Yeah, so I was thinking about it even more. (You know, about getting my rat a friend.) And I came up with two good reasons why I should get her a friend (besides everyone saying she needs one).

1. I often leave for the weekend and go over my parents' house. I used to leave my hamster home because she prefer not to be touched anyways. I was thinking, I'd have to take Juliet with me every time (now an hour drive won't be to nice for her every other weekend or so.). So in reality, that is not a good idea, I'd have to leave her home. Now, food and water wise she would be fine. But, she would be lonely. However, with a friend she would be fine. They could keep each other company. So that problem is solved.

2. My boyfriend is a hog. I bought her for me. Not only because I love rats but because he is at work and I am home alone (when I am not at school). I get lonely and she helps by keeping me company. Well, when he is here and I want to hold her he always takes her away and holds her. It angers me because I wanted to spend time with her and he won't let me hold her. Or he will want to have her walk all over him. It's like, go away, I just wanted to cuddle my baby for a minute then we can play with her. So, with two rats, he can have his own. I told him this and told him he can pick out the new female and he can name her. (Most likely I will name her though, trying to think of something that would go with Juliet's name, you know, in the Shakespeare theme. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!)

So yeah. I bet everyone is happy to hear that. I will be getting her either this weekend or next weekend. Hopefully sooner than later. Next weekend the latest.

Ok, now I know I have to quarantine the new rat. I have another tank that the other rat can stay in, plus everything she needs. You guys said a week. Now here are my questions. I could look up online and try to trust what people say. But I would rather ask the people who have lots of rats.

1. Do they have to be in separate rooms or can I have the tanks next to each other so they can see each other? (You would think that anything the new one may have could be air born so separate rooms might be a good idea. Or am I being too paranoid?)

2. You guys mentioned slow introductions, like small play dates. Now, I am thinking, that since I am quarantining her that it should be done after the week. But by the way you guys talked it seemed like it would be done during the week. So, what is the answer? During the week or after the week? I am not really worried about them fighting, they will both be babies and are still very young so they should get along fine. Plus they will most likely be litter mates.

3. Anything else I should know or take into consideration?

name her ophelia

it's better to qt for a week or two and then start intros. that also gives you time to bond with the ratty before you have to share her

rodentz will be happy

name her rodentz ahhahaha

I would but I have a cat named Ophelia (even though she lives at my parents' (I had to leave her, she is terrified of my boyfriend and they have her brother who she has been with all her life.) it would be odd. Plus, my boyfriend hates her (she is shy and hisses at him and he is not patient and get angry) and I don't want him to be reminded of her.
Ok, that's what I thought. It didn't make any sense to me to keep her quarantined and they give her visits while she is being quarantined.
Ahhh... No. -.-

I was thinking, I might pretend she is a boy and name her Romeo. Haha, that is what my father does with his gray rat. He calls her paws and always refers to her as a boy. He says he just thinks that she acts like a boy. Or maybe, even though this is not Shakespeare, I might name her Guenevere.

Guenevere i REALLY like that name

I know a ferret with that name, I really like it too.

I'm glad you're getting a friend for Juliet.

Okay quarantining for 2wks in a separate room. right next to each other is too close if either one has a problem. Some real sticKLers on quarantining say separate houses, but that isn't realistic for most people. So separate rooms and if you handle either one you should atleast wash hands before handling the other. Virus, mites etc can be passed by you to the other.


Then after two wks. Put cages next to each other so they can sniff each other etc. You can can put some bedding/toy or whatever in the other rat's cage. Then they have each other's scent. If both are young or if new rat is a baby, you shouldn't really have much trouble intro-ing. Oh they will fuss, sniff intently, posture some, but usually those intros go pretty smoothly.

We had trouble with Sox & Chops and Inky & Oreo. All four were adults. Inky was alpha as well as Sox. We didn't get them integrated. Likely we gave up too soon, but we were moving from La to NY and well......

Good luck,

I think they should be fine introducing them. Juliet is only as big as a mouse and I will try to get her a friend who is around the same size. So, they will be babies. Hopefully I will be getting her new friend this weekend, next weekend at the latest. I am trying to get a black hooded rat.

On another note... (Please leave your opinions)
I found this huge 40 gallon tank at Petco with a cover for $108. It is not just long but it is wide and tall. It is almost like a perfect square. It might a little too big. Or should I get a 29 gallon tank that is tall and almost 3 feet long instead? (I know some people do not like having rats in tanks but I find it works best for me and my apartment. Plus it helps with my boyfriend's allergies (which I am beginning to believe don't exist, or have at least disappeared.))

Woohoo!

Normally quaratining SHOULD be 3 weeks,but many people only do 2 weeks and I admit to sometimes only doing 2 weeks.Keep the new rat in a seperate room and do not let them come in contact until quarantining is over.

Let them meet on neutral ground,like a bed or bathtub.

As for the tanks,I do not use tanks,but I say the 29 gallon would be good,but the 40 gallon would be better! The more room the better!

allergies can die down as your resistance to allergens goes up. they dont "go away" though.....i'm allergic to all but sunlight lol and it's possible to grow out of some allergies but that would happen in your teens. also new allergies can manifest over time through aging, experience and such. i have my ratty boy in a 25 gal tank. so your 40 will be really frickin' sweet! you know to let them out for running everday right...? so no biggie :p i love finding sweet deals. i'm thinking of selling my 25 gal and putting that moola towards a new rat cage hehehe

I don't like aquariums either. Have you thought of an aquarium (20 gallon) with a wire topper instead? With an aquarium the ammonia will build up quickly, you would have to clean a lot more often, your rats might end up with respiratory problems from that. Imagine lugging that 40 gallon beast to the tub for cleaning *cringe*.

QT for people without another airspace/building (I call this partial QT, which I have to do myself). The reason quarantine is neccessary is to stop any spread of disease or ecto-parasites.

Main reasons for QT (2 weeks minimum)
SDA - highly contagious, airborne rat corona virus - can kill a lot of your rats unless treated very aggressively with antibiotics. Dreaded virus.
Sendai - another bad one
KRV - Killham Rat Virus - ranked up there with the previous 2.
Myco - there are a lot of myco strains and if the new rat has a virulent myco strain, it flares up and gives it to your resident rats, they could get very ill or possibly die.
Ecto-parasites (lice/mites/fleas) - can come home in infected bedding, wooden objects, etc, can hitch a ride on you if you touch an infested rat.

Soo a complete/proper QT for 2-3 weeks will allow any of these problems to rear its ugly head and be treated before infecting your own rats.
A partial QT (shower/change clothes before touching resident rats or leave the newbies til last at night) prevents only the ectoparasites and things like myco since they are only contagious if the rats are near each other.

Intro's can start after a clean bill of health 2 weeks later. If the rat starts to show any illness, they must be treated, and once they are well again the QT starts again.

Here is a decent article on introductions...
the Rat Report

good luck

My sister,Sandra was not allergic to rats and mice at first and eventually she developed an allergy.It is not too bad tho.I can visit with my rats,but she just cannot handle them or she breaks out in hives.She can be in the same room tho and be fine.

I know that hardly anyone on here likes tanks. But I like them. I also clean them a lot so there wouldn't be much of a chance of ammonia build up. I have OCD so I keep things very clean.
I plan on putting a box of growing grass in their tank so they can play in it and eat it. I am also going to build them a jungle jim climby thingie. Plus the usually igloo and corner litter box.

My mom used to be fine with rats. But now she gets hives whenever she touches them. Real bad hives. It's weird how you can just develop a new allergy.