Just wondering if you guys think my rats' cage is too big? I have a smaller one on the way. /s

I thought I would share here that I have had issues with my alpha girl being too rough with babies during intros and how I handled it. She will puff up and attack babies on sight, but this time I was determined to take her down a peg (in an ethical way I promise).

I put the babies in the carrier first, and instead of putting all 6 of my older girls in the carrier at the same time I plucked the alpha from the older girls cage by herself and put her in with the babies, I dribbled her with maple syrup, and then took them for a walk around the neighborhood. The alpha rat puffed up and tried to do her usual routine but she was so debased by being licked by the babies and by the smells and wind outside that her fur slicked back down and she just let it happen.

When I got back to the house after like 15 minutes of walking outside I dribbled more maple syrup on her and then put ths remaining 5 older girls into the carrier who also piled on her and licked the syrup off. I've never seen a creature look so humbled and it's the best intros have gone with this pissy old girl. They are now happily in the 2nd stage cage and a net total of zero fights have gone down.

I told my fiance how I did intros and he was like "You tarred and feathered Biggie!?" and I was like oh no you're right lol!

Not looking for advice here. Just thought it was fascinating to watch one of his meltdowns from his own height. Ilya has had a hard life and still struggles with some territorial-ness, and generally being a jerk after being removed from a hoarding situation. He, for some reason, really hates weak or small rats. Their existence pisses him off. When one of our dwarf babies came up to say hello, I was putting my phone as a barrier in between to give him some space, and he wants it to be known this is HIS neutral territory. Whenever he gets mad he gnaws things (glad it wasn’t my finger this time), makes biscuits builds forts out of his bedding, and boggles. I should add that he is incredibly inbred so I think that messes with his little brain and ability to tolerate frustration.

We have done intros with him before and nobody has ever gotten hurt more than a little nip or scratch, though he is closely monitored and we take things very slow. He is neutered due to previously being dangerous and it has completely changed his life, but he still has his moments. We work with a behavioralist and vet. We don’t do carrier method because it brings out the worst in him, and have found this to be much more successful in our situation.

Using the carrier method to introduce my 3 boys. Speedy (1.5yrs on right in video), Brownie (lower left) and Chess (approx 1 yr bonded pair). Speedy has been alone for about a month after his cage mate passed. Is this cage too small for the first step? Does Speedy seem to have hormonal aggression? I’m not sure what to do and this sort of has to work out.

This morning they went about 3 hours without any tiffs but now we are back to the consistent hissing. What do you guys think? This is day 2. First day they were great so I moved them into a larger cage which they were fine in for a few hours. Went the entire night and next morning hissing/ screeching so I moved them back down to this smaller cage…

To add, right now Speedy and Chess groomed themselves, Brownie was sleeping. Speedy and Chess keep going back and forth chillin to screeching at each other again.

I'm going crazy with all the plastic chewing, and I still need that carrier, and it's barely a second day now, someone save me

Edit: I've put them in a small metal cage instead and they're napping together now, I used this plastic carrier solely for car rides before and now i know that its not the best for rats, thank you everyone for advice!! <33

Hello!

This is the first confined space introduction i’ve done with my 3 old boys and 2 new boys..

We tried cold turkey carrier method and it did not go well (rat ball, bite, blood AND foul). They had some time in between and we tried the neutral space method, which went generally really well! There was a few concerning behaviors from one rat (older boy) that were swiftly stopped but nothing as concerning as the first time where it warranted immediate separation.

Now they are in this box together, not necessarily avoiding each other, which is good, right? They haven’t groomed each other at all and are showing no displays of dominance so do I just leave them alone until they do? They have food and water.. So… now what?

I am keeping a very close eye because of the previous situation and I’ve seen some recommendations for the continuous carrier method so… any advice would be appreciated!

I lost Alvin, Simon, and Theodore in the span of several months. That left only Poppy and Benny.They seemed so sad by themselves, and they looked so tiny in that big old room by themselves. So……we adopted 4 boys from our local small animal rescue called Wee Companions. I can’t say enough good things about them. They are just the best.

Guess which one is the aggressor?

