[danetix]

I've had my rat for about 2 weeks and I've noticed she spends all day sleeping. I'm assuming she's probably up all night being nocturnal and all. How do I go about getting her to be on my daytime schedule? Will she eventually adjust to it just by being near her cage during the day?

 

[Forensic]

Rat sleep during the day.

Unless, that is, you wake them up.

If you want to play with them, take them out and play with them. They'll learn things like 'I get fed at this time', 'I get played with around this time', etc and they'll try to be awake then.

BTW: Rats do much better in pairs. Being alone will often make them sleep more or make them more nervous and jittery.

 

[danetix]

BTW: Rats do much better in pairs. Being alone will often make them sleep more or make them more nervous and jittery.

Do I need to take any precautions if I buy another rat now? Or can I just buy one and put her in there?

 

[crapola]

get the rattie from the same source as you did the first one... less chance of any strange infections/diseases being passed from one to the other and you might get lucky and the new rattie could be from the same litter. most people here would recommend quarantining a new rat for at least two weeks, and by quarantine, i mean totally different airspace so someone else's place or a different floor in your house or similar. i didnt really quarantine any of my ratties from the others and i've had no problems.

 

[Forensic]

BTW: Rats do much better in pairs. Being alone will often make them sleep more or make them more nervous and jittery.

Do I need to take any precautions if I buy another rat now? Or can I just buy one and put her in there?

You'll probably want to have somewhere you can put the second rat if they don't get along right away. Introduce them someplace neutral - like a bath tub or a table or a bed - and once that goes well return them into a completely clean cage. That way it won't smell like either rat and won't be either rat's 'territory'.