First pet Rat

Question
I bought my husband a female fancy Rat for christmas...I bought a Large cage...My son would like one too...Can I put two female Rats in the same cage? What about behavior, will it be harder to tame her if there is two of them? She's very friendly and tame now and she was in a cage with 5 other females...She comes right too my husband and son when they open her cage door and we've only had her 5 days...

Answer
Hi Jackie

CongRATS on the new rat!  As for having rats together, its almost an absolute MUST that you have at least two rats (same sex) together. They are very social and highly intelligent little pets. You will be so shocked in a few more months when you stand back and think about how different they are than you ever thought before.  They learn to come on command, are able to understand many many words, learn their name, they can and should be litter trained, become very attached to their keeper, etc... but they also are fragile little individuals as well when concerning their health.
Please go to my website. Its aimed for the novice rat owner especially, discussing everything from proper diet and husbandry, facts on how cedar and pine bedding is dangerous for all small mammals, articles about common but serious health ailments all rat owners should know about, the importance of having an exotic specialist name on hand just in case you should need a vet in emergencies. Also what may be of interest to you is the discussion on female rats and how mammary tumors are so common especially when they reach menopause age which is around 18 months old.  Prevention includes spaying the females at a young age. Also, please feel free to write me any time for anything you may need to ask either here or at Askcritterkeeper@yahoo.com

Here is the URL to my site. I think you will really enjoy it. I get alot of mail from rat owners, esp new rat owners that boasted how helpful my site is and that makes me very very happy. My goal is and always has been to help educate rat owners to ensure these little wonderful pets have a long and wonderful and healthy life.

Url tomy site,  Critter city for rat lovers :
http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/allaboutratcare.htm

Please write back with a follow up!!

Regards

Sandra