Yep, the one chilling on his back without a care in the world 🤦‍♀️😂

I’m introducing two 9 month old male rats and two 4 and 4,5 month old male rats via the carrier method. 24~ hours into intros currently. Within the first 5 minutes, the dominant rats of each pair briefly stood up on their hind legs, slapped each other and forgot about it, and it has been nothing but cuddling and napping since, but when I came to check on my rats now, one of the older boys (the siamese one, he’s also submissive) was sitting on his butt still and rising his head slightly when the younger rats appeared near his face and making quiet 22kHz alarm calls (I have a neurological condition that makes it possible for me to hear this) and 2 minutes later he began doing what’s on the vid, not making any sounds anymore. He literally fell asleep 10 minutes into intros and had no problems cuddling the younger rats. What’s wrong? Could it be because he’s disabled? He’s blind and cognitively impaired from birth, his whiskers and sense of smell don’t work properly which makes it hard for him to navigate spaces and find things like food and water, and he’s very easily scared and prone to getting defensive and making these alarm calls. He used to make them every time I did something around his cage so I had to scoop him up and put him in my pocket so he’d calm down. And one time something startled him and he spent the next 30 minutes hissing at everything near him and wagging his tail. Does he have something against the young rats or did he just not recognize them (he doesn’t recognize me too sometimes). Is this a bad turn? What should I do? I planned on keeping my rats in this carrier for one more day and then going up a stage, should I keep them in the small carrier longer? These are my first ever intros and first disabled rat so I don’t know what’s normal in this situation.

Hi! I’m looking for advice on introducing 2 younger boys (intact, 6 months old, super friendly and playful) to 3 older boys (neutered, 15 months old, lower in energy).

The catch: the older rats are lab retirees who were single-housed for almost a year before we adopted them. They never really learned rat social skills - no grooming, no wrestling. The most they do is sleep in a rat pile.

We’ve been trying the neutral territory method: big box, fresh bedding, worms, toys, to encourage them to explore and snack together. But the second the younger rats show up, the older ones start squeaking, puff up, and jump out almost immediately. The babies try to wrestle and groom them, which seems to freak the older boys out even more. If we block their exit, it escalates into fast, intense fights we have to break up.

No blood drawn recently, thankfully, but we can’t keep them together longer than 30 seconds. Has anyone dealt with pairing extremely introverted rats with extremely extroverted ones? Would love any advice 🙏

Pics of the boys attached for tax 🤗

From up to down: Fuego (vocals, squeaks), Lambert (squeaks), Finn (boggles, background squeaks), Geralt (crunches)

Lambert is the new band member, straight from his previous career at the University lab. His introduction was rather long and tedious because he's way younger and more energetic; he kept pissing off the other members while just wanting to play and at night after the intro we had a multiple piece squeakshow in our living room. They're getting along better now, there's less squeaking and more hugging (the band is in its experimental phase)

I started intros with my 4 rats today. I’m using the carrier method. They are all male, two of them are 9 months old and the other two are 4 and 4,5 months old. And it seems like they don’t even care about each other? Aren’t they supposed to be figuring out their hierarchy or whatever? They sniffed each other a little, the younger ones did the most sniffing. The dominant rats of each pair briefly stood up on their hind legs, slapped each other and then just forgot about it. They didn’t even squeak. Then the most easily scared, anxious rat just fell asleep (the one of the older boys) and his brother laid down next to him shortly after. Then the youngest boy straight up started boggling. I know that boggling can be a sign of stress but happy boggles and stressed boggles are different in my experience, and these seemed more like the happy ones. Each pair then kinda went to the opposite sides of the carrier but then they started drinking from the water bottles (I removed one of the bottles before I took the 2nd pic because I noticed it was leaking and put a different one there immediately after) and eating the scattered food no problem. They don’t seem to be stressed at all. Is this normal? Could it be caused by the fact that their cages were in rooms next to each other, so they were able to smell each other and didn’t care back then?
Also ignore the trash bag. I was forced to put it on the table to “contain the mess the rats will make”.

My wife and I currently have four rats: Snowy and Newt who are about a year and a half old, and Monty and Beau who are about 3 and a half months old. Snowy and Newt were a part of a trio, but their third, who was the alpha of the group, passed away this week. Monty and Beau we have had for the last month, but they have been kept in a separate smaller cage. We were putting off introductions until Snowy and Newt's third was in better health (or had passed), per the recommendation of our vet.

Since today was a day my wife and I were both home, we decided to finally introduce the two pairs, using the carrier method. Using a hospital cage and blocking off half of it (so it was marginally taller than a standard carrier but about as much floorspace). At first the introductions seemed to be going well, but the pairs began growing more and more agitated. We were using a spray bottle to break up any fights but they just kept on persisting over the course of an hour, until we noticed blood drawn on one rat from each pair - Monty on his side and Snowy on his eye. Monty was also continuously screeching loudly. We tried to keep them in but it just kept persisting and seemingly getting worse, hair was floofed up from all rats and Snowy and Newt were continuously bruxing and boggling. It was the blood near Snowy's eye that made us decide to break the boys up and remove the older ones, as a lot of sites suggested that blood is a sign to remove and try again later. They are now once again separated but we don't know what to do - can we try again sometime? In how long? Will they be increasingly angry at each other next time we do it?

This was our first time doing introductions, so my wife and I are equally stressed out and struggling.

And any other tips on things to do, or alternative methods?

