[BananaJubilee]

Hi friends. My rat Bean passed away recently, which has been very hard on both myself and her BFF, Baby. Baby is younger and I knew she'd probably need a friend eventually, but now I'm worried I did it too soon. I found a lone female rat (younger than Baby) in need of a home, so I adopted her. They were separated completely, then they eventually got to sniffing and visiting each other through the cages. I've swapped bedding and toys. I can tell Baby has been stressed at times, even though she hasn't been aggressive towards me or the new rattie.
They officially met this morning and it went...okay? Baby didn't get aggressive with the newbie like I thought she would (our new friend is also a very tiny rex rat, so I was worried about Baby being so much bigger lol), but she also seemed to almost reject her? She sniffed and got up close but went back to her cage. Since then, she's come out more to check out the newbie (I named her Freyja) in her cage but still seems sort of disinterested. Then she goes back into her own cage and seems upset for a bit.
So is there anything I can do to make this easier for Baby? I feel so bad that she's feeling uncomfortable at all. I was really optimistic that she'd eventually take to Freyja, and maybe she will, but in the meantime I just feel like a terrible rat mom.

 

[SonicRat]

Disinterest is actually a positive sign in intros,it shows they are likely to aceept them quickly.Another good sign,when you let them in each others cages,is if all they want to do is raid the others food hoard!

 

[BananaJubilee]

Disinterest is actually a positive sign in intros,it shows they are likely to aceept them quickly.Another good sign,when you let them in each others cages,is if all they want to do is raid the others food hoard!

Yes you are right! I knew I'd rather have that than aggression. And you know, after I posted this I wondered if Baby was more lonely stressed than angry stressed...I got them together again and it's going well! Freyja is very energetic and Baby is paying her no mind as Freyja explores Baby's territory. I hope Baby can actually help mellow her out a bit lol thanks so much for your reply