loneley rosie rat

Question
hello, we are very loving and proud rat parents to rosie and rizzo. However about a week ago we had to make the heart breaking decision and have Rizzo put to sleep. she developed a respiratory infection. she had antibiotics from the vet but took a turn for the worse very quickly, so sad as she was only approx 19 months old.
I am keeping a close eye on rosie as she is alone now, she is eating some and drinking but dose not seem as active or as keen to come out the cage.
What i would like to know is should we buy her some more cage mates? how do we introduce them? will she get on with them? is she too old to have young ones around?
If you can send us any information regarding this matter i would really appreciate it. thanks lesley xx


Answer
Hi Lesley


First of all I am sorry for your loss.  Its always very heartbreaking to lose our rats and worse yet, at a young age.  Your girl was not even a senior rat yet! :(

To answer your question about a cagemate, yes you should get one and the sooner the better.  I have had the unfortunate experience of losing several rats to heartbreak.  What happens is, the rat is so lonely and misses their cagemate despite the fact we shower them with attention, they stress out to the point their immune system becomes weak and they are more open to illnesses.  Often the vet or the rat owner assumes the rat has simply come down with the same illness the rat that passed away had without realizing it is not the same thing and instead it is caused by stress due to heartbreak.
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I lost my beloved boy a few weeks ago and I was in a panic over the possible chance his brother would become very stressed. I have two other male rats that do not live with him so I thought I would let them get together even though the other two rats are my senior boys, closer to 3 years old and prefer sleeping over playtime. Santana never used to really bother them during his play time out of the cage but when we lost Socrates, Santana started to climb the other rats cage that is across the room from his cage in the critter room. They two old men will wake up and maybe give him a bit of attention, often slapping through the cage bars but Santana gets himself all worked up, angry actually, puffing his fur, peeing on the side of their cage, reaching in and stealing their snacks that they hoard by hiding them in the corner of the cage. Silly rats dont realize they arent hidden and Santana reaches in and takes the treats out and hides them in one of the play houses that are on the floor. I have a room dedicated to the rats and during playtime they have the run of most of the room that is not gated off from them. Playtime is always supervised because I believe they need interaction with us as much as possible too. Anyhow just this time teasing the old men rats seems to be enough to satisfy Santana but I wont disturb or stress the old men rats by moving them in with Santana. I think he will be ok this way but it has not always been this easy.
As for your girl, girls seem to accept new cagemates easier than the males.What I do advise is getting a pair of girls, younger than the rat you have now. Reason I say a pair of girls is that this way there should always be at least 2 rats should another pass on.
You should quarantine the new rats from your Rosie and keep them in another room.  More info on proper quarantine here:
http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/thequarantinepage.htm
After the isolation period is up, move the new girls into the room Rosie is in and put their cage side by side. This will let Rosie know there are new kids on the block! When Rosie comes out to play she will make a beeline for the young rats cage and vice verse. After a few days of this, you can let them check out each others cages. Take Rosie out of her cage and let her nose around the new rats cage and let the new rats in her cage.  They will spread their smells all over each others cages.
A day after that, hold Rosie and let the new rats sniff her etc...
finally you can let them down together but dont panic if they wrestle and tumble for a bit, sniffing each other and pinning each other down. This is normal behavior.
I would say that the new girls can be young rats, but not tiny babies. A few months old is fine. Rosie will have the upper hand and they will let her.

Hope this helps and good luck!