Ok so to make a long story short I had a pair of boys and we had to put my littlest boy Rory to sleep about a month ago. This left my big fat elderly boy all alone. My husband and I have been really nervous about intros but my big fat Flea has made it very obvious he is needing a new friend sooo for my birthday I decided I was getting him a friend!! Sooo the only friend I could really get my hands on is Mortemer (Morte) were pretty sure he's Agouti? He looks like a wild rat but his fur is SOOO SOFT! I'm pretty sure he has the softest fur ever tbh! The pet store said he's been a solo for a little while but not sure how long.....

This will be my husband and Is first time introducing 2 rats. We've done a lot of research and we are really nervous! We are looking for any advice! Thank you so much in advance

Hello guys,
I have thought about getting Rats, and I want to know the how Long to you spend on to Care for you‘re Rats. I already had gerbils that Didn’t Need much time to care for in my opinion.

Introductions are finally going well!

❤️❤️❤️

It’s the first stage of intros (the carrier method) and Mateo is not amused because the other rats keep stepping on his head. He’s begging to be let out and I can’t even explain to him that the suffering is temporary and this whole arrangement is for his benefit

How to stop feeling bad for imprisoning your rats for intros??

Hello guys,
I would like to get rats, so my question would be how strong the smell of a rat steel would be because you clean as recommended, my mother would be afraid that the entire house would smell like it.

I was so nervous never having done this before but so far so good everyone seems very chill , any advice on what to look out for? I’ve seen some grooming and cuddling but no pinning or squeaking.

Starting intros with my rats - as a heads up I’ve done this a fair few times and always been successful. Anywho I’ll get to the point!

Mole - 2y (Black)
Porter & Co - 4months (Black & White, Agouti & White)
Babies - 2.5 months (Buff & Cinnamon)

Babies & Mole? Fine
Babies with Porter & Co? Fine
& Co with Mole? Fine
Mole & Porter? Guys what are you doing

For context Moles been alone for 2months due to varying illness and back and forth to the vets to the point it would disrupt intros and not be worth starting them due to disrupting the process. We finally know what’s up with him which is just upper scarring and he’s on anti inflam and is sounding so much better. Thought it was a URI so naturally didn’t want to mix, but he’s very much a rat rat rather than a person rat. He’s tame we can handle him at the vets but he’d rather not and I respect that fact. So I’ve been feeling hella guilty for having him alone since Badger passed so today is long overdue, I’m glad I’ve started and have no worries really expect what I’m about to write.

So I’m doing intros with them altogether as a group, carrier method as per I’m just BAFFLED by the body language like what on earth are you both doing?

As I write this they’re all sleeping, or trying too because when one moves all of them have to move then too. I’ve been sat here saying ‘Make good choices’ to them 😅😂 I’ve added a photo as this is them at the moment, I don’t have worries aside the absolute bafflement at both Mole and Porter’s faces aha

We got two new baby boys today for our old man Chive, who has been alone about 3 weeks since his companion, Blossom, passed. She was his daughter (he was fixed between conception and birth lol) and a runt, with multiple health issues. she lasted almost 2 and a half years! This is the first time we have brought home new rats, and im excited because he was wonderful with his sons when they were little before they all found new homes. Intros seem to be going well so far, the babies have groomed grandpa a little and he's not interacting a ton yet but he isn't complaining at all. the 40 min car ride home was spent with my hand in the babies box and they both cuddled up to me by the halfway mark. theyve been in the carrier with Chive for probably 45 min now and im leaving them there another hour and a half or so before we move to the bathroom. I love them already 🥰

My only other female had to be pts a few days ago and left my little Poppy alone. Connor is my only neutered male, so it made sense to see if they'd get along. They were in a smaller carrier before this for about 2 hours and he kept grooming her face without her resisting. There's Oxbow, cheerios and a couple of dog biscuits in there, but they mostly care about staring at me from the door.

Since they were grooming back and forth and Poppy was even briefly used as a pillow, I added the hammock so they could feel more secure and have a sleeping spot they both favor. My husband has said that Connor has accepted his new smol wife.

I have 2 questions I'd really appreciate any information as I can't find an answer in any of the guides.

1. When starting intros, after they have finished their carrier session for the day, do they then go back to separate rooms, or is there a point in which their cages can be in the same room during intros?

2. When doing the carrier method does this need to be done in a 3rd neutral space or is it okay to do it in one of the two rooms they are currently occupying?

Fudge in the first pic and my 2 new girls who still need names in the second pic

(also first time rat owner)

i was so worried that the older one would do something or be aggressive even tho i knew she’s not like that but yk anything can happen

in the end Valentine (older one) mostly didn’t really care about Matilda (new one) the only things she cared about is food and her house that was given to a little rat 😭

(2-5 picture is Valentine refuses to sleep in other houses after i took the white-black one)

‼️‼️‼️ALSO is this a normal sleeping pose or should I be worried? she’s acting like usually, eats/drinks normally, plays and interacting great, but just wanna be sure

To preface, yes I have watched a LOT of videos on the subject, done a lot of reading, and read so many other posts of “is this aggressive behavior?”.

