# Who has both male and female rats?



## JBird (May 23, 2013)

How do you house them? Do you have a separate cage for your boys vs your girls? Are your boys neutered/girls spayed, and they stay in the same cage? Do you let them play together? 

I'm just so curious! I always figured rats were a one-gender at a time thing, due to the risk of accident litters... but I have seen a few people on here with both genders. 
Also: are your males more or less active/cuddly/messy than your girls?  If anyone can answer some of my questions, my curious mind would be very grateful. <3 Thanks!


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## Patientzero (Jan 12, 2012)

I have both genders, 2 cages and have haad one accidental litter due to a crappy cage(now have a new one). And no playing together, they can breed within seconds and you wouldnt even know. I originally wasnt going to have boys but my old room mate got 3 and then they ended up not feeding them, cleaning them, etc, so I took over and then when I left(after I called humane society on her for neglecting her dog) I brought them with me. My boys are verrryyyyyy lazy compaired to the girls, the girls need things constantly to keep them busy and entertained and the boys dont need it as much, but the boys are messier in the sense they wee and poo where they are standing when they want to and the girls go to the litter box, but the girls are messier where that rip things apart more and make general messes.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

Both males and females can be kept but need to be separated at all times if they're intact. When I had my two boys and four girls before my roommate adopted my boys I had them in the same room but separate cages. The reason I let her adopt my boys was because it was so hard to maintain two cages and have two separate playtimes, etc. Rats can mate in under 2 seconds so shared play time is a definitely no-no.

A lot of people neuter boys to keep them with girls, though, and I think this is generally a happy situation. Boys get on better with girls than other boys a lot of the time, so neutering and keeping a mixed gender colony is good for boys that have aggression issues or just don't seem to like other boys. 

My roommates' boys are slightly calmer and squishier than my girls, but my girls are more affectionate than her boys... it's all in the personality of the rat and the dynamic of the group.


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## FallDeere (Sep 29, 2011)

I have four males and four females. All unaltered and in separate cages.

They only meet each other through the bars of their cages. They NEVER play together. Rats can mate within seconds, without anyone even noticing, so I don't risk it.

My boys are definitely more cuddly and better lap-rats than my girls. However, "messy" is subjective. My girls make a mess of cardboard and other things scattered throughout the cage, but they use the litterbox more and keep things pretty "tidy" in certain ways. My girl Silver even picked up poop once and put it in the litterbox. My boys, however, poop everywhere. They don't tear cardboard up as much, or other things that the girls do, but there is always poop everywhere in their cages. Also, my girls store their food and my boys leave it out, where they then urinate around it and force me to throw some of it out. 

There really isn't _much _risk of accidental litters if one uses common sense and stays vigilant. Some cages can be chewed, letting the rats escape, but my cages are solid and unchewable (both genders have their own DCN). I used to leave cage doors open accidentally and would be playing with the boys, only to look over and realize the girls' cage door was open. That won't happen now that I have the girls in a Double Critter Nation (the doors are hard to forget to close...), so that risk is gone. My cages don't even touch. Most people say mating through bars is impossible, but I don't take the risk. The only time my rats are near each others' cages is when I have them in my lap or shoulder and let them sniff each other. I do worry about accidentally putting a rat in the wrong cage... One of my females, Eevee, is an agouti like one of my males, Meeko, so I worry about confusing them when I'm not thinking clearly and accidentally putting Eevee in with Meeko. I just always have to acknowledge what I'm doing when I'm putting rats in their cages, instead of doing it on autopilot and possibly messing up.


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

I have two girls and a neutered boy. All three of them live in one cage together, and neither is stinkier than the other. Actually one of my females is probably dirtier than my little boy. Lol.


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## JBird (May 23, 2013)

That's great! Good to know. I was figuring that you couldn't let them play together due to the super speedy humping. That's awesome that you all can manage your kids without any accident litters. @falldeere: I totally understand about the autopilot problem that could happen there. I would be so concerned about that myself, which is why I'm reluctant to get any unaltered males, even if they were in separate cages. I'm a bit scatterbrained so I would worry extensively.


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## Dana A (May 13, 2013)

I think this thread just ended any lingering thoughts I had about getting a male and fixing him to live with my girls. I am sooooooo happy that they are using the litter box say 97% of the time to poop. If a big squishy lazy boy comes around dropping bombs everywhere it could erase the cleanliness I have come to enjoy with my little ladies. They are the bomb! So far they haven't even so much as tasted a fleece liner or hammock! I am keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way. I am getting a system down where they only get peas and carrots during free range time and I pick up all the pea skins as they eat them. I give them clean stuff like sliced apples, kale or even bits of chicken breast for the first 4 days after cleaning out the cage. Then on the last 2 days before cleaning it again I give them corn on the cob, boiled eggs, roasted but unsalted peanuts and any other really messy foods. This way the cage stays nice and tidy. It's in my living room so I like it to be pretty clean and so far the girls seem to agree.


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## Ltukey (May 28, 2013)

I have both. I neuter males. I started because my now deceased gram loved the rats&took them out often&it was safer to avoil accidental litters but I love it&feel in an emergency if I had to mix genders in a carrier(say in case of fire)id be faster.


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## JBird (May 23, 2013)

@Dana: Hahah! You are lucky your girls are so clean! Mine have a litterbox and use it, but only about 80% of the time. I recently nixed the fleece liner on the bottom of the cage and put in a paper litter, and we are all much happier. It looks much tidier in there now! No torn up fleece, piles of poo rolling in the cage, etc. Poos just get buried in the litter (or in the litter box) and no more stinky pee smells that get soaked up into the fleece. It's great! 

I think having a boy might be in my future... I've fallen in love with one of the boys at my workplace, and I'm strongly considering adding him to my family... He would have to live in his own little cage for a while if I neutered him, plus he'd need to be QT'd. Fortunately I have plenty of time to spend with all my kids and he wouldn't be too lonely! Hmmm, decisions decisions!


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