I bought my first rat (a blonde dumbo I dubbed Peanut) from Petsmart, and they get their rats in at 6mths to a year old, so I'm not even sure how old he was, since they didn't know exactly (which was a bit annoying, but I assume he's under a year, but not by much probably). Anyways. I read up on rats and all that and decided to get him a pal since I didn't want him getting depressed or becoming neurotic (xD). The same Petsmart got a litter of baby rats in a week after I got my first boy. So I went and got a baby- about 7 weeks old at this point. I asked about quarantine and they told me they had done so already with the babies before they put them out for sale (they don't keep their rats in a big pile inside cages. They have a max of 2 rats per cage, save for the babies as they were all together and all.) I still kept my baby away for about a day and then did an intro in the tub. It was def a scary place since Peanut freaked out in it and pooped all over. I set in the brown baby fancy rat and at first they ignored each other. Then, once the baby wandered over to Peanut, there was some major sniffing. Nothing really else happened. I left em that way for about 45 mins. They were just fine until Peanut started to rather panic about the bath tub, so I took him out and put him back in his cage and then the baby to his. Since I was totally new at this, I just took the main large cage, cleaned it out, gave it new bedding and everything and tried to put them together. Not a good idea. (Mind you, never did it before, didn't realize I needed to wait longer). When I heard a big scary squeal from the baby, I rushed over and pulled out the hut and Peanut. There was no blood or anything, but he had the baby pinned when I found him. This freaked me out so much I was afraid they weren't going to get along, but knew I needed to be patient. After a time apart, I put them back into their own cages and then let them be on opposite sides of the room for a few hours to let the baby chill out and calm down.
Then I did the side by side cage thing. They sniffed towards each other and seemed interested.
The next day, I tried to do another bathtub intro, but Peanut wouldn't have anything to do with the bathtub (clung to my arm and crawled up it to my shoulder when I tried to put the baby (now dubbed Almond at this point), so I changed tactics. I got a large cardboard box, put a towel in it and put them in it.
I had done a lot of reading on intro's here too. Or more reading... lol. SO MUCH READING!
anic: I read that there will be one large 'scuffle' (the stuff I read was geared towards one on one, I'm sure it's different with group intros) where the dominant resident rat will 'attack' the newbie, kind of a 'I'm the boss!' sorta deal. As long as he doesn't raise hair, hiss or sidle, it shouldn't be a problem. So I watched and then it happened. Peanut rather jumped at Almond and pinned him- causing little Almond to literally 'poop his pants'- and Peanut just stayed there a moment kinda watching Almond and then let him up. After that, Peanut went about sniffing around the box while Almond recovered, staying more submissive. It was a little scary, let me tell you, but he didn't hurt Almond, just scared him a little. After that, Almond was more submissive towards Peanut, but he chilled and was grooming himself and eating again within 10 minutes. There was some power grooming as well, but nothing overly mean. I also read it's normal for the newcomer to get 'beat up' for the first few days (I also read this from a guy that's owned and rescued rats for 27 years)- obviously nothing serious (no blood that is), so not to worry. So, I didn't worry too much. Still kept them separate though. After the box intro, I tried a table intro and that went well. I then also went to the couch where Peanut has played (putting up a blanket to play in) and there was one incident that Peanut again tackled Almond roughly, causing him to squeal. I broke this up, cuz I thought it was too rough. I put Peanut back into his cage- calmed Almond after he scurried off to the other end of the couch and then waited.
(wow, this is long... lol!)
Over the next couple of days, I let them smell each others cages when the other wasn't in there and play together on neutral ground and then on familiar ground. They were finally getting along well. It actually went really quick relatively in comparison. It didn't take weeks- only a week actually. lol. I moved them in together in a new cage for them both and they cuddle and play fight. There's still time where Peanut will pin Almond and power groom him, but then there's times where he'll roll over and let Almond groom him, like letting him 'pin' him instead. It's really cute actually. Just little peeps now and again, but no loud squeaks to be worried about. I'll just be glad when the CN comes so they have more room in which to be crazy together. xD;;
And, that's my detailed story of my ever first intro! xD
If I ever get more, I'm sure it won't be as easy. lol.
