[Chivahn]

So, these are my rats!

Lola and Zero

Zero and Charlotte

And this is my charming new boy that I got yesterday from a friend who was moving, Curly!! He's double devon-rex....I am so in love with him it's not even funny.

He's the only man I need He's in his own tank until I get him to a vet to have him checked out....then he can go in with his harem :roll:

(And pardon how busted I look. I just worked a 12 hour day with no breaks, hah!)

 

[Stephanie]

very very adorable! is zero a blue??

 

[DonnaK]

Very cute!

 

[Chivahn]

very very adorable! is zero a blue??

Lola's my blue dumbo

 

[Stephanie]

Sorry thought the names went from left to right LoL anyway they are precious!

 

[twitch]

beutiful babaies. by checked you mean neutered right? or is your girls spayed? you won't want to mix them until onegender or the other can't make babies. they can have A LOT... its kinda scary that such a small animal can have so amny babies and not explode...

 

[Chivahn]

I can't decide if I want to get him neutered or not. I may just get him a boy to keep him company...

 

[Stephanie]

be careful with nuetering i always worry when rats get put under for surgery they are sooo little that their bodies just give up which is never good i have seen them die at 2 months old with no warning during nuetering

 

[Chivahn]

That's one of the reasons I don't think I'm going to do it. I think I may just leave him au-natural and get him a boyfriend. Don't want to risk him losing his charm.

 

[Stephanie]

how old is he? it can be really hard to introduce two adult males hence why i have six boys and 4 cages LoL if he is an adult try and get a baby boy but then you have the issues that i have when the baby tries to dominate my boys preffer to be alone than to have a cage mate i know everyone here says that they NEED a cage mate but that is NOT always true girls are easier to have introductions with where as boys especially unaltered can be very aggressive and very territorial!

 

[Sara_C]

We all say that rats need a cage mate for a reason Staphanie - and for the record it IS true. Rats, as you probably know, are VERY social, and will be incredibly unhappy when kept alone. You probably know from looking at your girls how much they value and need each others company, so you'd be right in getting him a boyfriend Chivahn.

How old is Curly? He looks pretty young, in which case an introductio shouldn't be too hard. I've managed to introduce a 6 week old to a 7 month old without much difficulty. All inroductions are different, and while some may be easier than others, i'm a firm believer that most introductions are possible.

But you can probably ignore most of that lol. Curly looks young enough to be introduced to a friend quite easily

 

[Stephanie]

it is true of certain rats sara i have three that are loners completely and they are adult males i just don't want to see what happened to me happen to someone else i got another rat for mister sniffles because i thought he was lonely and then i had to rush steve to the vet because mister sniffles tried to kill him then he did the same with iriquois it is a horrible thing to deal with and i would not wish it on anyone yes they are social but some males are VERY rat aggressive!

 

[DonnaK]

That's true. Whilst the majority of rats need/prefer company, there are some out there that are loners or have certain personalities that make it hard to find another rat that will get along with them.

 

[Chivahn]

I don't think Curly is more than 8 weeks old, so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[JennieLove]

Cute babies!

 

[Sara_C]

But loner rats are still pretty rare. I appreciate that it's incredibly hard to introduce two adult males to each other but kitten/adult male introductions normally go smoothly, at least from what i've experienced/read. Nearly all the sources on the internet cite that it's rare for rat inroductions not to work, so long as the proper introduction process has beel followed.

I know nobody wants to see their rats get hurt, but there's no reason they should if you're there supervising the introduction, reasy to seperate them should fighting break out.

And neutering helps, if the worst came to the worst.

 

[Stephanie]

I agree that adult/kitten intro's go very well the problem i have had to face time and time again is once they hit the teen years they become more aggressive and tend to fight with each other luckily i have just reintroduced steve and iriquois and little man and jackson they have gotten along all day in the cage after a couple of meet and greets sooo relieved though i am afraid that mister sniffles is never going to get along with any one i tried to introduce him to little man when i first got him (he was only a month or two old) and sniffs just hammered on him horribly. also sniffs killed my scooters a while back and tried to kill butters the only two rats sniffs ever got along with were Gir (who passed away) and Jackson but that ended not too long ago when sniffs tried to hurt him as well luckily all is going well now so i hope you have much luck introducing your curly to a baby!

 

[Vixie]

I agree that adult/kitten intro's go very well the problem i have had to face time and time again is once they hit the teen years they become more aggressive and tend to fight with each other

That is inevidable and should only be supervised, not stopped. During adolescence, the youngsters may challenge the elder, and fights WILL break out. Only, and ONLY, when blood is shed should one separate the two.

It may seem really violent, but it's just nature. You can see it even in human males..;P

 

[Stephanie]

very true my boys are a bit worse than any ther rat apparently LoL from what i am hearing on here my boys are little monsters to each other a week doesn't go by that blood is not shed at some point by some one then i seperate and re do introductions i am just going to let them have it out from now on! they will figure it out on their own i will merely break up the bloody fights and take care of the one that is hurt

 

[Night]

it is true of certain rats sara i have three that are loners completely and they are adult males i just don't want to see what happened to me happen to someone else i got another rat for mister sniffles because i thought he was lonely and then i had to rush steve to the vet because mister sniffles tried to kill him then he did the same with iriquois it is a horrible thing to deal with and i would not wish it on anyone yes they are social but some males are VERY rat aggressive!

Male aggression, while common, is also rarely not fixable. Neutering usually completely gets rid of all aggression and hormones. I neuter all of my males (and spay all females), and I have 12 living together in a cage pretty harmoniously.

Please don't just put a male (intact) rat by himself because he fights with others and consider him a done deal. He just needs to be neutered ASAP.

very true my boys are a bit worse than any ther rat apparently LoL from what i am hearing on here my boys are little monsters to each other a week doesn't go by that blood is not shed at some point by some one then i seperate and re do introductions i am just going to let them have it out from now on! they will figure it out on their own i will merely break up the bloody fights and take care of the one that is hurt

Your boys really need to be neutered. Bloodshed is NOT common in introductions, and that's aggressive behavior - not dominant.