# Is the Carrier Method Reliable?



## SilverVixen23 (Mar 7, 2018)

I just recently brought home a young male who’s about 10 weeks old now and want to house him in the same cage as my male rat whom I’ve had for about five months. I’ve tried introducing them on neutral ground which went fairly okay. They sniffed each other and walked around to explore but there were a few skirmishes in which some fur went flying but no noticeable blood. I want to keep trying to introduce them but I want to make sure the carrier method is actually safe and reliable before I proceed to try it. It just worries me that putting the two of them in a confined space will make the problem worse because the little guy can’t get away. Also, if I do try the carrier method, would it be possible to use the 10-gallon tank my youngster is temporarily living in if I clean it thoroughly first or should I use an actual animal carrier? I’d just prefer if I could see the two of them through the glass at all times.


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## CorbinDallasMyMan (Feb 24, 2017)

I have an overly dominant boy and I was struggling with the neutral space intros so I tried the carrier method. I was nervous putting all four rats into a cat carrier together but they all did surprisingly well. I took them on a car ride in the hopes that they'd bond over the scary experience (my rats don't like car rides). They ended up all huddling together for comfort. When the carrier was small enough that they were forced to be in close contact with each other and they couldn't flee if a fight broke out, they did really well. As soon as they had more space available to them, my overly dominant boy became a jerk again. 

I think a 10gal. is maybe just a little big for 3 rats using the carrier method. It might work better as an intermediate cage before putting them all together in their main cage. I'm not an expert at all on this introduction method, though.


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## Phoene (Dec 21, 2017)

I would use a cage small enough that they HAVE to snuggle. When I got my 5 week old baby I just put her in the carrier with my rat and took them home. Once they were in the bigger cage the baby got bullied for a few days though.


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## SilverVixen23 (Mar 7, 2018)

Update: it went horribly.I read the carrier method sticky a few times and followed the suggestions given and put my two boys in a small critter keeper (3 gallons maybe?). I put a thin layer of aspen bedding down, scattered their favorite Cheerios everywhere, and put a heavy water dish in the corner because the water bottles I have are too big. Then once I put the boys in, I brought them out to the car and sat there with the door open since it’s still a bit too chilly to be directly outside. There were a couple very small skirmishes but nothing concerning and then my older boy started munching on the cereal (which I know he only eats when he’s comfortable). They were in the tank for about an hour and had quite a few disagreements, most of which involved my older rat sidling up to the younger one and then them tumbling all over. I happened to look closely at them a few minutes ago and noticed blood on the water dish and two small bloody marks on the younger one’s back so I immediately removed him. Now I’m very worried to try anything else because I know my older rat is capable of hurting the younger one. Is there anything I can still try? I’m afraid if I try anything else, the poor younger one will be traumatized


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## Lunchy (Aug 28, 2017)

I had no problems with the carrier method - sometimes my boys have skirmishes and there's the odd scratch but nothing really worrying. I want to ask how quick you were doing it? I took it slow, my boys were in the carrier for 24 hours before we started upgrading their cages, and we had 5 steps/cages in total (carrier > hamster cage > 1 level of full size cage > medium sized rat cage > main cage) and the whole process took around 8 days if I remember correctly. I'm just worried with the short time between your posts that maybe it's been a bit too quick.

For now, keep them separate until the younger one heals. It might be worth trying to find a way to redo it, but with a smaller cage after the carrier (I'm in the UK and we don't use gallons for cage sizes, so actually no idea how big that is). I wrote a big post about how I did the carrier method on another thread, so if I find it I'll happily put it here for you in case that helps. I hope he is okay 

Edit: here is the thread with my set up for the carrier method. It's a bit lengthy but includes photos so shows how much space/toys etc they got at each stage.
http://www.ratforum.com/showthread....ded-(-introducing-rats)&p=2463809#post2463809


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## SilverVixen23 (Mar 7, 2018)

I didn’t have a small enough carrier so I used a critter keeper instead which is about 41cm long by 25cm wide and about 25cm tall. And the water dish I used took up almost half the floor space. That was the first and only container I used before having to remove the younger one because he ended up with a huge gash on his neck and at least one small wound on his back. That’s why I’m worried about trying that method again because if my other rat goes for the throat again, I’m very worried he’ll be successful in killing the younger one.


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