Introduction

Question
Hello,

I have an adult female rat, Squeak, who is about 2 years old.  She was a rescued rat (not wild type, but found in a lawn) and has been raised alone for the past year and a half since I have had her.  She has always been very sweet and loving, never aggressive towards me.  I bought a baby rat to introduce to her, and of course have not put them together, but Squeak is already showing a lot of aggression.  She has never been around other rats since I have had her, and I'm worried she may be too old to introduce to a baby. Since I have brought the new rat's cage into the room and let Squeak sniff around the new rats cage she has been very aggressive, biting me anywhere she smells the new rat (very hard! definitely would be going for the baby's neck to kill...pretty sure she got to my thumb bone..and drew blood twice on my chest where the new rat had been lying in my shirt).  Not only am I nervous to continue the introduction(it would be awhile before progressing anyway) but I'm nervous to hold my own rat, who has never been even the slightest bit violent in the past, but instead is usually sweet and constantly grooming me.  Is Squeak too old for a friend? I really want her to get to socialize in her old age.

Answer
Hi there

Truthfully?  Squeak needs to just be happy solo. You are risking the younger rat by putting her in with Squeak and also it may really stress her out so badly her immune system may weaken from stress and at 2 years old, she may become ill.   Instead, buy another rat the same age as the baby rat you have and let them live together instead.  To be honest, since the life span of rats is 2 to 4 years, with 3 being the average, the second rat your bringing in will just face being alone once Squeak passes on, so its best just to make the new rat happy now and pair her off with someone else.  Meanwhile, after holding the new rats, be sure to wash up so Squeak doesnt get all flustered smelling the rats on you. Change clothes after holding the new rats too, since rats have very very good sense of smell. Also never let her near the cage where the other rats are incase a tail is hanging out. She may just pull the tail and cause injury. I say this all from experience.  

But my honest opinion is to just get another rat for the baby rat, same age and same sex of course, do it soon though rather than later so the new rat doesnt get used to living solo.  I have had many rats live solo, mostly at their own choosing due to fights etc....and did just fine.  I know they say rats do better in pairs, but if it has been alone most of its life, its just too stressful to get them together with another rat.