# If adopting an elderly single male rat, should you adopt them a companion?



## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

I found out a humane society I have to go down to today to donate some items to (I also have to pick up some aquarium stuff since we have no local aquarium shop and I don't want to give my business to Petco) has a single male rat for adoption, about 1 year and 10 months old. I'm not sure if we'll be getting him or not but I figure it's worth it to go take a look. They also have several male babies at about 5 - 6 weeks old brought in without a mother (so I'm guessing a back yard breeder dumped them on them). I was wondering, given the old guy's age, and that he's intact and has lived as a single male, should I bother trying to adopt one of the babies as company for him? He might be very big, and the babies look quite tiny. My fiance says I should adopt him single and just keep him around the house with me most of the day (obviously putting him back for food, water, rest and bathroom breaks) because of his age, intact status and the fact that he came in by himself.

What do you seasoned rat people think?


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Do you know his history at all? Did he have a cagemate?

I personally would not be comfortable with keeping him single. Ideally, I'd adopt him with two babies, so that they have company when he dies and so they can play with themselves since the adult will likely be less interested in their baby antics. Intros between adults and young rats (but ideally eight weeks or older, especially since you do not know this guys reaction to really young babies since you're not familiar with his temperament). The next best option is an older spayed female IMO.


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## wheeljack (Mar 17, 2011)

That's a tough one. At that age if he's been a lone rat by himself that whole time it can be near impossible to intro him to another rat at this point (we have an old boy in our rescue in that situation).
But you don't know if he ever has lived with another rat or not and it will depend heavily on his personality.

I also wouldn't adopt just one baby to go with him. That baby is going to have a much higher energy level and will need someone close to his own age to play with when the older boy is sleeping.
I personally would also not intro a 6 week old baby to most adults unless the babies are unusually large or the adult is small. 8 weeks is generally the minimum recommended age to make sure the babies are large enough to not be mistaken for prey by the adult and to be large enough to defend themselves if something goes wrong.

I suppose having one cage for him and one cage for 2 baby boys is out of the question? That would be the ideal situation, get them and keep them caged separately until the babies are older and then begin the intro process. If you luck out, they can all live together. If not, they would need to stay separated.

Is the humane society caging him and the babies in wire cages or aquariums? If they are in wire cages, you could ask them to put the cage a few inches apart and see how he does. If he doesn't show any signs of aggression or shows signs of friendly behavior, he may be able to live with them. If he's showing signs of aggression after a few days it's probably not a good sign.


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## wheeljack (Mar 17, 2011)

Stacy, you type too fast!!


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

Thank you for the replies. I don't think he had a cagemate but I'm not sure, it just said he came in by himself in the description online. As far as I know the babies are being kept in aquarium-like housing while the adults are kept in wire cages, all behind "viewing glass", unless they've changed the setup since I was last in there. 

Rats are really hard to find even within a couple of hours of where I live. Occasionally we will luck out and find someone who's had an accidental litter and needs to re home, or this particular humane society will have some in (but usually they get adopted right away, especially babies). I've never seen any spayed female rats for adoption even within a five hour drive of where we live.


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Haha, sorry Wheeljack! 

Critter, you could always get a female spayed yourself if that sounds better to you than a pair of baby boys. Short of rat rescues (and even then) it is rare to be able to get a rat already altered.


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

We got down there and the babies were VERY small, and three of the four males had already been adopted before we even got there (I'm mad that one was left behind, because it said right on his description it would be best if he went in with one specific brother). We ended up adopting him and a male mouse (housed by the shelter and us separately of course). He looks old and is much slower moving than my fiance's girls (who are about ten months old), but he's able to climb, immediately took to the Oxbow Regal Rat (he was being fed a seed mix at the shelter), and he loves to be with people. I don't know that he'd appreciate having a hyper companion, he's pretty slow moving and seems to like taking things at his own pace.

We have reason to believe he may have fought with another rat at some point; his tail has kinks in it, appears to have been bitten off at the end, and he has old "battle scars".


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

So you adopted the older boy, but left the baby? Too bad. 

How is the older fellow acting? Calm and lazy and quiet? If so he might want a young companion.


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

We really didn't have much choice. First off, the baby was small enough to be a large mouse and was allegedly only five weeks (though he looked more like three). Then there was the fact that we'd have to track down another baby male to keep the existing baby male company when the older male passed (and the only option for baby males I can find closer than California which is a few days' drive from here is at pet stores, which just aren't a good place to get animals and something I don't want to support), but I'm not finding any baby or very young males being surrendered on any ad sites or on Petfinder, Pet Harbor or AdoptAPet. Also as I said, I need to talk to a veterinarian and see what she thinks of the old man's seeming "battle scars", it looks like he's fought with another male rat at some point. If the baby is still available when he's around eight weeks old, and not small enough to be possibly considered prey, we can go down there and see if things would work out.

The older guy is calm, not lazy but not hyper until he gets out of the cage, he's very explorative. He has a veterinary exam tomorrow and we'll see if he has arthritis or anything. He's spending most of his days out with us (except for breaks for eating/drinking, sleeping and potty breaks) cuddling and exploring/exercising for now until we can try to locate a companion from a good rescue or even shelter that quarantines and is rat savvy. 

