General Rat keeping question

okay, I have a pet rat, Oreo. He started out as a feeder, but became a keeper. he is under 6 months old and adult size already. Two weeks ago, I purchased two weaned rats as feeders and they were not eaten :/. So now, my question is, can I put the two weaned rats in with Oreo or will he harm them? We do interact with Oreo on a daily basis, but I do know that he needs a rat buddy for optimal health and well being. any advice is greatly appreciated and thanx in advance.

Doris, other than any worry you might have about the health of the two incoming rats, the only other concern would be gender. If they are all males then it will likely be fine, however, if either is a female then normally males will fight over her.

I would suggest if you are going to house them together you do a thorough cleaning of Oreo's home, then once everything is clean and relatively scent free (food, water, bedding, etc.) put the two new rats in first. Let them have a chance to lay down a bit of their scent and get the lay of the land then put Oreo in. Just as you put him in offer them all some sort of interesting treat they can eat seperately (pieces of apple, a bit of dry cereal, whatever). That should distract them from any serious arguing as rats are highly food driven and they'll be far too busy snarfing down the treat to do much fussing.

Make sure though that there are things like empty paper towel tubes, etc. that the smaller rats can fit in but Oreo can't - just in case trouble does start up. Don't be surprised if there is some scuffling, boxing, rolling about, squeeking - that's normal rat getting to know each other stuff and they do have to establish who is boss. Only step in if it starts to get nasty or blood is flowing. I usually only have to smack the enclosure hard and yell BAD RATS for them to break it up.

Occasionally you will have a rat (male or female) that just cannot get along with others but it's not terribly commonplace.

thanx Jo. I'm still unsure of the sex of the two smaller one but I'll see what they are and work it out from there. I didn't think it would be a big issue but I had to double check first. :D I'll post pics later if I can when they are all settled together.

Should be easy to tell at that age, Doris. Grasp the rat under and behind it's front legs. Hold it head up, butt swinging down.

Dangly bits = it's a boy!

No dangly bits = it's a girl!

:D

another way to tell for sure sex is only females have nipples 12 to be exact