# Introducing a new pair to resident pairs (males)



## Iggy82 (May 13, 2007)

I'm thinking about introducing a new pair to my current two boys. The resident boys have a massive cage which the cage calculator says can fit 5 adult rats at the recommended size happily. So the four of them should be fine. 

It is possible to fit a partition to this cage to make it half and half which I intend to use for the initial introduction. I've got a plan set out, can anyone tell me if they have any objections or idea's to improve the plan please?

Plan

1. Introduce all rats in the bathtub (residents have never been here)
2. Wash all rats with baby soap
3. Drain bath tub and dry the rats and apply vanilla essence so they all smell similar
4. Give them all a big bowel of tuna so they're smells are masked and they all have something to distract them!
5. During bathing, etc my girlfriend will clean out the cage throughly and add the partition.
6. Put current pair in one half of cage and new pair in other half.

Ofcourse they will all be closely monitored during this time and after, I then intend to eventually remove the partition when I'm happy they're comfortable next to eachother in the cage and see how it goes from there!


----------



## jorats (Sep 9, 2007)

How old are your current boys?
You don't really need to wash with baby soap. In fact, using human soap/shampoo can dry out the skin. 
Also, baby rats don't have a "rat" smell to them yet so I don't think it's necessary. 
Another thing, skip the water. Try to just put them in the bathtub without water. You don't want to traumatize the young babies too much. If the old chaps become bullies, then you'll have to do the water. 
The rest sounds good. 
Even though they are living in the same cage partitioned off, continue intros on neutral ground, do this for at least a week or more until you are sure they are happy together, then you will need to scrub the cage down again, rearrange toys/accessories and let them have the whole cage.


----------



## Iggy82 (May 13, 2007)

Well everything went better than expected. I didn't have time to wait for your post jorats but thanks anyway.

My current boys are 6 months and we have now just adopted two 8 month old boys to join them. We bathed them all and they all loved it, they were all brusking and cleaning eachother. We followed the plan I listed above.

They are now all in the cage together, without the partition! They got on so well that we decided they would be OK once in the cage together and they've been fine. The 2 which I had before even seem to be happier now they have more friends, there has been a little chasing eachother but other than that nothing more than simple play-fights.

Hopefully it stays this way, my girlfriend and I are so pleased. We've named them Gunther and Lionel, to join the original lads; Rahzel and Mylo!


----------



## glindella (Sep 9, 2007)

Just watch for fights. When I introduced the big and little boys everything in the bathtub went well, they played together in the cage and I separated them at night/when I wasn't home. After about a week of that I left them together for an hour when I went to class, when I got home one of my little boys had fallen victim to some serious testicle biting  He's ok now, and I'm waiting to re-introduce till *everything* is all healed up. Just a heads up for you  some fighting is normal, to establish dominance and such, but make sure it doesn't get to serious


----------



## giddy4ratz (Sep 14, 2007)

Yaaaay! Hope everything stays well with them!


----------



## jorats (Sep 9, 2007)

That was a fast intro... keep an eye on them, just in case. 
Your new ones, is that 8 months or 8 weeks?


----------



## DonnaK (Feb 8, 2007)

How long were the new rats quarantined?


----------



## Iggy82 (May 13, 2007)

New rats were not quarantined at home. They have been an at animal shelter here in the UK for 4 weeks without any problems, thier previous owner had given up on them  They are about 8 months old so only a couple of months older than the current two.

They are still getting along fine, I'm a light sleeper and wake up if there is fighting going on, so is my girlfriend. The rats cage is at the end of our bed and there were no problems last night so lets hope it stays that way!

We're happy to adopt our two new children and spoil them so they don't have to get abandoned again, plus now they have two new friends!


----------



## jorats (Sep 9, 2007)

Some rats are just so easy to intro. You got a good one! Yay!


----------



## DonnaK (Feb 8, 2007)

I hope it all works out ok... don't forget to post pictures of the four new friends!


----------



## Iggy82 (May 13, 2007)

Here you go, couldn't get a good one of them all together but here's a pic of them all. Rahzel and Mylo (my original two) are Pink Eyed Whites / Hairless cross-breeds, they're brothers. My new two; Gunther & Lionel are of hooded breed and are also brothers, they are very similar, only have a few differen't marking to eachother, so similar though!


----------



## Inesita (Feb 18, 2007)

Aw, such cuties all of them! Mylo is adorable!


----------



## giddy4ratz (Sep 14, 2007)

Aaaaw what cutem's they are


----------



## jorats (Sep 9, 2007)

Adorable!!!


----------