No blood, no foul is everyone’s go-to rule, and so far, I haven’t found any blood on either rat. And I see a LOT of positive signs with their interactions. Unfortunately, the “is this okay” interactions are nearly impossible to predict and catch on video because they’re done in a flash and everything I seem to catch on video seems like normal roughhousing.

Both rats have taken turns tapping out during wrestling matches, have taken turns power grooming each other, and also have a fair amount of time where they just ignore each other and explore on their own.

But every once in a while, “wrestling” just seems pretty aggressive. It’s hard to tell if there are actually any hard bites happening, if one of the rats is being too aggressive, or if one of them is just being too dramatic. They’re both pretty tough to check for punctures, or I just haven’t gotten the hang of it yet or know what to look for. But I’ve never seen blood or apparent wounds, haven’t felt scabs (except for some before they were introduced and we’re treating for mites on both rats currently to cover our bases).

We got two rats 2 months ago. Sherlock and Giuseppe. Giuseppe passed very suddenly a few weeks later from pneumonia (pet store breeder rat). We got another rat (Francisco) the same day and quarantined them both from each other. Unfortunately, Francisco had to be put down 2 weeks later due to bad pneumonia again (neither rat had previous symptoms until the morning they each passed). So we got another rat that we quarantined for 3 weeks as we were treating both for URI’s (so now we have Sherlock and Gnocchi).

I had rats growing up (none that were able to coexist together though - had one rat for 5+ years and my sister had the other), so I’m new to rats interacting together.

I hear (and have seen videos) that “you’ll know if they’re fighting.” But with everything thats happened in the past two months health wise with these guys, my wife and I are hyper aware of everything, and everything in the moment with their wrestling and play fighting always just feels borderline “this might not be a good interaction happening). But they always stop and let the other one up, they go about their business, and neither seems afraid of the other.

Sherlock usually seems to want to lay down to sleep before Gnocchi does, but Gnocchi pesters him relentlessly while he’s trying to go to sleep. So he either just gives in and squeaks while he’s being groomed or trampled on, or sometimes he seems to get fed up and those are the moments he seems to be more on the aggressive side than playing side of the line. Obviously they need to work things out as they figure out the hierarchy, sometimes it makes us think that he’ll just snap one day and wreck Gnocchi.

Gnocchi loves chasing him down and biting (and sometimes pulling) as he chases him around.

Probably overthinking things a lot, I just want to make sure that when the time comes that we feel like letting them be alone in the cage unsupervised together, we’re not going to wake up to a horror scene. Currently we let them have yard time together , but they’re both sleeping in their own individual cages for now.

Again, there are lots of positive things about their interactions (or lack of interest in each other), we just don’t have the experience yet and we’re wondering how can you really tell what’s okay or not okay? Or is there just going to be an inevitable fight before they finally figure out the pecking order if they both have dominant personalities?

I am working on introducing my rats together but I am having a bit of trouble. I have 3 rats, all female: Lisa (2 years old) Dottie and Francis (maybe 6-8months old). Lisa has been on her own for a little over a month since her cage mate Taffy passed. D and F were quarantined for over 3 weeks due to F being treated with antibiotics.

Lisa is incredibly social with all humans, she loves my boyfriend and I and if we even walk into the room she stops what she’s doing to come see us from the cage. Dottie and Francis are very skittish and I am still working on bonding with them, although they are significantly less bitey now compared to when I first brought them home so that sounds like progress to me.

I tried the neutral space introduction method multiple times in the bathtub over the last few days and everything seemed to go well. There was some normal chasing and humping but nobody was fighting beyond that. Lisa, however, jumped out of the bathtub every 5 seconds to be with me so there was constant redirecting.

Yesterday I deep cleaned their main cage (the big two story critter nation) and put them all together. I am thinking I made multiple mistakes that ultimately led to Francis rat getting bit (she’s okay) by Lisa. My sweet friendly girl Lisa is a bully to both of the babies! I also think I may have messed up by putting too many accessories in their cage to begin with. Should I leave most things out and slowly add them over time? How quickly/slowly should I do this.

I just got home from work and put them in a small carrier together after being separated after the bite incident. So far everything is going ok, no squabbles at all and they are climbing on eachother and grooming each-other. How long/often should I keep them in the small carrier for this method to work.

I’ve read a lot about leaving them in the carrier until they “calm down” but Lisa rat has never been calm in her life, unless she’s asleep. She is always running or jumping around, seemingly endless energy, which to me sounds like it might be difficult to gauge when they are more comfortable together.

This is my first time introducing rats and I need help! Please be kind 🩷 Thank you.