Pretty much any rats can be introduced to each other, though it's easiest when they are young females, and hardest when adult males. Of course, some rats just don't like strangers, and may take a grudge to any other rats you can try to show them. Sage was wonderful with Nibbles, but tried her hardest to kill every other rat she met, so you never know. There are a few things to keep in mind; as much as we all love our rats, we have to back off sometimes and let a fight happen to let them be happy later. This was the hardest part for me; my baby rat looked so helpless and tiny, and those big rats were beating her up constantly! Those pitiful little squeaks are hard to ignore, but usually it just means "I give up!", not "I'm dying, I'm dying!" A really aggressive rat, like Shine, in my case, shows several signs of her ferocity that we can recognize. The fur on their back raises up, they swing a little from side to side, and make little huffing noises. Shine is just like a train when she's upset, she puffs up and charges, no questions asked! Watch out for this kind of a problem. Anyway, the first step is to give the new rat a cage to stay in, obviously. I used a spare cage I had set aside for the "sick" cage for the other rats in case something serious came up that was contagious. Put the cages close together so they can see, smell, and hear each other. If you have a wire cage, be careful not to get it close enough that fingers, noses, or tails might get bitten. Keep at this stage until the rats don't particularly seem to notice each other anymore. Then, put a little perfume, or vanilla, or something on the new rat and one of the resident rats to disguise their real smell and make them smell the same. Put them in a neutral place they aren't use to playing in, like the bathtub. Hopefully they won't seem to really mind each other. With my rats, they ignored the baby almost completely, they were so busy trying to jump out! Then, if this goes well, try the same thing on your lap, so the resident knows that you have already accepted the other rat. Be very careful to watch for signs of aggression. If there is still no serious reaction, you can try to put the new rat in a place the resident IS used to playing; the floor, a chair, a couch, whatever. Fighting may occur here, but unless blood is drawn it should be alright. When the rats are okay with each other at this stage, then you can start putting the new rat in the resident cage. Rearrange the cage if you can, so the resident won't feel quite so territorial, and remove boxes or tubes that the new rat could be backed into. Put them together and watch. If the resident seems especially vicious, take the baby out, but in most cases it will just prolong the introduction. When I did this with Twilight, Streak, and Summit, Twilight was a little scared, obviously, and she just sat in the corner and stared. Streak was curious why she was there, but that was about it. Summit beat her up a couple of times, then ignored her. A small fight broke out every now and then for a while, but for the most part all three were as happy as can be, sleeping together in a Graham Crackers box in their cage. Shine, on the other hand, still ferociously attacked at the slightest whiff of Twilight on my fingers, so I was getting a little upset when she didn't seem to be getting better. Finally, I got annoyed enough to email the people subscribed to the "ratlist", a group of rat lovers that email each other with questions or stories about rats. They suggested to keep Shine completely isolated for at least a month, possibly more, then put her back with the other three. This way, Shine hears them playing and gets lonelier and lonelier as time goes on, and Twilight gets firmly established in the rat society. When Shine came back, the theory was that the other rats would help defend Twilight now that they were buddies, and Shine wouldn't be the one defending the territory, she'd be invading it instead. Luckily for me, it worked just that way! Shine got bored out of her mind by herself, and I was just barely strong enough to keep her separate for a month. Then, I started trying to introduce her again, and it worked much better. Shine was willing to listen at last! Actually, though, once I got her to the stage where she tolerated Twilight, I broke the rules and put her in the cage without even considering the possibility of other problems. Turns out, Streak and Shine were in for a major power struggle. They fought frequently for a week or two before they finally settled down. But once it was all over, they all slept together in one big, happy pile. :)
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