[crystal3769]

Hi all,

so my opps litter is 22 days old now, and I intend to keep a female to stay with momma and a male to stay with dad. My question is when can I start introducing the baby male to dad, in outside cage play time? Their cage is home made and built with caging down the middle, so the putting their cages together part is already done. Just wondering if it's safe to start outside introductions now?

 

[Isamurat]

Is dad on his own at the moment? How old is dad? How big are the babies?

This is a tricky one as some dads are very good and protective of there kittens, and some will be rough and even kill kittens even if they are there own. I would not be introducing a male to babies at 3 weeks old, the amount of damage they could do without meaning to is pretty big. As it is you will need to split the buck babies off mum and the girls at about 4-5 weeks old. I wouldnt be comfortable putting babies straight in with dad at 4 weeks, 5 weeks would be pushing it as i would rather free range him with them a few times to observe how he is with them. I wouldnt consider free ranging a buck with babies until they were at least 5 weeks old (if the dad was a bit amazing in terms of other rats and very settled and confident) and i'd be free ranging a few times to check this continues. I tend to introduce my boys to there dad at 7 weeks old or later and this works well as the babies are robust enough that they can take a bit of being put in there place. I would only do earlier if the buck showed he was very good with them and was on his own and then not before 5-6 weeks.

 

[crystal3769]

Dad is by himself right now. I don't know his exact age, but I think he's around 4 months. Thank you for your reply, I'll wait a couple more weeks before starting free range introductions.