Moon's Graden

We have just acquired a rat from a friend.
He is about two years old and has never had any company in his cage.
I know it is better for rats to live together, but would it be OK to
introduce a companion (i.e. a younger rat) to him at this stage in his life.
He is a well mannered rat and to our knowledge has never bitten anyone in
his life, would he be so friendly towards another rat?

(P.S. grapes are OK for rats aren't they?)

I'm looking forward to see an answer to your question too, I just want to
say that i think that grapes are definitely ok for rats!

RATTUS

In this case I'd try a careful and slow introduction starting on neutral
territory.
 There's just no telling how they will respond. Could be just fine,
could be fur flying.

don't be afraid of some wrestling, it's normal. *** being drawn is
not!

Grapes do make a good treat for rats as long as you wash them first!
--
Met vriendelijke groeten/Best Regards
Jeroen Wijnands
http://www.moonsgarden.com/
http://www.moonsgarden.com/~wijnands
-- 80% spam kill ratio since december 1995 --
(replace wijnands.xs4all.nl with xs4all.nl to reply)

If I was in your situation, I would get a pair of buck kittens and be
prepared to have two separate cages in case the introduction didn't work
out.  If you get the kittens at the age of 6-8 weeks, you should have more
chance of a successful introduction to your older male.  The other advantage
in doing this is that when your older male comes to the end of his life, the
other two will still have each other for company.

As your boy has been on his own for most of his life, there is simply no way
of knowing how he is going to respond to newcomers, but your chances of
success are much improved if the newcomers are kittens.

The subject of rat introductions has been discussed many times in this group
and there is a ton of information on it.  If you decide to get some
companions for your rat and are unsure about the introduction process,
please come back for more information.  Alternatively, you can do a search
in www.deja.com/usenet using the keyword "introduction" or "introducing."

Hope this helps,
Sandra
<:3 )~~~

p.s. Grapes are fine for rats, but be sure to wash them first.  Haven't you
heard of  "the grapes of wrats"?  ;-)

It might be a good idea to get two young males and try to introduce them to
the older male - that way if they get along with one another the youngsters
won't be pestering him all the time and if you can't get them to live together
you don't end up with two solitary rats.

Grapes are fine, make sure you wash them before giving them to the rat
though.

Pete A.