Two males in a cage?

[RestlessRobie]

OK so I know the norm is to add a 1.3 or 1.4 colony but I have a male I want to hold back and add to the mix but without making a new rack or finding a new cage he would be a lonely little guys for a while. He is about 8 weeks old and I was wondering if I could add him to my 1.2 tub until I can build the bigger rack. I know the males will need time to adjust to each other so for know I moved my 2 prego girls to a birthing tub and have the 2 males together they are doing OK a little bit of the usual adjusting and a little fighting but the settled down fairly quickly and are actually sleeping together in the cage. So my question is this. If I introduce a female to this mix will the males fight over her and I risk injured rats or should they be ok with a 2.2 or 2.3 ratio? Thanks in advance as always guys

[satomi325]

It varies from individual to individual. Most fight.
Males will usually get along if they grew up together. If there's a female in the mix, its typical for them to fight.

However, I've had 3 breeding males in a tub with a female and they didn't fight. I usually put extra weaned/small males into my breeder male tub as grow outs. I miss sexed one and she eventually went into heat. All of the 3 breeder males took turns mating with her. I was really shocked. None of them fought at all.... This was definitely not a normal outcome.

I wouldn't really recommend putting multiple mature males together with a mature female.


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[dillan2020]

It's hard to say but most likely they will fight. i had 2 males that would live together fine in a seperate cage but if i added them together into a females cage they tore each other up.

[SlitherinSisters]

I haven't had much luck housing two males with females. I have a tub specifically just for males that I'm not using. They do fine when kept away from the girls. I've had males be killed or dang near close to death when females are in the same tub.

[carlson]

How many males can you house together with no females in there? Like could I house four or five together in a grow out tub??( sorry dont mean to hijack at all)

[satomi325]

How many males can you house together with no females in there? Like could I house four or five together in a grow out tub??( sorry dont mean to hijack at all)

As long as they have the appropriate space, you can house as many males as you want together.

[RestlessRobie]

Yes I house 6-10 males in my grow out tubs all the time. I just wanted to keep this guy for a breeder and needed the tub I was housing him in but it sounds like I am going to have to gas him and wait till I get more space