Trust me, I have no desire to keep any social animal single if at all possible. I wish he'd come in with another rat, but the old owners either kept him singally for quite some time or he fought with a cagemate and they separated him from other rats, because he came in to the shelter both times (he was surrendered once, returned once after being adopted there) without a cage mate.


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

Sounds more like he got beat up than fought. And the end of the tail being gone sounds like there was an accidental degloving injury.


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

That would make sense. I still am going to try to find a suitable companion for him, searching on a regular basis online. I'll need to find a rescue (or rat savvy shelter) though to make sure they quarantine and all of that like this one does so we can see if they get along instead of getting them first then finding they won't get along. It's a shame he's too old to neuter (or that he wasn't fixed by his previous owners), there's an excellent exotics specialist a couple hours from here who is very experienced with rat, guinea pig, and rabbit spays/neuters.


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

A rescue won't break qt on a maybe, but its besides the point, you can't evaluate it at all like dogs, intros take a long time. One of my girls puffs, crab walks, etc during first meetings, but I have never been unable to introduce her to anyway.


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

Break quarantine? I meant I was looking for a rescue or rat savvy shelter that already had rats available that are already out of quarantine. The shelter we went to for example quarantines and has veterinary exams done before the animals are even put up for adoption.

Admittedly I'm new to rat introductions; my fiance got his girls together and the rats my parents had when I was a kid were already together from the same accidental litter. I wasn't sure if rat introductions were anything like introductions of other same-species social creatures like guinea pigs, which I am experienced with.


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

That rat will have been quarantined, but once he comes into contact with your rat and you dont adopt him, he would have to be quarantined again for three weeks, because your rat could have something.


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

I found the Seattle Humane Society a few hours from where we live has several 1 + year old males, and it looks like there are at least two being kept in the same cage. That would probably be a good option, but we'll have to stay with my fiance's relatives up there, so it may be a couple of weeks before we can get ahold of them and make arrangements to come up there. In the meantime I'll keep a look out for any possible compatible males (I'd be more than willing to adopt a pair so I know they are male rat social) at a rescue or rat savvy shelter closer to home.

I also sent off an email to a rescue near that are (actually a few minutes closer) that listed baby males on Petfinder. I asked if they have any 8 - 10 week old baby males or any year to year and a half old males that are compatible with other males. Their site has prices listed for intact and spayed/neutered rats so I'm guessing they do have some of their males neutered and sometimes get ones in that are already neutered.

I'd gladly adopt from either place if they have any spayed females or males that are compatible with other males/a baby male pair.


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

Just an update, the baby was adopted today (I checked the site) and it looks like they now have made a pair of 5 month old males adoptable, so they're now on our list of candidates. The pair apparently haven't been handled very much or extensively socialized and "would do best in a home where they can continue being handled and work on socialization", but my fiance has a special knack for helping shy to downright skittish animals come out of their shell more, so we might just try for those two.

Edit; The two five month olds were adopted now. I contacted someone on craigslist rehoming two young males (looked to be about three months old), but I didn't hear back from them then the ad was gone so I'm guessing they found a home for them. Emailed a rescue over three hours away shortly after we adopted him, but I haven't heard back. I guess we'll have to wait until we hear back from my fiance's folks to get up to Seattle, and hopefully the humane society will have male rats left (they are older so I'm relatively sure they will, and hopefully they are used to being housed with other males).


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

We just picked up a pair of 6 month old males of last night. They are being quarantined at a completely different house where people will be every day, and my fiance and I will go to every day for adding food, letting them out for controlled exploring, cage cleaning etc. They are promising candidates for several reasons; they are both used to being around other males from other litters (she once had a small colony of males of different ages and from different litters/places including these boys with no issues), even though they shared the cage, which is smaller than the one we have, with an elderly female (we did warn them of the risk and they decided to rehome the boys to reduce this risk and to get an older female for her to be with that would be less energetic) and only one hammock in the cage between the three, they didn't have fighting or over-hormonal issues with the other males or each other, and one is reported to be very submissive and shy which apparently made him bond stronger to the other rats. Of course we'll be very cautious with introductions and use all the nifty "tricks" in the book for a calm(er) introduction once they are done with quarantine.

We wanted to get Helios a pair of companions sooner than later, and the accidental litter in the other Craigslist ad still have a month or a little over before they will even be old enough to be introduced to an adult rat (and Helios is good sized). So we're going to see how it works out with these boys, fingers crossed things go well.


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## baxonline (Mar 31, 2012)

We've just (literally) adopted a one and a half year old male rat from an owner who used him to breed feeder rats for his reptiles. After this owner broke up with his girlfriend (who took the female and ratlets) he left this poor male solo in the cage for 3 months with no stimulation. We already have 2 young males (now 18 weeks old) and wonder if it would be a good idea to introduce them. At this point the adult male is very shy and we don't even know if he bites. He's likely originally from a big pet store. We just couldn't leave him where he was!


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