nov 11, 2013

Can you have him neutered? That would do him a world of good.
How long did you do neutral ground intros? Sometimes you need a few days of neutral ground before moving to familiar area.

Addlement · Nov 14, 2013

I am considering having him neutered, but it would take a while for me to save up the money for it. The only vet near me is a large animal specialist, so he charges $200 for rat neutering, and even more for spaying.

I only kept them in neutral ground for a day, so I'm thinking I'm going to try it again for a couple days. The only place I can keep them that long is a ten gallon tank though, so I'm wondering if it might be too crowded (I put them in the bathtub for the day, but we use that on a daily basis, so).