Rat Question?

Question

Can two male rats live together if they haven't been together their whole lifes?

Answer 1

Introduce them in neutral territory first. When putting them in the one cage, change the litter and clean to remove the scent from the one rat, then place items from both rats with their scents on them in there. By mixing the scents hopefully they will think both belong there. They will wrestle or even fight for dominance of the cage, so watch for this. If the fighting gets too rough where any injuries are occuring, remove the injured one and you'll need to keep them apart. We have put 2 young males together in the same cage and they still will wrestle without injuries to each other. They are only 2 1/2 months or so old.

I copied/pasted this from the below site for you. It also has other good information on rats.

"It is easiest to introduce rats to their companions when they are young (preferably under 10 weeks old). However, even adult rats can be introduced to companions. When introducing adult rats, first clean out the cage thoroughly to remove territorial scents from the resident rat. Dab both rats with perfume or vanilla essence (to disguise their smells) and introduce them on neutral territory, not in a cage which one recognises as its own. There will usually be some fighting for the first few days after they are introduced. This is not usually serious, but to avoid it you may prefer to introduce them gradually, letting them first just sniff each other and then work up to putting them in the same cage over about a week. It is harder to introduce adult male rats to other adult males, and such introductions need to be done over several weeks. It is usually fairly easy to introduce an adult male to a young baby male of 6-10 weeks, although the introduction must be carefully supervised."

Answer 2

You should ignore every response that says you should not put them together. Rats are extremely social creatures, and will adapt well togther, particularly in same sex environments. I have three male rats that live together, and they were each introduced at various times and ages, without incident.

As someone else mentioned, have them introduced on neutral ground (i.e. big box). Completely clean out the current cage, and fill it with fresh litter and bedding. They might fight at first, but this is natural. Once dominance is established, they will live happily together. My rats never had a problem getting to know one another, and began playing together immediately. They even enjoy the company of my rabbit.

Answer 3

I wouldn't suggest it, but rats are extremely social animals.
You could try it, put them together for a little while, in a neutral place, another cage or area that neither of them has been that way territory isn't an issue and then watch them carefully.
If they dont fight, put them in cage togther and again watch them.

If they begin to fight, seperate them and you could continue trying but its eather gunna work or its not.

Hope that helped, good luck with you rats

Answer 4

In most cases no two males will fight.
When I had a pet shop I basically would keep any new shipment of rodents seperate from the others.
Most petshops will reduce the price of the older ones for this reason.

Answer 5

Its best not to risk putting them together. Theres alwats a chanc that they won't fight, but they more than likely will. You can gradually get them to like each other though. If you want more info then just eamil me at [e-mail]

Answer 6

Generally, they will fight...a lot. Two males do not get along as well as two females can, and sometimes two females will fight too.

Answer 7

They will have to establish dominance and usually it isn't good for the loser. I hope it works out for you.

Answer 8

yes aculy they sould have a pair it is more common and is healthyer for them