Finding a friend

[Mousey]

On my boyfriends last day off we went to 5 diffferent petstores looking for another rattie to be friends with buddy. And the ratties that there we saw were either missing fur, bit us or there were none in the store. . So anyways I started thinking and decided I needed to get a bigger cage before I get buddy a friend. I am in the process of potty training Buddy. I think maybe another 2 weeks maybe sooner before he's trained all the way. So now I have a question. Could I just go ahead and wait for buddy to be potty trained before I get him a friend? Or will the chances of him not getting along with another male rat be higher?

[Vanilla_Rat]

You can get a friend now,because you still have to quarantine.If you get a friend now,by the time Buddy is potty trained,the quarantine should be just about over.

When you do go about intros,remember to do it on neutral ground.I am sure you know that already.How old is Buddy? If he is a little older,it may take a little longer for intros to work,but they canwork! I have introduced older lone males to other rats with no or little problem.

[Mousey]

I don't know how old he is. He came from a pet store. Thanks for all the help I really appreachiate it. I do know he is somewhat young now that I think about it. because he's still growing he's actually growing kinda fast. I'm just worried that when it comes time to introduce him to a friend he'd have spent too much time alone in his "territory" and become overly territorial. But I'll take it slow.

[mtmaughan]

I think that lone rats are generally very eager to share their space with others. Rats have been known to swim long distances, traversing islands in search of other rats. I think he will probably just be happy to have a friend. But of course, always introduce on neutral ground.

[Mousey]

^^^Cool -that's pretty intense swimming in search of friends. I'll def. be putting them in netural territory. . Wish me luck on finding buddy a friend/